Welcome back

A little more than 12 hours after falling short in the NCAA championship game, a tired IU men's basketball team returned to Bloomington around 12:45 p.m. Tuesday and received a warm welcome from several hundred Hoosier fans. \nThe IU faithful welcomed the team bus back from the airport and followed the Hoosiers inside Assembly Hall, where seniors Dane Fife and Jarrad Odle addressed the gathering of fans and media. \nAnother pep rally to honor both the men's and women's team is set for 7:30 p.m. tonight in Assembly Hall. Doors open at 6:30. \n"We're the only team that can lose a game, come home and still have people show up for them," a visibly worn down Odle said after a yawn. "We appreciate everything you did for us these last few weeks." \nIU's unexpected run to the national title game ended with a 64-52 loss to Maryland and denied IU its sixth NCAA crown in school history. Still, the Hoosiers notched their eighth Final Four appearance and became just the second No. 5 seed to advance as far as the title game. No No. 5 seed has ever won an NCAA championship. \nAll along the way, IU fans ventured out to back the Hoosiers. About 18,000 of the 23,000 fans in Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., were Hoosier boosters, and more than half of the more than 53,000 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta Monday for the title game were wearing cream and crimson. \n"I hope you enjoyed this as much as we did," Fife said to the fans Tuesday. "We're sorry we didn't bring home a championship, but we brought IU back to where it is supposed to be." \nThe team, which bunched near mid-court and faced the fans, appeared for only five minutes before retreating to the locker room. Fans huddled around sophomore Jared Jeffries, junior Kyle Hornsby and Coach Mike Davis in search of autographs, and TV cameras swar-med the threesome probing for more reaction to IU's first Final Four trip since 1992 and its first national title game appearance since 1987. \nAbout 6,000 fans showed up in Assembly Hall March 27 for a send-off rally before the team left for Atlanta, and another large crowd is expected tonight for the season-ending pep rally, which has been dubbed "A Celebration of Excellence," to honor the achievements of both the men's and women's teams. \nThe men captured their first Big Ten title since 1993 and surprised the nation with its self-appointed Cinderella Final Four run. The women's team raced through the Big Ten Tournament, beating Iowa Purdue and Penn State -- all three teams were seeded higher than the Hoosiers -- to win the title and earn its first NCAA Tournament since 1995. \nTonight's rally is free and seats will be available on the Assembly Hall floor as well as in the stands. \nONE MORE POINT\nJeffries, who scored a combined 16 points in IU's two Final Four games, ended his sophomore season with 999 career points. \nJeffries, who averaged better than 15 points per game, scored just eight points in IU's loss to Maryland and was 4 of 11 from the field.\nThe 999 career points put him 36th on IU's all-time scoring list. Had Jeffries scored 1,000 points in his first two seasons, he would have been just the sixth Hoosier to do so. The others are Calbert Cheaney, Jay Edwards, Steve Alford, Mike Woodson and Don Schlundt. \n"I'm disappointed," Jeffries said regarding the team's loss and deflecting assessment of his own record-setting pace. "We could have done something special and we just didn't get it done."\nFIFE STEALS RECORD\nWith two steals against Maryland, Fife eclipsed the career steals mark which was previously owned by Alford. \nFife ended his career with 180 career steals, two ahead of Alford's 178. But it took Fife a while to get there. The defensive stopper, who held Duke's Mike Dunleavy to 5-of-16 shooting in the South Regional Semifinal, helped keep Kent State's Trevor Huffman to 2 of 7 and limited Maryland's Juan Dixon to single-digit shot attempts for just the fifth time this season, was stuck on 178 career steals since IU's win over Duke.\nFife couldn't manage any steals against Kent State or Oklahoma, but he held Sooner star Hollis Price to six points on 1-of-11 shooting. \nALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM\nTwo Hoosiers were named to the Final Four's All-Tournament team. \nHornsby and Fife joined Maryland's Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter and Chris Wilcox. Dixon, who scored 33 points in the Terrapins' semifinal win over Kansas and 18 against IU, was named the Most Outstanding Player. \nHornsby led IU in scoring Monday with 14 points. Hornsby hit 4 of 8 three-pointers and 5 of 12 from the field. Fife, who was likely named because of his defensive efforts, scored 11 points Monday and three points against Oklahoma.