Thursday, March 12, 2009

An ending, mercifully

The IU men's basketball season ended with a thud Thursday. A 66-51 loss to Penn State.

Most fans thought the team would be down this year. Maybe the ESPN commentators were right today when they said during the broadcast that the end of the season couldn't come soon enough. They said sometimes it's time to put the ball away and go home.

Maybe they were right. The Hoosiers were out-manned and out-played all season.

Today's game resembled much of the Big Ten season. Despite fighting hard, the players couldn't get it done. Penn State was on the ropes. After nearly blowing the Hoosiers out early on, IU began to come back. The Hoosiers came back from being down 26-8 and with 6 minutes left and had the ball trailing 29-20. IU was on a 12-3 run, another bucket would have really put some pressure on Penn State with six minutes to go in the half.

Instead, an offensive foul was called. The ball went back to Penn State, who promptly scored a lay-up. IU never got within 10 points again. Season over. Six wins, 25 losses.

Throughout the second half, just like the entire season, ESPN's commentators filled time by saying the IU cavalry is on the way. That next year truly is coming.

As IU fans, we hope it does. Because we must never speak of the 2008-09 season again.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I hope the rest of the Big Ten enjoyed the season. We'll now enjoy the climb back up!