What up everyone? "The Weekend" is back, after a long break. I was in Florida for ten days just relaxing trying to throw all the hassles of school behind me, at least for a short while. But now that I'm back I'm more committed than ever and ready to give all you out there in internet world, my very best work.
Let's begin with my beloved Hoosiers. On Friday night, while stuck in a traffic jam in Atlanta, I was receiving frequent updates from friends as Indiana took on Minnesota in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. After being behind as much as 16 with 9:41 to go (it was 24-8 Minnesota at that point), Indiana fought back making it a 7 point game at halftime 34-27. With 15:51 to go in the game, D.J. White made two free throws to tie the game up at 34-34 and the two teams battled back and forth with neither one getting more than 5 points ahead the rest of the game.
That's when disaster struck. With 4 seconds to go and Indiana down 2, Eric Gordon (our supposed savior who was to bring back the prestige and honor that is Indiana basketball), missed the first of two free throws. This is a guy who shoots 84.5 % from the line. Having to miss the second one on purpose to give the Hoosiers a shot, Gordon lofted the ball off the back rim where it hung up long enough for D.J. to grab it and put it in for an "and 1." D.J. missed the three point opportunity but somehow once again got his own rebound and was fouled. So once again Indiana had ANOTHER opportunity to put themselves ahead. This time, White missed the first but made the second. So it's 58-57 at this point with 1 second and some change left. After both teams traded timeouts, Blake Hoffarber, who won an ESPY in 2005 after this miraculous shot, caught a pass in the frontcourt, hoisted up a shot, and somehow made it AGAIN this time to beat Indiana 59-58. If you haven't seen Blake's most recent heroics, you can watch it here.
So the question becomes now, how is anyone, especially the players, supposed to have any sort of confidence in this team after they've lost 3 of 4 to close out the season? I personally have none and am planning on picking whomever IU plays in the NCAA tournament to BEAT IU simply because I think the players still aren't over the whole NCAA violations thing. In one aspect, I understand because you put a lot of trust in a coach when he recruits you that he'll be there the whole time, that you can count on him. But at the same time, it's time for the players to grow up and move on. At one point in the season this was a top 10 team in and America and for us to suddenly struggle to beat Northwestern and lose to Penn State and Minnesota...are you kidding me? Yes, I'm talking to you JaMarcus Ellis and Jordan Crawford. Stop whining how bad it is that you don't have your coach anymore and just play basketball. That shows real class just walking out on a meeting with the athletic director just because you don't like what he's saying. GROW UP! You get to go to school and play basketball for FREE, which is something I know many kids would kill to get a chance. Ever since Kelvin Sampson's resignation on February 22nd, this team is 3-3 and it is GUARANTEED that Dan Dakich's will NOT be the coach next season.
On a side note, congratulations to Minnie Driver on her pregnancy announcement. She's one of my favorite actresses. I really enjoyed her in Good Will Hunting and Grosse Pointe Blank. Today's trivia question comes from one of my all-time favorite TV series, can you tell me the cast of the popular TGIF sitcom Boy Meets World? By real name too? Best of Luck.
Picture courtesy of: http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/uploaded_images/IMG_3247-759535.JPG
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