Indiana hoops: Hoosiers far behind state's top 3

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/15/2010 -

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -Basketball still rules in Indiana. Even if the Hoosiers no longer rule basketball in the state

They're not even in the top three.

For the 20th time in the past three decades, at least three teams from the state of Indiana have made it into the NCAA tournament. For the first time, however, the Indiana Hoosiers were not one of those three.

They weren't even eligible.

Purdue, Butler and Notre Dame are all preparing for the tournament, which will end April 5 with the championship game in Indianapolis. Indiana is on spring break with nowhere to go.

Purdue (27-5) landed a No. 4 seed and will play Siena in Spokane, Wash., on Friday. Butler (28-4) got a No. 5 seed and will be trying to extend the nation's longest winning streak to 21 games when it faces UTEP in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday.

Sixth-seeded Notre Dame (23-11), which won six straight games before losing to West Virginia in a Big East tournament semifinal, will play Old Dominion in New Orleans on Thursday.

Hoosiers fans? It was the second straight season and the fourth time in the past seven years that they had no reason to turn on the NCAA selection show other than to see where their in-state rivals were headed. All Indiana coach Tom Crean could do Sunday was tweet about his hopes that the Hoosiers will be back.

``From the cornfields to the Capitol we are out and about today,'' Crean posted on his Twitter account. ``We need to get the guys added that can help us get back to Selection Sunday.''

He later added: ``Size, toughness and athleticism is the ingredients of the day.''

Crean has been urging Hoosier fans to support the Hoosiers, urging them to wear crimson and cream to high school games, tweeting: ``WE NEED TO ALL TAKE BACK THE STATE.''

Indiana hasn't been among the best teams in the state since Kelvin Sampson resigned because of recruiting violations two years ago. That left the Hoosiers with only eight scholarship players and one senior for the 2008-09 season, when they finished with a 6-25 record, winning just one Big Ten game, and posting the school's worst winning percentage in nearly a century.

This season, the Hoosiers had a big win against Pittsburgh and played well for half against Kentucky. But they also had an embarrassing loss to Loyola of Maryland, struggled against South Carolina-Upstate and narrowly avoided becoming the first squad in school history to lose 12 in a row.

Indiana lost by 15 points to Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten tournament, ending the season at 10-21, including losses in 12 of its last 13 games.

Freshman guard Jordan Hulls, who was Indiana's Mr. Basketball a year ago, said afterward that it will be hard for the Hoosiers to watch the NCAA tournament on television.

``We know that we're a good team and we can play with a lot of other teams, and it's going to be tough seeing those other guys thinking we should be out there playing as well,'' he said. ``But like I said, we're just going to have to move on from this and try to get better.''

Guard Jeremiah Rivers, a transfer who was a backup at Georgetown, said he probably won't watch much of the tournament.

``This is the first time I've played and not gone to it. I was spoiled my first two years, and went to the Final Four with Georgetown,'' he said. ``It's not going to be the same thing. Missing the tournament hurts.

``Things can turn, you know. Look at North Carolina in the championship last year and not making the tournament.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.