“March Madness” has just been that!  For me it started with some hope.  Indiana University beat Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament, but that bubble burst quickly.  It had been a frustrating season with the Hoosiers starting strong with victories over two eventual Number 1 tourney seeds, North Carolina and Kansas.  It looked like a certain invitation to the NCAA tournament and an exciting year for the team.  Then the wheels fell off, one at a time. Senior leader Colin Hartman out for the year, a shocking loss to Fort Wayne, a season ending injury to O.G. Anunoby, another James Blackman knee issue, and a team that led the nation in turnovers, of all things.  Every game was a nightmare with rumblings about the future of head coach, Tom Crean.

Tom Crean came to Indiana from Marquette, a team know for its reckless brand of fast-break basketball.  The quick pace lead to turnover after turnover, embarrassing to a Hoosier Nation comfortable with a Bob Knight philosophy that stressed fundamentals and defense.  However, circumstances following the Kelvin Sampson debacle required a complete rebuild of the program and Tom Crean accomplished that challenge, winning two Big Ten Championships in his nine-year tenure.  However, the program has been a roller coaster ride with discipline problems, injuries, and tourney short-falls.  Indiana fans were used to winning, and Tom Crean was not their man to do it!

The last Indiana national championship was in 1987, with the unbeatable coach and player duo of Bob Knight and Steve Alford.  That was 30 long years ago!  Since that time, Bob Knight has turned into a bitter old man, and Steve Alford has put together an outstanding UCLA team in the tradition of fellow-Hoosier legend, John Wooden.  The I.U. basketball team went from Big Ten Champions to N.I.T. (not in tournament).  To make matters worse, they mysteriously declined the home-court advantage in their NIT opener against Georgia Tech and lost.  Tom Crean was fired several days later.  I was frankly surprised that I.U. Athletic Director, Fred Glass, pulled the trigger.  I knew Crean was in trouble, but felt the injury situation might save his job and that we would suffer through another year of disappointment.  Suddenly, it was Miller Time!

Many names came to the forefront, once the decision was made to replace Crean.  Brad Stevens topped the list that included other NBA coaches, up-and-coming college coaches, and of course, Steve Alford, always a Hoosier favorite. Alford had been a candidate to replace Mike Davis, who after “replacing the irreplaceable” Bob Knight, promptly took the Hoosiers to the 2002 NCAA Championship game but lost to future Big Ten foe Maryland.  It would have been more difficult to replace him had they won that game, but many believe that history led to a decision between Kelvin Sampson and Steve Alford.  Unfortunately, Alford was  not the winner, and Indiana eventually faced the wrath of NCAA sanctions, and the beginning of the Tom Crean era.

Alford has lost another battle in the course of those 30 fruitless years of Indiana basketball.  Following his leadership in winning the National Championship, not to mention helping Team U.S.A. secure an Olympic Gold Medal in 1983, Alford was the favorite to be the top draft pick for the Indiana Pacers.  General manager, Donnie Walsh, went against Hoosier sentiment and selected Reggie Miller as their top pick in the 1987 NBA draft.  It was a decision that turned out to be a great one.  Even Steve Alford agrees.  However, that was not the only time he was out-Miller-ed!

Reggie Miller retired as a Pacer, and was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.  Alford earned the 26th pick of the Dallas Maverick, played a  four-year stint in the NBA, but only started three games over his career.  He then went into coaching, starting with North Manchester University in Indiana.  By 1995, he had moved on to Missouri State, taking them to the Sweet 16, followed by Iowa and New Mexico head coaching positions.  The road eventually led to UCLA in 2013.  Along the way, I’m sure he was considered many times by his Indiana alma mater, but it has yet to happen.  Many hoped that he would jump at the chance when Crean was dismissed, but why leave behind a promising recruiting class that he had built at U.C.L.A.?  After all, he had just achieved the Sweet 16 once again, and seemed to be in great standing with the U.C.L.A. fan base.

As it turned out, Alford would once again lose favor to a Miller.  This time, instead of Reggie, it was Archie.  Alford’s Bruins lost to Kentucky, and Indiana announced that Archie Miller from Dayton would take over the Hoosier reins for 2018.  I’m excited for the change in leadership, but disappointed that the only “March Madness” headlines that Indiana made in 2017 was the coaching change.  Budweiser take a seat, because if you were a Spike Lee hater and a current Hoosier supporter you know that in Indiana, it’s “Miller Time” once again!