With all five starters back from a 15-victory team, coach Royce Waltman knew Indiana State could be headed for a big year.
Maybe not this big, though.
The Sycamores (21-8, 14-4) wrapped up the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title with a pulsating 56-54 victory over Bradley Monday night in front of a wild Hulman Center crowd that included Indiana State alumnus Larry Bird, who took a break from his duties with the Indiana Pacers to return to Terre Haute.
It was fitting that Bird attended the clincher, for his presence evokes the most glorious days in Indiana State hoops history. In 1979, Bird led the Sycamores all the way to the NCAA finals, where they lost to Magic Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans. That was Indiana State’s last trip to the NCAA tourney and its last 20-win season.
“Seeing him standing up and cheering for us really pumped me up,” Waltman said Tuesday from Terre Haute. “We’ve talked to the kids about championships since the first year (1998) and knew that we were making progress toward it, but now that we’ve done it it’s kind of hard to believe.”
Indiana State’s transition from mediocrity to Valley power hasn’t happened overnight: the Sycamores were 16-11 two years ago and 15-12 last season. But Indiana State began to draw national notice when it went over to Bloomington Dec. 11 and beat Indiana for the first time in 74 years.
Though the Sycamores have an experienced starting lineup, they probably will go as far as senior Nate Green takes them. Green, a 6-5 swingman with NBA potential, was named the Missouri Valley’s Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Tuesday. He leads the Sycamores with 14.1 points per game, 4.2 assists and 3.1 steals and is also among Valley leaders in rebounds and blocked shots.
Green, a product of Des Moines, chose Indiana State over Northwestern and Minnesota because he wanted to play right away. When the Golden Gophers made it to the Final Four during Green’s freshman year, Green watched from the upper reaches of Indianapolis’ RCA Dome and wondered if he had made the right decision. He had a long talk with hometown friend Justin Wessel, who was a redshirt on Arizona’s national-title team that spring.
“It was a little bitter at first, but he told me I was doing the right thing for me,” Green said.
There’s no doubt now, with Minnesota recovering from an academic-fraud scandal and Green enjoying hero status at Indiana State. “Who knows what would have happened if I had gone there? I might have had to transfer,” Green said. “I’m sure I made the right choice.”
Now Green hopes the NCAA selection committee makes the right choice. The Valley has earned multiple NCAA tourney bids before–three last year–but the Sycamores aren’t taking anything for granted. They’d rather win the Valley tourney than spend Selection Sunday gnawing their nails.
Tide is rolling: Alabama is shaping up as this year’s top pool-wrecker.
Whether the Crimson Tide will be ripping up pools in the NCAA or the NIT remains to be seen. But ‘Bama, dragged down by injuries for much of the season, has whipped three ranked teams (Vanderbilt, Auburn and Tennessee) in the last two weeks.
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Against Vandy Feb. 22, Alabama dressed only eight players, including five freshmen and a pair of walk-ons. But leading scorer Schea Cotton and three forwards are back in the lineup and the Tide has become the team nobody wants to face in the Southeastern Conference tourney in Atlanta next week.
At 13-13 overall and 6-8 in the SEC, Alabama probably needs to win the conference tourney to gain an NCAA berth.
“Coach (Mark Gottfried) has told us not to worry about the postseason, to leave it up to the people who pick the teams,” freshman forward Rod Grizzard said. “But we know if we can get a run going in the (SEC) tournament, we can do something about it.”
Upon review, justice served: Under a newly adopted rule, instant replay may be used to determine whether a shot beat the buzzer at the end of regulation or overtime. In Xavier’s 71-60 victory over LaSalle in Philadelphia, it was used to determine whether a player had committed a flagrant foul.
Late in the first half, LaSalle’s Garrett Bragg elbowed Kevin Frey on the top of the head as Frey was positioning himself for a rebound. Frey hit the floor, bleeding.
“I felt a hit to my head,” said Frey, who played his high school ball at Maine West. “It caught me by surprise. That’s all I remember.”
No foul was called, but the referees stopped the game and reviewed videotape. After a 10-minute delay, Bragg was ejected. Frey, who required seven stitches, said Bragg stopped by to apologize while he was being treated.
La Salle announced Monday it had suspended Bragg for one game.
“We do not promote that kind of aggression at La Salle, and it is not acceptable,” Explorers coach Speedy Morris said. “I would be incensed if that happened to one of my players.”
Red Storm rising: When the NCAA began investigating St. John’s star Erick Barkley, a lot of people in Jamaica, N.Y., wondered if it would shatter a fragile team’s confidence.
But the Johnnies have responded to the adversity by winning eight straight games. Last week they pulled off a nifty hat trick with victories over Syracuse, Connecticut and Duke.
The sophomore guard was again declared ineligible by the NCAA on Tuesday for a rules violation, and hours later the 18th-ranked Red Storm beat Seton Hall 66-60.
The 83-82 victory over the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday was especially impressive. Duke had defeated 64 straight unranked teams, not that St. John’s is unranked this week.
“They’re a different style than other teams,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, referring to the Johnnies’ numerous ballhandlers. “And as a result, especially in a one-game situation, they are really dangerous.”
This is the second year in a row that the Duke-St. John’s matchup has produced a riveting game, with each team winning on the other’s floor. Fans will be pleased to know that the series has been extended for another two years. But St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis isn’t sure how many more thrillers he can take.
“What we probably should do is cancel the series,” Jarvis said. “Never play each other again and just sell these tapes. That’s all.”
Free throws: Shawn Harris’ dunk against Utah Saturday might go down as the highlight of the season. Harris made a one-handed snag of an offensive rebound above the rim and threw it down to spark Colorado State’s 60-49 victory. “I was literally stunned,” Rams coach Ritchie McKay said. “I thought, `Is this real?’ It really gave us some wind back in our sails.” … How about those Iowa State Cyclones? Picked to finish in the second division of the Big 12, the Cyclones (24-4, 12-2) need to beat only Texas Tech or Baylor to clinch at least a share of their first conference title since they won the Big Six in 1945. “I’m not turning cartwheels,” said coach Larry Eustachy, who took over when Tim Floyd left to coach the Bulls. “I want our players to enjoy it, but we have a very difficult task.”