Six rows ahead of the section K media seating, a fan sat clapping.
A slow clap could be heard across the entire west side of the stadium. IU had won 63-62 against Northwestern and this subdued applause was the interlude between the victory and the senior night festivities.
It seems like after every game, there’s a single play that is the microcosm of the 40-minute span. Sophomore center Thomas Bryant missed an alley-oop, and here’s how it sums up the game. Head coach Tom Crean got bulldozed by an opposing player, and this is what it means in terms of the season.
We always try to sum up an entire event in a single moment to simplify the occasion into a more manageable bite. With that said, here I am about to do the exact same thing that I’m laying out before you.
That single slow clap after the hollow victory is a microcosm of the 2016-17 Hoosier campaign.
Writing a column about this crew is difficult because almost everything about this team is complicated. The wins and losses are both simultaneously close enough to produce enough hope for a bit of optimism and somehow also generate enough cynicism to be skeptical.
IU has won more games than it has lost. The squad has beaten two elite teams — North Carolina and Kansas. Talent abounds, from Bryant to the junior guards James Blackmon Jr., Josh Newkirk and Robert Johnson.
Yet there’s still something missing.
That one man clapped and hoped someone else would join in. Eventually with persistence, he expected that something would change. Nothing happened.
The Hoosiers trailed by 12 with 5 minutes and 30 seconds remaining in the first half. They went on a 22-0 run. The Hoosiers trailed by eight with 3 minutes and 11 seconds remaining in the second. They went on to win.
These are both impressive tidbits taken out of context, but when examined as a part of the whole, they still feel a bit hollow.
Sixteen turnovers, no motion on offense, a defense that lacked in its ability to stop anyone and anything. Saturday didn’t really change anything.
The Hoosiers just happened to win.
This game meant something, I guess. It essentially clinched a trip to the NIT, otherwise known as the tournament that isn’t the real tournament but is a tournament nonetheless.
This team is not where it wants to be.
Bryant’s going to continue to shoot 3-pointers no matter how impractical each attempt is. Newkirk will still throw the ball out of bounds a few times, even with the knowledge that turnovers are this team’s Achilles' heel. Time is a flat circle, and IU is the perfect team to back up this mantra.
IU won, but it's also losing. That’s where we are.
In case you were wondering, eventually the man stopped clapping. One minute he was trying to start a wave, and it was over the next. Just like this year’s Hoosiers, his attempt died almost as soon as it began.
gigottfr@indiana.edu
@gott31
