Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Sign up with TheHoosier.com here.

Ahead of their final practices before a first-round clash with Kent State, Indiana's Miller Kopp is at the interview dais, flanked on each side by his fellow senior leaders.

He, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson are answering questions reflecting on the season that has come and gone – a new one starting on Friday night. A months-long marathon has quickly transformed to a six-game sprint, with the ultimate prize awaiting the most victorious team over the next three weekends.

The difference, however, is there's no set length for this "new season." A sense of finality hangs over a group that has worked themselves to a four-seed in the Mike Woodson-coined "Big Dance," and their eyes are fully trained on the opportunity that lays ahead of them. A six-game winning streak stands between any team in the tournament and a national championship, and Indiana has put themselves in a position to be in the conversation.

Yet, one slip up ends this season. In this new season, losses can't be spared. Tomorrow doesn't exist without creating it.

Ahead of the anticipated meetup with the Golden Flashes, Indiana's veteran voices are talking at length about the lessons they've learned leading up to this point. In particular, Kopp voices that one of this group's greatest strengths holistically is their ability to recoup from poor results and adversity – to find their points of weakness in an outcome and better them for next time. The regular season and Big Ten Tournament saw 11 losses in total, but the Hoosiers know a 12th would be their final.

Now, they must hope that those lessons learned in loss are enough to prevent another one. So, despite the human nature to want to look ahead, Indiana only has eyes for Kent State. They'll concern themselves with the next step once they get to it.

"We've had a lot of time to prepare, and you just gotta take it one game at a time," Trayce Jackson-Davis said on Thursday. "Obviously, it's win or go home, so we just have to play as hard as we can each and every game. It starts with Kent State, and that's all we're worried about right now."

Jackson-Davis is Indiana's consensus All-American. With so much of his legacy already solidified by his individual accomplishments, he holds true to what he's always been about: playing aside his teammates and soaking in every last moment of the moments they've afforded themselves. Besides, there's no telling how many of them are left.

"Right now we have to focus on Kent State, and if we lose, yes, it is our last game," Jackson-Davis continued. "So that's all we've got to focus on. We can't focus on anything else past that."

As the pressers lingered on, the general sense of togetherness continued, stretching into the open locker room as well. If anyone believes in this group, it's them. They're more than okay with keeping it that way, too – any outside noise at this point is likely nothing more than a distraction.

"We're going out there to win the game. That's the goal at the end of the day," Thompson said when asked about being a possible popular upset pick. "It doesn't matter whether people pick us or not. We think we can win any game." Kopp echoed the same sentiment, stressing that Indiana controls their own fate the rest of the way. "It's about handling what we can control and going from there," Kopp said.

It's not lost on Indiana that the Golden Flashes are in the tournament for a reason of their own. Kent State presents a lot of challenges that will force Indiana to play their best game, but according to Kopp, "[I]f we stick to our principles, we think we're going to be in a good spot."

The Hoosiers have been in this spot before. In fact, a year ago to the day Indiana will tip off in Albany on Friday, they were chased off the court by St. Mary's in Portland, concluding a stretch of five games in seven days and, of course, their season as a whole. The abrupt ending gave Indiana a taste of what March is like, both joyous in the spirit of a postseason run and the harshness of everything coming to an end all at once.

"I think it really showed us, the guys that were coming back this year, that we got to take it and be ready to go from the jump," junior guard Trey Galloway recalled about the moments after the first-round loss a year ago. "I think just being focused and ready to go from the jump is gonna be huge for us (this time.)"

As Galloway alluded to, this year's group features nearly every face that had a hand in that run last year. Now, they're armed with the experience of what to do – as well as what not to do – in situations where a season is on the line. Circling back to Kopp's earlier statements about taking lessons from a loss, the Hoosiers have surely drawn upon that memory multiple times in preparation this week.

Indiana made do in consecutive do-or-die situations before they eventually ran out of gas. This season, they're fresher heading into the tournament. They're better, too.

"We didn't even get a chance to enjoy what being in this tournament and what it's truly about," Jackson-Davis said. "I think just getting here four days early, having preparation, having rest, I think it's huge for us and our team. I think it will help us."

As valuable as it was for the players, there shouldn't be any discrediting of the impact it brought upon Woodson, too. Factoring in his years roaming the NBA sidelines, every postseason experience he's had during his time as a coach has been in a playoff series; the obvious exception being his first year back at Indiana. This format is much different from that of the NBA's, however.

There's no room for error and no time for postgame adjustments because it's a continuous run of Game 7-like scenarios. "You can't get around it," Woodson said.

So, what does that mean for Woodson? A laser focus on the aspects that win games, which oftentimes – amidst all the bright lights that a stage as large as this one presents – the ones right in front of you.

"It's the little things," Woodson said. "I put on the board every game, 'Simple plays win basketball games,' and they do. You can't over complicate things. You can't change who you are."

Indiana's hallmark is defense, Woodson says, and when combined with strong, efficient offense, the Hoosiers are a lot to handle. It's a formula that, when enacted upon, has been the most victorious outfit. "So tomorrow night," Woodson said Thursday, "that's not going to change."

After falling short of checking one of their biggest boxes less than a week ago with their Big Ten Tournament flame out, the possibility of ending a 36-year national championship drought still is there for the taking. It's a goal that standout freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino set ahead of the season, and as he's assumed a lead guard role, it's probably fair to assume he'll spearhead the efforts to do so.

"Now that I'm finally in March Madness and I'm here with my brothers, I'm definitely just locked in and ready to take it one game at a time," Hood-Schifino told reporters. A smile did come over his face as he admitted that he was excited to see how far this group can go, though. He's a two-time national champion from high school, but this is a whole different world. Plus, he's the young gun running with the veterans, and there's a good chance this is his only time experiencing this tournament as his NBA draft stock has continued to accumulate buzz. It's probably okay to take in an event like this one for what it's worth.

That's as long as the group stays locked in on the very goal they had aspirations of achieving dating all the way back to the summer. Kent State is the first team standing in between the Hoosiers and the accomplishment of a lifetime, and they're not going to just roll over and give it to Indiana, either. Woodson isn't a coach to run from a challenge, though.

"We're playing a damn good basketball team, and we've got to come ready and committed," Woodson said. "You win, you go on. You lose, you go home and have to deal with it over the summer and think about all the things you probably should have done to extend your season.

"I'm not ready to go home, and I hope the players feel the same way."

----

• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals

• Like us on Facebook.