Month: March 2013

For Louisville, Russ Smith holds all the cards

By CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS – He coughed. His teammates hacked and gagged. Coaches recoiled in horror as he leaned into the timeout huddle. Patient Zero himself grew weary as the night went on, desperate not for Gatorade but for antibiotics, the best chicken noodle soup and the nice, warm sheets in his hotel […]

Duke beats Michigan State in battle of true coaching legends

By CLIFF BRUNT ISL Editor I know, the word legend gets thrown around quite a bit. Heck, I used it in the title of the very site you’re reading. I believe you can get away with that in Indiana, though, because that word applies quite often here. It makes sense. Legend applied to the coaching […]

Indiana’s Zeller, Oladipo NBA bound?

By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor WASHINGTON D.C. ” Let the speculation begin. Will Victor Oladipo and/or Cody Zeller opt to leave Indiana with eligibility remaining and head to the NBA? After IU lost to Syracuse Thursday night in the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, both of the Hoosier stars were asked about their future […]

Hoosiers’ ending is more ‘hollow’ than ‘Hollywood’

By CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent Just like that, it’s over. The Indiana Hoosiers are going home for one big reason: They couldn’t hit shots. More to the point, Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense prevented them from hitting shots. Three-for-15 from beyond the arc? While the Orange got their hands on the ball for 12 steals and […]

Indiana’s season ends abruptly with loss to Syracuse in Sweet 16

By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor WASHINGTON D.C. — This was supposed to be the year for Indiana basketball. The year Indiana returned to the Final Four. The year it won its first national championship since 1987. The table was set for Tom Crean’s Hoosiers shortly after his 2011-12 team fell to eventual national champion […]

Pacers Notebook: Is Granger gone for good?

By CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent THE SCOOP: Pacers forward Danny Granger is out for the season, the team announced Thursday prior to a game in Dallas. He will undergo surgery on his left knee. The longtime franchise mainstay had played in only five games this season, scoring as many as 12 points on Feb. 28 […]

Indiana, Syracuse meet for first time in NCAA since ’87 classic

By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor WASHINGTON D.C. ” When Indiana and Syracuse do battle tonight at the Verizon Center in the nation’s capital, many Hoosier faithful will fondly recall the last time these two college basketball Goliaths collided in the NCAA Tournament. Remember March 30, 1987? There’s not a Hoosier fan on the planet that doesn’t […]

Hoosiers: Beating Syracuse’s 2-3 zone is key

By COLLIN O’CONNOR ISL Correspondent Ever since Jim Boeheim took over the Syracuse basketball program, his famous 2-3 zone has become synonymous with the program’s success. Through recruiting long, athletic players that perfectly fit into this defensive system, Boeheim has built up a program that features a team this season that he says is good as […]

Samples: Busted brackets make for late March fun

By CHUCK SAMPLES ISL Correspondent How busted is your bracket these days? Maybe I should ask what’s in your wallet, but I can pretty much guarantee there ain’t as much in there now as there was last week. And however much you spent on your pool, you ain’t getting it back. Wow. Talk about a crazy week […]

Brunt: Yes, it was a down year for Purdue

By CLIFF BRUNT ISL Editor I said this wouldn’t be a down year for Purdue. I was wrong. It wasn’t a down year in a sense. Purdue wasn’t horrible, at least not for the entire season. Things started out badly and were downright awful during the middle of the conference slate, but towards the end […]