Hope's gone with one missed shot

I didn't picture the Hoosiers' hopes for the Big Ten championship vanishing in one shot.\nIf I had, that shot wouldn't have been a free throw taken by the team's best free throw shooter.\nIU lost more than a basketball game Sunday at Michigan State. The team might have surrendered the top seed in the conference tournament. Most devastating was how IU might have let their shot at the coveted Big Ten Championship slip away.\nIt hurt to watch and it hurt to listen to. But the clank of the rim from Coverdale's second free throw with 6.8 seconds remaining was deafening.\nTo blame Coverdale for the loss is unfair, in fact, it's criminal. I guarantee that in the locker room after the disheartening three point loss, he had a towel over his head, his face to the floor and he could still hear the celebration continue on the floor of the Breslin Center. He blamed himself.\nI didn't talk to Coverdale after the game. I didn't have to. I don't even know him. I don't have to. \nAfter the missed free throw, his look of disbelief and frozen body 12 feet from the basket told me everything. Never mind the missed three pointer to end the game; he probably doesn't even remember taking the shot. \nCoverdale played his heart out Sunday afternoon, as he does every time he takes the floor. His defense throughout the game was superior and his offense solid. He wanted to be the man at the line Sunday, and he'll want to be there next time. Of course he felt responsible, but of course he wasn't.\nOhio State will probably coast through the rest of their season meaning that at best, IU could only claim a share of the conference title. OSU is left with Michigan State at home, where the Buckeyes are 8-0 in conference play and Michigan away to end their season. \nConversely, IU has a more daunting task ahead. The Hoosiers travel to Champaign tonight to face Illinois. As if that is not bad enough, tonight's game has added flavor. Illinois has won six consecutive games and holds a top 20 ranking. The Illini will have added enthusiasm as they celebrate "senior night" at Assembly Hall. But worst of all for the Hoosiers, the 31 point pounding they handed Illinois exactly one month ago in Bloomington, is still fresh in their opponents minds.\nCoverdale knows his team may have let the conference title slip away Sunday, but still head coach Mike Davis said after the game that his team still controls its own destiny. Only now it appears IU is destined for second place.\nThe Hoosiers' season was wrapped up into 40 minutes Sunday afternoon. IU showed their ability to dominate opponents as they did early in the first half. Their defense kept them in the game when they went cold. The team struggled without Jared Jeffries at full strength, due to foul trouble. There was drama, a sense of urgency, bad calls, good calls and in the end the game came down to one shot. \nCoverdale missed it, but don't blame him. \nHe did enough of that himself, and that's criminal.