Hoosiers

  As a kid my neighborhood was covered with basketball goals, there was one at every other house. Driveways and backyards filled with kids pretending to be Steve Alford, Damon Bailey, Calbert Cheaney and Reggie Miller. (I know Reggie played at UCLA) I remember hearing stories from my father & grandfather about basketball in the state of Indiana. About how the state highschool tournament was the only one of its kind in the nation. I remember wanting so badly to play highschool basketball in Indiana.

  Of course people don't stop dreaming after highschool. Indiana University and Coach Bob Knight, I would have wanted nothing more to be on your team. I understood it was a long shot, but I would gladly sit the bench the first few years while the general molded my game to have what it takes to be a Hoosier. To me that was as good as it could possibly get. An Indiana boy playing highschool basketball, then wearing the candystriped pants and playing for the  greatest coach on the greatest team.

  I never got an offer from Coach Knight but that is not the point. I eventually landed at Vincennes University, not on the basketball team, but I did stay in the same dorm as the ball players. In fact the guys right next door were on the team. One of the players, who was on a full ride scholarship, failed a drug test. He was then dismissed from the team, scholarship revoked and moved back to Georgia to be with his girlfriend and young son. I remember him saying how he let his family down, he was the first in his family to attend college. He was going to graduate and be a role model for his son. Instead he smoked marijuana, in his own dorm room.

  Basketball can take these young players far in life but what will take them farther is good decision making and a good education. Have you ever heard the saying "it takes a village"? Parents, coaches, friends, teachers and others are needed in the growth of these young men. Helping guide these players in the right direction, and the right direction is not where the 2014 Hoosiers are headed.

  I just do not understand. I do not understand the thought process of these kids. I do not understand the actions or lack there of by the coaching staff. I do not understand how these young men can attend Indiana University and not know what it means to be a Hoosier. As soon as the players at Indiana put on the jersey and lace up there shoes they are knowingly representing the entire state, tradition and expectations that is Indiana basketball.  Fair or unfair, it is what it is.

  No one in this state is expecting to go 40-0. We are however expecting a clean program with players who want to be Hoosiers. As fans we are also expecting them to win, and while winning, to display characteristics of class and hard work. We are also expecting our coach to lead these men toward success and mold them into players that future generations will hear success stories about. I do not want to tell my children stories like the one above that happened at VU. I want to tell them stories like the "Watshot." I want to tell my grandkids about Banner 6, 7, and 8.

  I can't tell those stories for multiple reasons. I have no grandkids. I cannot tell those stories because they haven't happened yet. I cannot tell those stories with the team going direction that is going in.

  The 2014 Hoosiers need more than leadership and role models. What this team needs is Hoosiers. Hoosiers leading other Hoosiers. Hoosiers having each others best interest in mind at all times. Hoosiers that want nothing more than to be successful as a TEAM. Hoosiers who know what it means to be a Hoosier. Hoosiers who know what it takes to be Hoosier. Hoosiers who know the work put in by players before them paved the way for their future success. Hoosiers that buy into their coach and Hoosiers who know what Indiana basketball means to millions of its fans.

  I wish this team nothing but success on their journey to becoming Hoosiers.