1 year has changed a lot for IU hoops

The last time IU played Minnesota outside Bloomington, Yogi’s Grill and Bar was wall-to-wall with fans, all bearing the same colors and the same hope. A Big Ten Tournament title was just three short wins away, almost within reach for a team that had already tallied many more.

Tuesday night, that same Bloomington watering hole wasn’t even a quarter as full, and the atmosphere felt more like the second floor of the Wells Library.

The reasons, varied and many, do not need to be repeated in great detail: One year ago Friday, the NCAA passed down its findings on the actions of then-IU coach Kelvin Sampson. College athletics’ ruling body alleged Sampson had committed five major violations related to illicit recruiting practices, which would spell the end of his short tenure in Bloomington.

The eventual fallout included the graduation or departure – for a myriad of reasons – of all but two Hoosiers, leaving IU basketball and those within its “family” wounded and angry.

Fan support among the most loyal and energetic has barely waned. Still, it’s hard to blame those who have strayed, perhaps feeling a little bit like the crew of the Santa Maria – desperate for land.

IU fans just aren’t used to losing.

Branch McCracken and Bob Knight saw to that. Mike Davis even made it to the Final Four.

Therefore, while IU fans said they were ready for a season to forget, living through it has taken a noticeable toll.

Attendance is down at Assembly Hall, in part because of the Hoosiers’ struggles and in part because of a still-sinking economy.

But 1001 E. 17th St. isn’t bearing the season’s trial by itself.

John Munden, a bartender at Nick’s English Hut for 21 years, said “a lot fewer people” have come to the bar to watch IU games than last year, home or away.

Munden said the fans who do come “are resigned to the fact” the team they love will struggle just about every night.

“People pretty much realize what we’re going through,” Munden said. “They had Taber (returning from last year), that’s it.”

No, it hasn’t all been roses and smiles for Tom Crean, embraced from day one by the IU basketball world for his energy and perceived understanding of the program’s tradition. The Hoosiers’ loss Tuesday tied a record for the most in a single IU season.

But on message boards, blogs, news Web sites and, yes, in bars, fans have done their best to embrace Crean and his young band. And criticism of players, coaches or anyone else in the program has been kept to a minimum.

“He’s pleasing the Hoosier Nation,” said one fan watching the game at Yogi’s.
So there it was.

Amidst the losing, the turnovers, the ceaseless laughter from every rival corner, there existed optimism – on Tuesday night, anyway.

And why not? Despite their 1-10 conference record, the Hoosiers have kept most Big Ten games close, and help is on the way in the form of a recruiting class ranked No. 10 nationally by Scout.com.

And fans do take some joy in watching this team hustle its way into their hearts, said Munden.

“If last year’s team had hustled like these guys, they would have won a national championship,” Munden said late in the second half Tuesday as a Verdell Jones 3-pointer found its mark.

It’s been those small victories that have had to stoke the fire during what’s already been a bitter-cold Big Ten season in Bloomington, a place not accustomed to losing.

It was Abraham Lincoln who once said, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.”

The Hoosiers’ recent past is far from quiet, but there has certainly been a forced change in outlook and expectations surrounding IU basketball’s “stormy present.”

One thing is sure though – IU fans hunger for, are excited about and expect a blue-skied future coming soon.

Until then, they’re ready to weather the rough seas.