Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Sign up with TheHoosier.com here.
CHICAGO, Ill. -- Indiana opens its postseason play on Friday night in a place that has not been all too kind to the program. Since the inception of the Big Ten Tournament, Indiana has yet to win a tournament title and has only been to the Big Ten Championship game once. Overall, it has just a 15-24 record and has made it to the semifinals just once in the last 10 years.
However, that's all in the past and Indiana head coach Mike Woodson understands that this team -- and his program -- is different than the previous years.
"We've done some things in the year and a half I've been here that we haven't done in a long time, so you have to give a lot of credit to a lot of these players and my coaching staff for making that happen," Woodson said on Thursday. "I'm not worried about the NCAA (Tournament) right now, the Big Ten Tournament is staring us in the face.
"Last year we made a nice run at it but fell short. This year, now, it's a new season, to go out and try to win the Big Ten Tournament and then worry about he NCAA Tournament. . . we have a great opportunity."
The main difference from Woodson's first year in the Big Ten Tournament to now? The feelings around the program entering game one.
"This time last season we were a desperate team trying to figure out the tournament when we got in . . . it's different this season," Woodson said. "We've played well enough to put us in position this Big Ten season. Getting the double-bye gives us a day or so -- two days to prepare . . . we are going to try to take it one game at a time and see where it leads us.
"You know, our guys were right there at the end fighting, man. You know, they were playing for something and because they had never tasted the NCAA play, and this year, it will be a little different."
Indiana arrives in Chicago at 21-10 overall and 12-8 in Big Ten play, in large part to the dynamic duo of Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino. While one is extremely tenured and experienced in this environment, the other is about to experience his first taste of college postseason play.
"At the end of the day it's basketball. We already know what we came here to do," Hood-Schifino said. "A lot of times in this tournament we will play teams we've played multiple times (this season), so we just have to stay locked in and be prepared."
Last season, Indiana was the hottest team in the tournament before falling one shot short of a championship berth in the semifinals. Indiana was down 17 points at halftime to Michigan in the second round before something clicked. Then a win over top-seeded Illinois in the quarterfinals jumped the Hoosiers into a place its typically not in come this week, and also into the NCAA Tournament.
"You just have to play your game . . . you have to be ready to play, on top of everything, on top of scouting, getting your body right because it's a quick turnaround," Jackson-Davis said. "We just have to take it one game at a time.
"We are here competing for something. Obviously last year we were too, but we had that anxiety almost of not making the tournament so we were clawing and scratching. And we still have to do these things, but we can play more of a relaxed type of basketball. We are just ready to get out there."
That 'clawing' and 'scratching' of last year spilled over into this season. After a tough end of December and early January, the Hoosiers were sitting at 1-4 in Big Ten play and tied for last.
Then, things swung in their favor and resulted in winning eight of nine games to put them in position where they are today.
"I just think that's the story of how our team has been this year. We have had some ups and downs and it's been a roller coaster, but we fight," Jackson-Davis said after IU's win over Michigan to end the regular season. "There's been a lot of fight from this group of guys."
So, as Indiana takes the court on Friday night . . . and every other night from here on out, there is no promise of a 'next time'. Everything is win or go home and every win will mean more.
But, it will also take more to reach that feeling.
"Yeah, I think the Iowa game, I wouldn't say it's good thing that this happened, but I mean we learned a lot from it," IU senior forward Race Thompson said following IU's win over Michigan. "We know that we can't go out there and expect to win every game. You have to go out there and play when you're playing in the Big Ten.
"We are leaving everything we got on the court, and I think just going off that, knowing that almost the next couple games could be the last games of our career, we are just going to play desperate. And I don't think we'll lay an egg like that (Iowa loss) ever again."
----
• 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.
