By Cort Street | @cort_street

Sports Capital Journalism

INDIANAPOLIS – At the sight of Mike Woodson appearing on the video screen at Gainbridge Fieldhouse ahead of the Indiana Hoosiers’ second round matchup against the Oregon Ducks, their cheers surged into a roar.

It was a roar of admiration, not for all the Indiana head coach, whose departure was announced just over a month ago, had accomplished to that point, but for what they still believed – nay, expected – he would do in his final postseason on the sidelines.

Two hours after their boisterous acclamation, following a 72-59 defeat at the hands of the Oregon Ducks, the crowd would carry a much more ruminant perspective on the Hoosier head coach as they filed pensively out of the building. But to hear their pregame acknowledgement was to validate the impact of Woodson’s time, with all its ebbs and flows, on Indiana basketball, an acknowledgement that seemed improbable just weeks earlier.

“We’re playing some of our best basketball,” Woodson, who boasts an 82-53 in his four years at the helm of Indiana, said. “I don’t think that there’s a team in the country that we can’t beat if we come ready to play and compete for 40 minutes.”

Not long ago, a very different attitude had permeated throughout the rolling fields of Indiana, a place so steeped in the very fabric of basketball itself, a place that refuses to accept anything less than perfection, the residence of a fanbase that considers a sixth national championship its very birthright. Woodson, despite all he had accomplished, had fallen on the wrong side of their ideology, never circumventing the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, falling short of the tournament in 2024, and now teetering on the brink of a second straight season of failure.

But following the sudden announcement that Woodson was stepping away from the sport he had committed his life to, the Hoosiers found a renewed sense of life. The surge began with an upset win over Michigan State, was followed by a second-half explosion against Purdue, and became a reality in Indiana’s season-ending victory over Ohio State that earned Indiana a bye in the Big Ten Conference Tournament. Suddenly, a team that had looked hopeless just weeks ago appeared one win away from solidifying a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“All basketball seasons [deal] with ups and downs,” Woodson said. “It’s just a part of the sport. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve seen it go all kinds of ways.”

It was the Ohio State win that brought back a symphony of nostalgia for Woodson, who played for the Hoosiers himself all those decades ago. He recalled his final game in the 1980 season against the Buckeyes that secured a Big Ten championship in the same building 45 years earlier. It was Woodson’s Bob Knight roots that made him such an instant sensation in Bloomington, his presence symbolizing the remnants of a historic era of Hoosier basketball to which the followers so desperately hoped to return.

A deep run in March would reignite one of the most passionate fanbases in the country, but to Woodson, it would mean redemption for a college coaching career that had appeared to fall just short.

Now, though, the Hoosiers, residing just 55 miles from the Big Ten Tournament location, found themselves facing off against an Oregon team who had traveled 2,000 miles to meet them, who would play at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time, and who would now have to battle the most partisan, and most passionate, fan support of the entire weekend. A 73-64 loss at Eugene just over a week ago, while disappointing, had given the Hoosiers the blueprint for success. Their execution now, on the Big Ten’s most consequential stage, could mean postseason certainty moving forward.

The Hoosiers began with a fiery tenacity that stunned the unexpecting Ducks. The Hoosiers fed off the crowd’s energy, forcing six Oregon turnovers in the first ten minutes and garnered eight offensive rebounds in the first half. Their early eight-point cushion was indicative of a team playing for more than themselves, but for a program, for a fanbase that was so desperately in need of conviction.

It was their urgency that turned to erraticism as the half battled on, however, and a 13-2 run in the last four minutes gave the Ducks a 37-29 lead going into halftime.

“I think when we go on our little scoring droughts, it’s definitely just execution…” said forward Malik Reneau, who finished with a team-high 19 points off the bench. “We failed to do that in a couple spots, and they got steals, blocks, et cetera, and they came down the court and were able to execute on their side.”

Woodson’s Indiana was not ready to let its NCAA tournament chances slip away, though. The Hoosiers burst out of the locker room, utilizing an early 6-0 run to reignite the high-energy crowd, effectively a sea of crimson and white, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Within two points with under eight minutes left in the game, it seemed as if the Hoosiers’ will alone would push them across the finish line and into a Big Ten quarterfinal.

But then, very suddenly, it was not enough. Their fervent desire had spurred them so close to their aspirations, but, as the Ducks made tough shot after tough shot down the stretch to pull out of reach, there was nothing left to do in the closing minutes but hope that their early tournament exit – and another lackluster finishing stretch – would not become an ultimate valediction.

“We were right in it,” said guard Trey Galloway, who finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. “Multiple times we kept cutting the lead. But you’ve got to give them credit, they were able to make big-time shots.”

Woodson stood near midcourt and watched as Keeshawn Barthelemy dribbled out the final seconds, unable to turn away from another symbolic moment along a seemingly unending line of “almosts.” His team, expectantly sitting on the brink of the NCAA Tournament with a chance to solidify its spot among the nation’s elite just hours before, would now wait anxiously until Sunday to see if the Hoosiers would have a chance to take the court again.

“We’ve had a lot of dry spots this season, but here of late we’ve been playing some pretty good basketball,” Woodson said. “I don’t think that today’s game is an indication of how we’ve been playing the last two and half, three weeks.”

Woodson, after shaking hands with the Ducks’ coaches and players following the game, turned, without ever pausing, and walked toward the tunnel that led to his team’s locker room. Looking down at the floor, uncertain that he would ever step on the court with his team again, he kept walking, unable to turn back.

“It’s been a good run since I’ve been here,” Woodson said, “and I’m just hoping that it’s not over with yet.”