Indiana and Purdue Fans need to take a closer look

First appeared on March 7th, 2012
in The Lebanon Reporter

A wise man once told me “sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees”. And while it sounds very prophetic, I literally had no idea what it meant until I heard Andy Taylor explain it once on the ‘Andy Griffith Show’. You’ve probably seen the episode; the one where Opie gets busted for lying about something he did despite hearing Andy warn him beforehand that it was a bad idea (OK, so maybe that describes all of them).

For fans of the Indiana Hoosiers this should be a time of great rejoice. For the first time since 2006 they swept their arch rival Purdue in basketball and yet the grumbling of Hoosier Nation lingers. In one season Indiana fans went from ”We’ve got a shot at another National Title” to “FIRE TOM CREAN!!”

Oh the ‘forest for the trees’ indeed. In bringing the Hoosiers back to the Top 20 and dusting off their dancing shoes, Tom Crean has completely pulled Indiana's program from the toilet bowl Kelvin Sampson so carelessly dumped it into. Hoosier fans should simply be thankful that, before he could flush the program entirely, Sampson paused to make a cell phone call long enough to be fired.

Indiana fans should relish the little things right now. Things like the fact Robbie Hummel will suffer nightmares of Cody Zeller’s second half swat for years to come. That rejection was so bad Hummel will likely toss around at night with visions of Zeller swatting his pop tart away from the toaster rolling through his head.

Instead of bemoaning three straight conference losses, Indiana fans should rest safe in the knowledge that, after hearing the cheer block chanting “Jailbird” at one Boilermaker, Indiana University is producing a student body so well rounded they value the importance of staying abreast of current events.

Before Boiler fans start feeling too good about themselves, they aren’t exactly boasting 20/20 vision either. Proof they can’t see ‘the forest for the trees’ can be found in their questioning of Head Coach Matt Painter’s dismissal of Kelsey Barlow at such a critical point in the season. And while at the time, considering Painter’s lack of depth, it seemed the equivalent of Custer sending someone out for donuts in the middle of his last stand, clearly it was the right move. For, despite being swept by their arch enemy, it’s almost indisputable that the Boilers are playing much better basketball now.

I always thought Indiana was so tough to beat at Assembly Hall because of magic or divine intervention but, according to Painter, it’s a result of making shots instead. For, after the Hoosiers excelled in numerous phases of the game, Painter refused to acknowledge the performance, instead chalking the loss up to Indiana’s “making shots”.

But after getting down by 18 in one of the most difficult places to play in college basketball Sunday Night, Purdue had enough heart to fight their way back into the game. For all Matt Painter’s team has endured over the last 3 years, this should bode well moving forward.

Oh the ‘forest for the trees’. Lost in the bluster of Sunday Night’s rivalry game was the fact that neither had any remaining hopes of a regular season conference title. What many also failed to see was the fact both teams have won 20 games and were fighting for a middle of the road seed in the Big Ten Tourney. Indeed it’s a far cry from the heyday of Knight and Keady but, trees or not, we can all see one thing clearly-these two still don’t like each other.

© 2012 Eric Walker Williams