Thanksgiving break was perhaps the most needed thing for most students. They got a chance to recharge before facing the back-to-back all-nighters and spending more time in the library than their own homes.
Maybe IU Athletics could have forgone the break.
Of the six sports that competed, the only team not to bring a loss back to Bloomington was wrestling, which won the Navy Classic.
Overall, football broke even — a loss to then-No. 3 Michigan and a win against Purdue. Reclaiming the Old Oaken Bucket and earning back-to-back bowl eligibility for the first time in most students’ lifetimes could mean a lot for the program, but that Michigan loss stung.
IU didn’t enter the contest as the likely victors, but that 7-3 halftime lead ignited a little flicker of hope IU fans saw in the losses to Penn State and Nebraska. Football fans have learned to not get their hopes up.
Men’s basketball fans in the latter part of the Tom Crean era, though, have been able to sustain those hopes.
Then IU lost to Fort Wayne.
The Hoosiers were ranked No. 3 in the AP and No. 1 in the ESPN power rankings. They were supposed to notch another early-season victory Nov. 22 to get fans hyped up heading into the Big Ten schedule. They failed.
Sunday’s 85-52 win against Mississippi Valley State Unviersity stabilized things a bit, but the Fort Wayne loss dropped IU to No. 13 in the new AP poll — not the best look ahead of Wednesday’s game against No. 3 North Carolina.
IU Coach Teri Moren brought hope back into the women’s team, but after a 3-0 start, IU went 1-2 during the break. IU lost in double digits to Western Kentucky and blew a double-digit fourth-quarter lead to lose by four to Auburn.
The Hoosiers could very well be back on track in the coming weeks before the Big Ten season. The Hoosiers did blow out UMass Lowell, 79-45, so there’s still some promise there.
Volleyball beat Rutgers, but a win against a team that’s 4-29 overall and 0-20 in the Big Ten doesn’t say much. The season wrapped up with back-to-back losses to Maryland and Ohio State, and Sunday night IU was not selected for the NCAA Tournament. Two more wins to close out the season could have given the team a chance.
The hits of this weekend concluded Sunday afternoon when the men’s soccer team was knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in a 2-1 overtime loss to Virginia Tech. The #Q49 ended, and thus this insufferable hashtag lives on for another year.
The past week did have some positive results that can help these teams down the road.
But it’s not enough to gloss over the negatives.
jzega@indiana.edu
@jzegss
