Indianapolis Bound?

Ben Fishman
handrcbb.blogspot.com
3/17/13

    Indiana deserves the #1 seed in the Indianapolis regional. The Hoosiers did their job this season and if the committee really does go off body of work, then they must award Indiana with a top seed, more importantly with the top seed just an hour up the road in Lucas Oil Stadium.
    Indiana got a bad draw in the Big Ten Tournament with having to play a team it hadn’t beat in 11 tries, and Wisconsin exposed Indiana much the way they did earlier this season in Bloomington. With Jordan Hulls ineffective through the first two games of the tournament, it was difficult for Indiana to overcome a hot shooting Badgers offense that advanced to the Big Ten championship game.

    The Hoosiers played in the toughest conference in America this season, the Big Ten was its own version of a mini March Madness and the Hoosiers did their job in the conference collecting the regular season title with 14-4 record. Their resume includes victories over Michigan and Michigan State twice, and Ohio State once, so the Hoosiers can play and beat the best teams in America, which is why they should be playing in Lucas Oil in two weeks.

    If Indiana isn’t in the Indianpolis regional, Hoosier fans shouldn’t be jumping off buildings in Indiana, because Indiana travels as well as any team in America. Playing in Washington or Arlington wouldn’t be terrible, except of course they wind up playing Duke in Washington or wind up in a situation like that.
    No matter where Indiana is pegged tonight when the brackets are revealed, they should hold their heads up, they just went through the toughest gauntlet in America and came out with a regular season title.
    They now get to rest up and see if they can play for three more weeks.



    Indiana doesn’t deserve the #1 seed in the Indianapolis regional. The Hoosiers were once again outplayed by a talented Wisconsin team, making some people feel dumb for questioning why Bo Ryan was named Coach of the Year in the Big Ten, and not Tom Crean. Ryan’s dominance over Indiana in the last 12 games has been ridiculous, but credit Indiana for making runs.
    Back to the question at hand. Indiana didn’t do enough to win a placing in the Indy regional and will now have to travel elsewhere and win on the road to reach Atlanta. Indiana strolls into the NCAA Tournament with a 3-3 record in their last 6 games. They’re not exactly killing it, but good teams win games in March and Indiana turned a stunning performance over Illinois on Friday, into the loss to Wisconsin.

    It’s not really a question of what Indiana didn’t do, don’t get me wrong here. The Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular season title outright, which included some huge wins. They were able to win the Legends Classic in Brooklyn earlier in the year and each of their losses were to teams that will not only be in the tournament, but can win a few games themselves.
    But Louisville did its job. The Cardinals won the Big East Championship, not an easy task, so they deserve the #1 seed. Louisville deserves to play just two hours up the road in Indy and Louisville deserves to be the overall seed in the tournament.

    Again, it shouldn’t be seen as a negative for Indiana. They lost. Big Deal. Many teams have lost in their conference tournaments and then used that as motivation to win 6 in March. Indiana still has the talent to do that and Hoosier Nation travels. So expect Indiana to be successful this month. Just don’t expect it to be an hour up the road.