IT JUST GOT REAL, USA — Well playas…tonight’s the night that the Indiana Hoosiers find out just how far away they are from being an elite program. They’ve got to walk into a lion’s den called Cameron Indoor Stadium on the campus of Duke University to get pledged. If they can keep from getting run out of the joint they can, to some degree, cross those burning sands to the path of getting back to elite status.
Sure, the Hoosiers have a great history of winning national titles, 5 in fact, but they haven’t won one since 1987. They haven’t been a dominant program since then either. Just in case folks have forgotten what the elite programs in college basketball look like let me refresh your memory. They are Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan State, Villanova etc. Why? Because they’re competing for national titles every year and they’re competing for the best players EVERY year.
Most people in Indiana are still delusional enough to believe that IU is still one of the best programs in college basketball. It hasn’t been in that elite class for at least 25 years. How do I know? Because I’m a graduate of IU and have been following the program closely my entire life. I was a student in Bloomington during some of it’s glory years from 1987 to 1990. They were an elite program back then.
Tonight they’ve got to show up and compete against three of the best hoopers at the college level. Zion Williamson, Cam Reddish and RJ Barrett can potentially become the top three picks in next June’s NBA Draft. That’s what you call elite!!! IU is showing up with Romeo Langford and a bunch of other dudes. Langford’s a lottery pick no doubt about it but he’ll have his hands full with what Duke is going to roll out on the floor. Can his compadres keep the water out of the boat? That’s the question.
If the Hoosiers can keep this thing close they can feel great about the progress that ole Archie Miller is making very quickly to take Indiana to another level. In just his second year in Bloomington he’s breathing life back into a program that was dead in terms of being an elite program for years.
The state of Indiana has the best high basketball players in America. If you don’t believe me check it’s resume of current NBA players that didn’t go to IU. The only problem they keep running into is that they continue to let those types of players get away to the elite programs around the country. Boyz like Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina and Michigan State keep crossing the border and swooping all of the best Hoosier talent.
Last year Archie Miller signed three of the top four players in the state which included Romeo Langford, Rob Phinisee and Damezi Anderson. That was huge for the program. Now he’s got to continue to do the same thing year after year and part of that ability to recruit at that level is to show up in Cameron Indoor tonight and hold their own. It would be great to get a win but more importantly they’ve got to keep from getting blown out of the joint. Stop me when I start lyin’!