Respectability for IU a long way coming

DURHAM, N.C. -- If this was supposed to be a fairy tale, it ended too soon without enough tears. \nEleven days after capturing an improbable Big Ten tournament title, the women's basketball team seemed to play with a just-happy-to-be-here attitude Friday in the East Region's first round against Texas Christian. \nTalk about the Hoosiers' increased visibility and respectability in the hoops-crazy state continues. But it shouldn't. The No. 9-seed IU women (17-14) didn't do enough during spring break to merit this self-promotion, as the opponents they upset at the Big Ten tournament reach the Big Dance's second and third rounds. The IU of old shot 23.5 percent in its 55-45 defeat to the No. 8-seed Horned Frogs, making only five of 27 shots before halftime. The so-called post-season sweethearts rushed their shots, causing coach Kathi Bennett's father, former Wisconsin men's coach Dick Bennett, to scream from the stands at point guard Heather Cassady: "Hunt for a shot!"\nThe Hoosiers' dismal play contrasted their intensity, patience and confidence two weeks earlier. Some players might not have listened closely to the words of Dick Bennett -- who guided the Badgers to the 2000 Final Four, associate head coach Trish Betthauser said. \n"I don't know if they truly understood that the first game is the toughest," she said. "Dick Bennett told us that, but maybe they didn't understand. I think after TCU hit their first few shots, they started realizing how tough it would be. "This being their first time there led more to a loss than their focus on winning. I believe in them enough to think they weren't just happy to be there." Meanwhile, No. 2-seed Purdue, IU's bitter victim in the Big Ten tournament semi-finals, tried to reach the Sweet Sixteen last night by playing Old Dominion in West Lafayette. No. 4-seed Penn State, who IU beat in the Big Ten tournament final, already advanced to the third round with a 96-79 rout of No. 5-seed Florida International Sunday. The Hoosiers' other casualty in the Big Ten tournament, Iowa, contested Connecticut in the second round last night. But IU coaches and players still gab and gab about that Big Ten tournament title. "They've done something for Indiana women's basketball with what they've done," Kathi Bennett said after Friday's loss. "They've helped us with recruiting in the state. They helped our credibility. They've helped us earn respect. Their influence is going to be long felt even after they graduate." Playing in one NCAA tournament game is some influence. IU still has the third-lowest amount of NCAA tournament appearances in the Big Ten, tying Michigan (four) and rating only higher than Michigan State (three) and Minnesota (two). \nThe Hoosiers' late-season, six-game winning streak was admirable and startling, especially considering Bennett was recovering from a near-fatal car accident that left her in an eight-pound halo device for at least three more weeks. IU had upset No. 18 Minnesota, Illinois on the road for the first time since 1994, and both regular-season champion Purdue and Penn State, teams it hadn't beat since 1998. \nBut never leading during a 10-point loss to an unranked team Friday was too ugly for the same Hoosiers that came to Cameron Indoor Stadium with five seniors playing their best basketball. No sense of urgency was apparent as the clock wound down, as TCU built up a solid lead. No dramatic flops on the court or wailing was displayed when the buzzer sounded. More tears were shed publicly after regular-season losses to Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin.\nThe Hoosiers played like they did in January, when they were shooting 33.5 percent and scoring 56.8 points a game during a five-game losing streak. IU shot 39.6 percent during the Big Ten tournament and limited opponents to 63 points per game. Judging by the seniors' words, getting a three-day trip to sunny North Carolina was good enough.\n"We had a great run," senior center Jill Chapman said. "We didn't know what was going to happen. We went to the Big Ten tournament. We won. We got here, and this is what we wanted to do. We hadn't been here, as a senior class, to the NCAA tournament, and we got here. We didn't move on, which we wanted to, but it's just a great feeling knowing that we got here to the NCAA tournament." \nVictory would have meant IU's first NCAA tournament win since 1983. A first-round win would have been far more impressive and nationally marketable than that Big Ten tournament title. \n"I'm sad, but I'm also proud because it's the second time in the history that we won the Big Ten title," said Cassady after the loss, referring to a regular-season title in 1983. "I'm always going to have that memory, walking in with a banner and a ring around my finger. I'm not ever going to hang my head. I'm just going to continue and keep on playing." \nToo bad she can't continue playing this weekend or the next. Maybe a few more wins would have proved IU's run two weeks ago wasn't just another example of a Hoosier basketball miracle.