2/24/2017 basketball Edit

Collin Hartman Readies For Senior Night With Future Undetermined

Stu Jackson • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

Stu Jackson covers Indiana University basketball, football and recruiting for TheHoosier.com. He also hosts Heard on The Hoosier, the site's official podcast.

Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Click here to get your 30-day free trial!

The season hasn’t gone the way IU senior forward Collin Hartman planned, but he remains invested as ever in the program as ever.

Heading into Saturday’s 8 p.m. ET senior night matchup with Northwestern, he’ll have fond memories of his time so far with the program.

“I love this staff, I love what this university has done for me,” Hartman said. “It’s made me who am I today.”

Hartman still hasn’t make a decision on whether he’ll return next season, but did spend time Friday afternoon reminiscing on his career.

Hartman said many of his memories came from last season, including winning at Iowa on former IU guard Yogi Ferrell’s game-winning shot and the comeback win over Notre Dame in the Crossroads Classic.

However, the memory Hartman cherished the most was last year’s senior night.

“Cutting down the nets, that was the biggest thing for me, winning it for those guys on senior night and then getting to cut down the nets,” said Hartman, referring to last year’s senior class and outright Big Ten title. “That was probably the best thing, to me.”

It’s easy to understand last year was more memorable for Hartman compared to this year.

The Indianapolis Cathedral product sustained a season-ending knee injury in late September which forced him to watch each of the Hoosiers’ games from the sideline this season. Indiana’s lone senior tried to remain active in his teammates lives both on and off the court, but it was still challenging circumstances for him.

“It’s tough, man,” Hartman said. “it’s tough seeing a lot these guys and this team struggle and not being able to physically do anything about it. You can coach, you can talk to guys, you talk to them when they’re at home, you can dissect film, you can talk to them extra about the gameplan but you can’t do anything physically to help them on the court.”

Still, Hartman hasn’t let the injury hamper his responsibilities within the program.

“He’s done a fantastic job of doing everything he can possibly do inside of his senior year without playing,” IU head coach Tom Crean said.

The inability to physically intervene on the floor presents a source frustration for Hartman, such as sometimes losing his voice from yelling from the sidelines so much.

There’s also how the 2016-17 has played out to this point.

Still involved in practice every day and the team’s other responsibilities, Hartman knows how hard his teammates work and that they have the necessary talent to be better than their 15-13 overall, 5-10 Big Ten records show.

“These guys are good. They have the full potential of being good, and that’s the most frustrating part for all of us, for the whole team, for the coaches,” Hartman said. “They know we have all the pieces, and we still believe we have all the pieces that we need. We have talented guys, it’s just a matter of carrying out the gameplan, taking out the silly mistakes and just putting everything together.”

When rough patches like this hit, Hartman said the most important thing is for the team to stay positive. Lately that’s been a challenge with the Hoosiers, who are mired in a five-game losing streak, including 6 of their last seven.

However, Northwestern (20-8, 9-5), has dealt with its fair share of adversity since the last time these two teams met.

After a 68-55 victory in Evanston, Illinois, on Jan. 29, the Wildcats went 2-4 over their next six games and arrive in Bloomington following a road loss to Illinois.

“Coming off a tough game, but they’re deep, they’re talented,” IU head coach Tom Crean said.

Whether Hartman comes back next season still remains up in the air. He earned his undergraduate degree by the end of his junior year and will have his master’s degree this spring.

However, IU head coach Tom Crean will support Hartman no matter what he decides.

“He’s earned the right to make it his call,” Crean said. “If he decides to move on in life, he’s more than welcome to. He’s earned it. He’s earned it.”