By now you've heard Indiana and Kentucky won their first round games Thursday night. That set the stage for a match up between the two rivals. The winner heads to the sweet sixteen and gets bragging rights. These two teams haven't played each other since 2011 when Indiana won on a buzzer beater at Assembly Hall. They also lost to Kentucky that season in the NCAA tournament.
Once again, the Wildcats stand in the way of a Hoosier team that's looking for something more than a Big Ten Championship.
The Hoosiers opened the Big Ten season at home honoring Indiana's 1976 undefeated basketball team. A feat no other school has been able to do since then.
It was also about that time the Hoosiers started turning their season around. The Hoosiers won seven in a row, clinched the Big Ten title outright earning Head Coach Tom Crean Big Ten Coach of the Year.
"Coach stayed with us like he always does," Indiana Jr. Forward Collin Hartman says. "He stayed with us and doesn't get mad at us too much. He keeps us confident. Keeps our hopes up and keeps us playing hard. It's all motivation right there."
But it wasn't until the last home game of the season during senior speeches that fans learned what helped turn the team around.
Indiana Sr. Guard Nick Zeisloft says they were in Maui where the Hoosiers lost to Wake Forest and UNLV. "Coach was mad," he says. " (Crean) said, do you play at Indiana or for Indiana. He goes, we have a bunch of guys that play at Indiana not for Indiana, not for those banners up there or those banners up there."
This is the team that had many fans worried after their 6th place finish in the Maui Invitational followed by a 20 point loss at Duke.
"The worst thing that could happen when someone is struggling is you keep reminding them of it," head coach Tom Crean says. "And there's enough talk on the outside of slump this and it's not what's relevant. For us it's not about the percentages. If we played other teams percentages, we'd probably lose more games. You gotta play the players."
The players responded with an undefeated home schedule and national rankings in the top ten.
Indiana Jr. Forward Troy Williams says their progress has been amazing.
"Everybody on the team has somewhat hit rock bottom and to come up now and see how far it brought us is just amazing."
But can the team handle the pressure of playing in post-season tournaments? A first round loss in the Big Ten Tourney landed the team in a tough NCAA bracket.
Freshman Center Thomas Bryant says in tournament play, you have to play the whole forty minutes. "You know, there's ups and downs in a game, there are runs, you gotta stay there and execute each one."
Forward Max Bielfeldt says every minute counts. "How ever much pressure is on you, you can't break so you gotta be that team that withstands more of the pressure than the other team. When things really get crazy, instead of breaking, you come closer together."
Fans packed Nick's English Hut Thursday watching the Hoosiers defeat Chattanooga predicting IU will make it to the Final Four.
But first the IU / Kentucky rivalry renews Saturday night. The game is set for 5:15 p.m. on CBS.
