Scanning the Indiana roster, you aren't going to find any future NBA stars. If you want to know what they are going to be doing in five years, it would be best to check their college majors. That's probably why few of them have picked from the customary list of athlete majors (i.e. communications, advanced finger painting, etc.)
Now compare that to Maryland, the team they just faced in the NCAA finals. One could argue that more than half of Maryland's roster could eventually end up in the NBA, most sooner rather than later.
How did underdog Indiana end up in this position? Well, that is what is remarkable. They had a memorable run through the tournament, one that few if any saw coming. Thousands of brackets must have been shredded by their owners the moment after they beat Duke.
And they did it with what are basically a string of role players. The only player on the team with enough talent to possibly play professionally is sophomore Jared Jeffries. However, he played terribly whenever Indiana needed him most. Instead, players like Tom Coverdale, Dane Fife and Jeff Newton carried the team to each improbable victory.
Their two biggest victories of the tourney came versus heavily favored Duke and Oklahoma State. The game versus Duke seemed to come down to Jason Williams free throw miss. (Is Jason Williams ever going to learn how to shoot free throws? He might be greeted in the NBA with the Hack-a-Williams strategy if he doesn't practice this summer.) But William's miss obscured the great defense played by Indiana, especially by Dane Fife, as well as some strong offense from A.J. Moye and Tom Coverdale. Indiana somehow managed to rally to victory with 2:50 left and down 70-64 to arguably the best team in the country.
It's hard to have expected more from the Hoosiers after a victory of that magnitude. But they continued their run to the final with a victory over Kent State in the subsequent round followed by a much bigger upset against Oklahoma in the Final Four.
They were simply overmatched against Maryland. When they threw Jeffries in against Maryland's big men, Baxter's emphatic block (or should I say catch) of Jeffries' shot attempt summed up his effectiveness on the evening.
Indiana played hard, but they couldn't expect to continue their fortunate shooting for the entire tournament. Fife made a valiant effort against Maryland's star guard Juan Dixon, but he just couldn't stop him. There was no repeat performance by Jeff Newton, whose surprising play had helped bury Oklahoma in the previous round. Coverdale, still recovering from injury, was not able to sink enough threes to keep his team in the game. But nobody expected Indiana to be able to even get this far; it was only through their effort and determination that they were able to do so.
On the tournament in general, I don't think I'm the only one who noticed a big reduction in the level of play. I could not believe how many turnovers and bad plays were made. Most of the games were aggravatingly low scoring. True star players were few and far between. In what is supposed to be, and has been in years past, a showcase of basketball talent, it is hard to imagine many in this year's display making it past college.
The finals this year were pretty good, but in terms of the players involved, it was a far cry from any of the games of the last few decades. In past tournaments you could see players like Grant Hill, Antoine Walker or Shaq battling it out. Jordan and Worthy as well as Drexler and Olajuwon played on the same teams together.
It is likely nearly all of the players this year will be soon forgotten. Dixon will make a good, but not great, NBA player in the future. But if you're looking for superstars from the NCAA this year, you should remember that they're already in the NBA. Quentin Richardson, Kwame Brown and Eddie Curry are just a few of the players we missed out on this year because they'd rather languish on a losing bench than play in the best tournament basketball has to offer.
And this trend is not going to be ending anytime soon. Even players who make a compromise by attending college for a couple years are now contemplating cutting short college in favor of going pro. I hope some of them will reconsider, if not for the sake of NCAA basketball, than for their own welfare.
Declaring for the NBA is not the rosy endeavor many of them think, especially if they are borderline when it comes to ability. Indiana sophomore Jared Jeffries is expected to declare his intentions for the NBA draft soon.
Many are hoping he reconsider, citing his apparent unreadiness and need for more experience first. Hopefully he'll contemplate how overmatched he was through much of the tournament. Or maybe he'll take a glance at an ESPN.com poll where the vast majority of responses cite him as the player who would most benefit from staying another year.
Players like Jeffries and perhaps also Casey Jacobsen and Kareem Rush could soon know the regrettable paths tread by players in their situation before them. Jaron Rush declared early two years ago, and after not being drafted, washed out in three different leagues, the NBA, NBA developmental league and the new ABA. Rush is a now a recovering alcoholic. Omar Cook is stuck in the developmental league after declaring too early.
Upsets are fun, but the overwhelming parity in men's college basketball caused by skipping college is getting out of hand. For the sake of both the players and a better tournament I hope they all stay just a couple more years.
