Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports
Indianapolis, IN- Hopes were high for Indiana Hoosiers basketball entering the 2012-13 season. They returned players like Cody Zeller, Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford, Derek Elston, Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey. They also had one of the best recruiting classes to ever step foot on the Bloomington, Indiana campus coming in. This class was stacked as ESPN rated them the fourth best recruiting class that season.
The class was so good they were deemed the nickname “The Movement.”
This was supposed to be the class that brought IU back to the promised land. Fans were promised this class was going to deliver, and these kids were legit. When Indiana fans were suffering through those six and eight win seasons we were told there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Just wait until these kids got to campus to join the other veterans.
The hype was never bigger than last year for IU. They were preseason No. 1 for the first time in years and even had ESPN show up to televise their opening practice. The title was handed to them already as it was theirs to lose.
Unfortunately, they did lose it. They were so inconsistent all year but did win the Big 10 title outright and earned the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. But again they blew it all away. They lost to Wisconsin in the Big 10 tourney and were upset by Syracuse in the Sweet 16.
So after all of that hype they didn’t do any better than the year prior without “The Movement” — two straight Sweet 16 losses.
Then this year it was supposed to be another good season. A lot of people didn’t give them a chance to be like last year, but this team had the capability to surprise people. They had the fourth ranked recruiting class again as between last year and this year they had 10 new players that were among the best in the land in high school.
But like “The Movement” this class isn’t performing and it’s affecting IU.
This is the time these kids are supposed to shine. This is Yogi Ferrell, Jeremy Hollowell, Hanner Perea, Noah Vonleh, and Troy Williams’ time to be the big men on campus. They were highly touted entering Indiana and all were supposed to be NBA draft picks. Now, this group can’t even stay on the floor long enough to make an impact.
Only Ferrell is averaging over 30 minutes-per-game, and the others are barely averaging playing a half. Then guys like Perea, Hollowell, Luke Fisher, Peter Jurkin and Colin Hartman have been an utter disappointment. They struggle to find the court and when they do play they look lost. They can’t score, can’t shoot and can’t defend.
This group is good enough to get a coach fired, and that’s what’s likely to happen if they don’t shape up. The Hoosier faithful is growing restless. They haven’t hung a banner in now 26 years. They were all but promised that this was going to be a dynasty and multiple titles would come to Bloomington. This was supposed to be the glory days of old IU.
Instead, they have two Sweet 16 losses and a team that is going to have to do a lot in the Big 10 schedule to even make the NCAA Tournament this year. That’s not what everyone was expecting. This is a monumental letdown.
