Coverdale questionable for Final Four

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The injury looked eerie. \nTom Coverdale drove to the bucket with 9:35 remaining in the South Regional Final Saturday, got tangled up with Kent State's Eric Thomas and stepped on Thomas' foot. Coverdale's left ankle -- the same one he injured in IU's first-round NCAA Tournament win over Utah -- rolled over, sending the Hoosier junior point guard to the floor. \nHe spent the rest of IU's 81-69 victory either hobbling toward the locker room or plopped in a folding chair near the IU bench, foot propped on another chair and ankle wrapped in ice. \nX-rays returned negative, revealing a severe sprain. Coverdale is wearing an aircast and is on crutches. IU's second-leading scorer and top assist man is listed as questionable for Saturday's Final Four game against Oklahoma.\n"I think we have a shot to get him ready," IU team doctor Larry Rink said. "Coverdale wants to play. He's a tough kid. We're going to give it the best we have and hope he's ready."\nThe injury is on the same left ankle, but on the opposite side of the original sprain and a little higher on the ankle, Rink said. \nCoverdale scored 14 points, including 10 in a row in a first-half IU spurt, and handed out seven assists before the injury confined him to the sidelines. Coverdale assisted on four of IU's first seven buckets, helping the Hoosiers to a 19-6 lead out of the gate. \n"He's tough, he's gritty," sophomore guard A.J. Moye said of Coverdale. "He gets a week to recover. Cov could recover from a mugging in a week."\nCoverdale has not missed a game this season and averages nearly 32 minutes per game. He played all 34 games last season, netting more than 34 minutes per game. \nBack spasms and the ankle injury have limited his play in recent games, but his play hasn't suffered. He hit the shot to give IU its first lead against Duke Thursday and carried IU early Saturday. \nHis reward, once he was relegated to a wheelchair after the injury, was a victory lap from teammate Jared Jeffries and being the first Hoosier to slice up the Rupp Arena nets. \n"Tom has an old man's body," Jeffries joked. "Every week something is wrong -- his back, his eyelid, his ankle. I gave him a little victory lap and it was important to get him up there."\nRED SEA\nOf the 22,435 in Rupp Arena Saturday, an estimated 18,000 were Hoosier fans. The streets of Lexington were cluttered with cream and crimson three hours before tip-off. \nIU fans continued their new tradition of the wave, booing Kent State fans who wouldn't participate, then cheering wildly as IU marched to its first Final Four since 1992. \n"I just don't see a following anywhere else that is as loyal as the Indiana faithful," sophomore AJ Moye said. "I wish I could have threw every piece of the net in the crowd."\nThe NCAA's new pod-system, which attempts to keep teams playing tournament games within their region, backfired in IU's first two tournament games in Sacremento, but worked to perfection from there. \n"You looked out there, and you tried to figure out how they got so many tickets," Kent State coach Stan Heath said. "Whoever does the ticket job for Indiana should get some credit, because it was a sea of red."\nNUMBER NOTES\nSenior guard Dane Fife didn't record a steal against Kent State, leaving him one game to move past Steve Alford for IU's all-time steals mark. Both have 178 … IU's bench scored 19 points Saturday, marking the sixth consecutive game the bench has scored at least 18 points…IU is 16-1 when Jeffries hits a three-pointer…Kent State out-rebounded IU 28-25 Saturday, the first time the Golden Flashes out-rebounded anyone in the tournament this season…IU is now 8-3 all-time when a trip to the Final Four is on the line…IU's 24 wins is the most by any IU team since 1993, when IU won 31 games.