Hoosiers show how far they've come in loss to Wisconsin

Give Wisconsin credit. They took away what Indiana does best. Its not that Indiana missed a bunch of three’s or blew fast-breaks in its Big 10 Quarterfinal loss, its that the Hoosiers were never given the chance to do either.

Give Indiana credit. Despite having its three-point and fast break offense taken away, the Hoosiers almost beat a team that will be a top-4 seed in the NCAA Tournament despite being blitzed by a Badger three-point avalanche.

On Friday afternoon at Bankers Life Coliseum, Wisconsin did what Wisconsin always does (minus Rob Wilson): they played under control for 40 minutes, at both ends. They played their normal bleed the clock offense and turned it over just 5 times. Don’t be fooled by the high score, the game was played at the Badgers tempo.

They weren’t great defensively, but again, they were in control. You rarely saw them chasing a red shirt. They played Cody Zeller 1-on-1 in the low post, which basically shutdown the Hoosiers long-range game. Bo Ryan was content having Jared Berggren play him without help, and while Zeller had 17 points the rest of the offense wasn’t the same.

Jordan Hulls matched Zeller with 17, but only attempted one three, that came late. Matt Roth hoisted one shot in 12 minutes. No double teams on Zeller, no transition offense, no 3-point tries. Normally, that is a recipe for disaster. Because they can play fast, because they can make threes Indiana is one of the best spurt teams in the country. Its how they’ve won 25 games, by overwhelming the opposition. They didn’t have that on Friday, but almost found a way to survive, and that’s quite encouraging.

Wisconsin made the Hoosiers play a 1-on-1 basketball. That’s why a team that has assisted on 52% of its made shots this season had just eight on 25 made shots (32%) Friday. In case you’re wondering, when Indiana lost to Wisconsin in Madison they had just 4 assists on 21 made baskets (19%) and scored just 50 points. That is where you see how much this team has improved throughout this season, they were forced to play the way Wisconsin wanted them to play, but this time they scored 21 more points.

In the past, the Indiana offense has been passive against good defensive teams, but they weren’t on Friday. They got the ball inside to Zeller who had Berrgren playing him the whole game. Not only did he score ten more points than he did against the Badgers in January, but his free throw attempts doubled as well. That goes for everyone. In Madison, Wisconsin committed just 10 fouls, leading to 10 Indiana free throw tries, but in Indianapolis, the Hoosiers drew 6 more fouls and went to the stripe 12 more times. They attacked Wisconsin’s defense, that’s encouraging.

Unfortunately, it goes down as a loss, the Hoosiers eighth of the season, but this one feels different than the first seven did. Those losses felt like steps back as opposed to Friday’s, which feels like a step forward. Bo Ryan and Wisconsin didn’t let Indiana play its game, but the Hoosiers still played a great offensive game, and if not for the most unlikely 30-point game in the Big 10 this season, they’d be playing Michigan State in the conference semis.

A cruel finish to an important career

It looked bad when it happened, but you hoped it wasn’t. Even as cries of pain were the only sounds in an otherwise silent Bankers Life Fieldhouse you held out hope that it wasn’t that bad, but in the back of your mind you knew.

As I write this, Indiana is calling it a sprained knee, but it’s quite obvious that it’s worse than that. How often do you see a coach get emotional over a sprained knee?

During a postgame interview on Big 10 Network, Tom Crean couldn’t say his name without pausing to compose himself. He also teared up during his Indiana Radio Network interview. While nobody has said it yet, it is quite clear that the season of Verdell Jones III season is over, as is his career at Indiana, and I can’t think of a more tragic and unfair end.

Jones isn’t the best player in the history of Indiana basketball, he isn’t even the best player on the 2011-12 Indiana basketball team, but in the Hoosiers rebirth under Tom Crean he might be its most important player.

May 5, 2008 was my last full day in Bloomington after graduating the previous weekend, but that isn’t why it’s a day of significance. Despite having offers from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Minnesota, Verdell Jones III committed to Indiana. It was the first recruiting coup for Tom Crean, who was a month into a job that was going to be tougher than anyone thought. It was a rocky first month for the former Marquette coach, who was going to have to start a program from scratch, but that commitment gave us hope.

Jones was amongst Indiana’s top two scorers in each of his first three seasons, but the Hoosiers never won more than 12 games, and even worse, could never win more than three conference games. That changed this year, and while Jones was having his worst season in Bloomington, he helped lay the foundation that has allowed it happen.

His numbers were down across the board, he dealt with a shoulder injury, he was vilified by fans, and eventually taken out of the starting lineup. Despite that, he had his moments during his senior season, and they came in IU’s biggest wins, including setting up the Hoosier’s most important jumper since Keith Smart in 1987. Now as Indiana gets ready to play its first meaningful March games in the four season Crean era it will do so without one of the guys who went through the misery of the first three. That’s what makes it so cruel.

On Thursday, when Indiana beat Penn State to win its first Big 10 Tournament game since 2006 Jones didn’t get to enjoy it. He wasn’t there as it ended. Next week when the Hoosiers get ready to play in the NCAA Tournament, Jones will be sitting on the bench. It shows how unfair the world can be. Years of hard work, years of sacrifice, years of losing. You go through all that with the goal of playing after the first week of March, but because of a freak play that happened after Jordan Hulls picked up his second foul, Verdell Jones III won’t get to reap the rewards.

Two years at Reliant Stadium, I sat about 10 feet away from where Purdue took the steps onto the floor during the South Regional. Robbie Hummel had torn his ACL weeks earlier and looked miserable, broken really. I imagine that’s how Jones will feel during the Hoosiers tournament run. The difference being, Hummel had a year of eligibility left, Jones does not.

I hope now that his Indiana career is over it is appreciated more than it was while he was in uniform. No player in the Crean era was asked to do more, and when criticized by fans he didn’t complain. After getting demoted, he handled it with class; he deserved a better end than this.

We hoped it wasn’t serious, unfortunately it was, but we also hoped a guard from Champaign, Illinois would be the first building block back to prominence, he was.

Thank you, Verdell.