Northwestern buries IU in first-round loss

INDIANAPOLIS — For the entire 2009-2010 season, IU has been behind.

Like a lagging runner, the Hoosiers have never been able to catch up to their Big Ten rivals, the teams they must measure up to if they have any hope of returning to glory.

IU again found itself behind with too much space between its opponent and itself, losing 73-58 to Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

The loss wasn’t automatic. IU held a lead for most of the game before Northwestern came from behind to snatch the win.

After beating the Wildcats 88-80 in overtime Saturday, IU couldn’t muster a second win.

“We didn’t change too much,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. “I don’t think they did either.”

While Carmody was referring to the differences between Saturday and Thursday’s games, he could have been comparing the Hoosiers’ first and second seasons with IU coach Tom Crean.

Carmody has been in Crean’s position before.

He went 11-19 and 3-13 in the Big Ten in his first season with the Wildcats; now Carmody will lead his team against No. 6 Purdue, which they upset Jan. 16.
With another season behind him, Crean said, “We’re not through the tunnel yet.”

Rebuilding is common in the NCAA. The Wildcats were once in IU’s position, as guard Michael Thompson explained how the team went 1-17 in the Big Ten his freshman year. On Thursday, Northwestern notched its 20th win this season.

With six freshmen and junior  Jeremiah Rivers cleared to play, the Hoosiers began the year with seven new players on the court. But freshman forward Derek Elston said the team began to gel together through the season.

“I feel like the team just came as a whole. At the beginning a lot of people wanted to do their own separate thing,” Elston said.

Last year the fans expected and accepted a losing season, but this year seemed different. Sophomore guard Verdell Jones said for him, the season ended the same way: with disappointment.

“We had three seniors go out the way we didn’t want them to go out,” Jones said.
The final five left on the court were a mishmash: starter Jordan Hulls, sixth man Devan Dumes, walk-ons Kory Barnett and Brett Finkelmeier and IU’s least-played freshman Bawa Muniru.

Those players represented a season full of surprises and heartbreak.

From a 74-64 win against Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden to losing freshman guard Maurice Creek before the Big Ten season began; from an 81-78 overtime win against Minnesota and a student court rush to a 78-75 loss to Purdue at Assembly Hall, the season showed glimpses IU fans hope to see more consistently and some parts they hope remain buried in the past.

It started as another rebuilding year, and it will end with fans wondering what part three of Crean’s experiment will bring to the program.

No one said two years was enough time for IU to return to postseason glory, but advancing beyond the first round of the conference tournament seemed a possibility this year.

IU entered the game like a group of rookies set out to prove that “Hoosiers” isn’t just a movie. But their storybook ending will have to wait for another season.