Column: Watford grows in journey to become an IU legend

Growing up in Birmingham, Ala., Christian Watford did not know much about the tradition of IU basketball.

Sure, he had seen Bob Knight and the candy-striped Hoosiers on television, but the only crimson in his closet was from his favorite college football team, the Alabama Crimson Tide, not from IU.

That would soon change as Watford began to get recruited by IU’s new head coach Tom Crean.

For a kid who had never been away from home or away from his family, the thought of leaving the only home he had ever known for IU was tough, but it was easier with Assistant Coach Bennie Seltzer there to help him.

“I felt like he was going to take me under his wing,” Watford said. “You know, have somebody that genuinely cared about me as a person, not just as a basketball player. Anytime you can find a situation like that, it’s tough to put down.”

With great relationships built with the coaching staff and the opportunity to play right off the bat, Watford committed to IU, and his aspiration of bringing back one of the country’s most prestigious programs was born.

For the last four years, Watford has stayed true to that vision, bringing the Hoosiers as close to realizing that dream as ever before.

Because of his dedication to the program, a flare for the spectacular and a work ethic that has helped his game progress each year, Watford is now as embedded into the lore of IU basketball as any other player before him.

The road to becoming one of the greatest Hoosiers of all-time was not an easy one, but it was a journey of faith and strength.

‘The first two years took forever’

While the Hoosiers were struggling through a 10-21 record in Watford’s freshman season, he was adjusting to a new life 462 miles away from his close-knit family.

The transition away from home had its ups and downs, but nothing was more foreign to Watford than his first IU winter.

“I wanted to go home any and every chance I could get,” Watford said. “Go outside and you see snow, I wanted to go back inside and get back into bed.”

Getting used to the new climate took some time, but luckily for Watford, his transition to the college basketball game was as smooth as his trademark jump shot.

After starting all of IU’s 31 games as a freshman, Watford was selected by the conference’s coaches to the Big Ten All-Freshman team, while also being named the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year by The Sporting News and FoxSports.com.

Not only did he lead all Big Ten freshmen in scoring, but he also ranked third on the Hoosiers with 12 points per game, while also leading IU in rebounding with six boards a game.

Personally, he was enjoying success, but the failures of the team put a strain on everyone in the program.

“Every practice just seemed like it was lasting forever,” Watford said. “It seemed like we weren’t getting any better.”

In his sophomore season, the 6-foot-9-inch forward took the next developmental step by blossoming into one of the Big Ten’s best scoring threats — leading IU with an average of 16 points per game.

Although the young core of the team was improving daily, the Hoosiers’ record still did not reflect the growth.

During Watford’s first two seasons, the Hoosiers posted a 22-41 record.

“Man, when we were young, we were young and naïve and we really didn’t know how much work you had to put in,” Watford said. “We thought we were playing hard, but we weren’t playing hard. It was tough.”

Through all of the hardships of the first two years, Watford said he thought about transferring, but it was never a serious consideration.

“Well, it definitely comes into your mind, but you don’t want to be one of those guys when the goings gets tough, you tuck tail and run,” Watford said. “I ain’t never been like that and I wasn’t about to leave because a losing season or anything like that.”
“You got to know that you are here for a reason, and you got to stick it out.”

The shot that changed it all

Watford’s faith in the program would pay off in a big way shortly into his junior season.

For IU fans too young to remember Keith Smart’s game-winning shot against Syracuse to clinch the 1987 NCAA championship, there is no bigger shot in Hoosier history than the “Wat-Shot.”

The shot, which was immortalized by ESPN’s ESPY awards as the best moment of 2012, sent Bloomington into a riot that announced, loud and clear, the return of IU basketball after the program’s darkest years.

With 5.6 seconds left in a game against No. 1 Kentucky on Dec. 10, 2011, and the Hoosiers trailing 72-70, Watford in-bounded the ball to a streaking senior guard Verdell Jones III. Jones III drove hard through midcourt to the left of the lane, forcing a Kentucky defender into the lane to cut him off.

In an instant, Jones III dumped the ball back to a trailing Watford, who was alone with a wide-open look from the left wing behind the arc.

As Watford fired the shot, ESPN announcer Dan Shulman yelled the four words — “Watford for the win!” — that every IU fan repeats in a pickup games at the HPER, at the office when firing a paper ball into the trash or anytime they are imagining themselves beating Kentucky with a buzzer-beater.

Watford was in the right place at the right time, and he made his shot count.

Earlier this season, IU Coach Tom Crean said the shot exemplified Watford’s strongest skill on the court — being a trailer on a fast break.

“He’s the best trailer that I’ve ever coached, no question about it,” Crean said. “For a guy that gets the defensive rebounds that he gets and to be able to get into that trail position for people to play through him, it’s really important, and it’s going to carry some weight for him at the next level.”

As chaos filled Assembly Hall, one of the most endearing images from that night was the sight of Watford sifting through the swarm of Hoosier fans to find his parents for a loving embrace.

“My family has always been my backbone,” Watford said. “When you do something miraculous like that, you definitely want to share it with them.

“I was just hugging them and (my mother) was crying with tears of joy, so I mean anytime you can go through that and experience that with your family, it’s a wonderful thing.”

Watford’s father, Ernest Watford, said being able to watch that shot and the aftermath in person was a surreal moment for the entire Watford family.

“It was a joy to my wife and myself,” Ernest said. “I thought it was the big time resurgence that we needed for this program to move forward.”

For Hoosier fans who lived through that game, the spot on the floor where he shot from will forever be known as “Watford’s spot.”

But herein lies the struggle for any player who makes such a memorable and culturally significant play.

Like an artist attempting to avoid becoming a one-hit wonder, Watford doesn’t want that moment to be the only thing that people think of when discussing his legacy.

“It’s a big stepping-stone, but you definitely don’t want to be defined by it as a player,” Watford said. “You don’t want to be that guy that only just hit that shot.”
 
‘Now, it’s going by really fast’

Ever since that landmark moment, Watford and the rest of the Hoosiers have been on a year-and-a-half-long whirlwind that began during last year’s 27-9 season.

During the last two seasons, nobody in the Big Ten has a better record than the Hoosiers (54-13) and Watford has been glue holding it all together.

After suffering through two excruciatingly painful seasons of growth, Watford has matured into one of IU’s best all-around players.

Every season at IU, Watford has increased his 3-point field goal percentage (he’s currently second in the Big Ten at 48.5 percent), while also improving his defense to be able to guard anyone on the court, including point guards and centers.

“The versatility that we always envisioned him having as a player I think he is really getting,” Crean said.

Watford said the biggest difference in his game from freshman year to senior year is his mindset, which has been focused on achieving consistency.

“You just want to be a player that can do everything and come out and play every night,” Watford said. “I don’t want to say that I took nights off, but there were definitely times where, you know, I didn’t rebound the ball as well as I could have or stuff like that.”

On such a talented team, Watford has stood out statistically all season.

He ranks third in scoring (12.7 points per game), second in rebounding (6.4 rebounds per game), second on the team in three-pointers made (49) and first in free throw percentage (81.7 percent).

“I’ve never been a part of a team with so much talent and you know people got to change for the better of the program,” Watford said. “In order to win, that’s the main key.”

For this senior class, winning means everything because they were around when IU couldn’t win anything.

Watford and the two other members of this year’s senior class, Derek Elston and Jordan Hulls, will forever be connected to the revival under Crean.

Winning the outright Big Ten championship on Senior Night would be fitting for the class that brought IU basketball back.

“That’s what we set out to work for and you know we feel like we have accomplished that,” Watford said. “We haven’t won anything yet at this point, but we definitely feel like we are heading in the right direction.”
 
One Last Time

As all good things do, Watford’s career at Assembly Hall is about to end.

“It’s going to be bittersweet,” Watford said, pausing to think about the moment. “Well, it’s going to be bitter, it ain’t going to be sweet. Anytime you leave an environment like this, it’s definitely tough to move on.”

On Tuesday night against Ohio State, Watford will walk onto the court with the majority of his Hoosier legacy solidified amongst IU’s all-time greats.

Watford ranks 11th on IU’s all-time scoring list with 1,655 points entering his final game at Assembly Hall, sitting only 46 points behind Brian Evans (1,701) for tenth all time.

The senior who has started 123 out of 125 possible games will finish the season as both the Big Ten’s active leading scorer and active leading rebounder (737).

But to Watford, these numbers, statistics and rankings don’t mean as much to him as finishing the job he started four years ago: The goal of bringing more banners to Bloomington.

“I want to be remembered as a competitor and a person that brought IU back and came back a winner,” Watford said. “It definitely will help if we go win a national championship and a Big Ten championship.”

Regardless of how her son’s career at IU ends, Watford’s mother, Belinda Watford, said the past four years have been an amazing experience for their entire family and it is something they would not trade for the world.

“It’s a happy/sad moment for us because we have really become a part of this family,” Belinda said. “Just to be a part of this legacy, just to be a part of the IU Hoosiers is so awesome. We will always, always bleed this red because it’s awesome.”

Wherever Watford lands after graduation, whether it’s in the NBA or a foreign basketball league, he said his faith will carry him through.

But for one more night, Watford will suit up in those candy-striped pants to play one more game in the place he now calls home.

“It’s just hard to believe that it’s really about to come to an end, but you can’t do nothing but go forward and attack what’s out there for you,” Watford said.
“Anytime you are leaving home, you feel like it’s just something that you can’t live without, but you know, I’ll move forward and pursue something else in life.”

­— mdnorman@indiana.edu