How cool is it that Rutgers just did that on its senior night?
High-flying alley-oops, stellar 3-point shooting and a demonstrative win that all but guarantees the Scarlet Knights a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Oh, also IU was there.
The Hoosiers’ 74-63 defeat to the Scarlet Knights might not have been their worst this season, but at times it felt the most demoralizing.
IU opened up on a 15-4 tear with sophomore forward Trayce Jackson and senior guard Al Durham trading slam dunks and 3-pointers. Even if the Hoosiers didn’t have all four tires down on the road to March Madness, it appeared they were at least ready to hydroplane into the Big Ten tournament with a few victories.
After 13 turnovers and a second half in which a meager 30% of its shots found the hoop, IU once again sauntered back to what I assume was a less than festive locker room.
It would be somewhat bizarre for a team to go completely cold after jumping to a 23-8 lead, but it is totally understandable for a single player to be unable to maintain near perfection from beyond the arc.
Sophomore guard Al Durham had accounted for 14 of the Hoosier’s 23 points and was the lone line of defense between the Hoosiers’ offensive scheme and head coach Archie Miller’s sick fascination with ugly, post-dominant basketball.
The biggest upside of watching IU is knowing any one player is a moment away from having a breakout performance. The biggest downside is realizing those breakout performances will rarely coincide with one another to manifest as a cohesive team effort.
Ultimately, the Hoosiers’ offense under Miller can be summed up as Jackson-Davis and some other guy — an extremely talented and productive other guy to be certain, but only one of them at a time.
When the Hoosiers lose steam and transition from scoring run to drought, they do so in the most dramatic fashion possible.
Nothing-but-net 3-pointers turn into nothing-but-maybe-the-backboard duds, slam dunks get slammed into the bleachers by defenders and triumphant shouts from the bench are drowned out by Miller’s enraged screaming.
The IU locomotive doesn’t merely grind to a halt — it careens off the rails like the Polar Express on a frozen lake.
If the Pomeroy College Basketball ratings are to be trusted, there are approximately 320 teams worse than IU and I believe it. The Hoosiers’ Big Ten opponents could wipe the floor so hard with most schools that there would be no need for those circular sweat mops on the sidelines.
There is an element of “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” to IU. Whether or not the Hoosiers on the court have matched archaic fan expectations for the last 20 years doesn’t matter when those same expectations reascend to their stratospheric heights at the start of every season.
IU didn’t have any answers for Rutgers senior guard Geo Baker or junior forward Ron Harper Jr., who combined for 40 points. I don’t know if the Scarlet Knights necessarily had any answers for Jackson-Davis, but he’s all they had to worry about once Durham got in foul trouble. Both squads had a pair of stars, but Rutgers had the supporting cast to make things watchable.
It’s no fun being negative about a group of tremendously gifted athletes. I haven’t said anything a thousand IU fans weren’t already thinking, but I can only devote so many words to extolling Jackson-Davis and Durham or their collective 41 points.
I’m not sure if there’s something unique about this year’s Hoosiers or if the past 12 months have simply made me a more sensitive person, but I genuinely feel really happy for the Scarlet Knight seniors who concluded their collegiate careers with a display to rival the Harlem Globetrotters.
I just wish they could have found someone other than IU to play the Washington Generals.
