Indiana Hoosiers: A Special Senior Night in Bloomington

When Purdue and Indiana meet up on the basketball court, it's a big deal—especially when it's the final game of the regular season. But tonight's game will be more than just a basketball game between in-state rivals.

That's because Sunday night is Senior Night in Bloomington, and few senior classes in Indiana basketball history deserve as much recognition as the current group.

Four years ago, when Tom Crean took this job, he didn't know what he was getting himself into—and neither did Verdell Jones III, Tom Pritchard, Daniel Moore, Matt Roth or Kory Barnett. What they've been through in the past four years and what they've done to instill a culture back into the Indiana, cannot, and should not, be understated.

They don't deserve to be recognized because "they came to IU when no one else would." Quite frankly, they didn't have many other options.

Yes, they went through plenty of struggles, including a 28-66 record in their first three seasons. But players like Jones, Pritchard and Roth, though they had some other choices, were given the opportunity play in front of sell-out crowds for one of the premier basketball programs in the country.

Verdell Jones III came to Indiana a skinny kid from Champaign, IL. Unlike the other seniors, Jones had opportunities elsewhere on the college scene, including offers from Kentucky, Tennessee and Minnesota. But he was sold on the instant playing time and the challenge of restoring the Indiana brand. Verdell was solid as a freshman, but it wasn't until his sophomore season that he finally made his imprint on this team.

After Maurice Creek went down with injury in the 2009-2010 season, Jones took it upon himself to put this team on his shoulders. It was that season that Verdell had, for me, his most memorable moment in an Indiana uniform. It was a January home game against Minnesota that resulted in a Hoosiers win in overtime. Jones finished the game with 24 points and seven rebounds, getting huge bucket after huge bucket down the stretch, including an "and-1" off a jump shot in overtime that caused an eruption in Assembly Hall.

The last couple of seasons, Verdell's role has slowly and slowly been decreased, but his leadership has been an integral part of Indiana's success this season. And no one will ever forget his unselfish pass to Christian Watford against Kentucky that led to one of the biggest plays in Indiana basketball history.

Tom Pritchard was one of the few pleasant surprises in the Hoosiers' six-win 2008-2009 season. As a freshman, Pritchard went off for double-doubles in each of his first two college basketball games, finishing with five of them on the season.

As Tom Crean and Indiana continued to bring in talent, Tommy's confidence continued to take a hit. His offensive production has never returned to the level it was at as a freshman, but his defense and rebounding off the bench is integral to Indiana's success.

If you ask any single Indiana fan what their most memorable Tom Pritchard moment is, there is no doubt what they will point to. It took place during the blizzard of 2011. While everyone else was buried under two feet of snow on a Wednesday night, Tom Pritchard was doing his best Blake Griffin impression, coming out of nowhere to put back a monster dunk off a Verdell Jones miss.

Matt Roth, out of Washington, IL, may be one of the best pure shooters to ever wear an Indiana uniform. Roth is shooting 55.4 percent from beyond the arc for the Hoosiers this season, and is a perfect 15-for-15 from the free-throw line—if only the Hoosiers could get him some more shots.

Despite being a one-trick pony for most of his career at Indiana, Roth has added some other aspects to his game this season. He still isn't the fleetest of foot, but his off-the-ball defense has improved tremendously throughout his four seasons.

Roth will be remembered for his 29-point performance against Ohio State in his freshman season, in which he tied an Indiana team with nine threes.

Kory Barnett is easily the least recognizable name among this senior class, but don't tell Tom Crean he hasn't been important.

You won't see Kory contributing much on the court; he's actually deemed himself the "human victory cigar," since his only playing time comes with double-digit leads late in the game. But he has played a big role on the practice squad, and has been imperative in Indiana's recruiting success, playing host to a majority of the Hoosiers' big-time commitments.

When you bring up this senior class in the context of Indiana basketball history, you won't hear any of their names mentioned among the all-time greats as far as on-the-court accomplishments are concerned. But don't let that understate how much they've meant to this program.

Each of these players came to Indiana with absolutely nothing handed to them. They didn't have a senior class to learn from, a junior class to learn from or even a sophomore class to learn from. It was their job to build a foundation, to create a new culture for Indiana basketball and pass it down to the classes below them. And in the end, hopefully they would get rewarded with the slightest taste of success.

With three top-five victories, a 20-win season and an NCAA tournament on the horizon, this season has been nothing short of special. Cody Zeller has been every bit of the program-saver he was recruited as. Sophomores Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey (more commonly known as Sheeladipo) have emerged as serious talents in the Big Ten, and Christian Watford has had moments of brilliance in numerous games this year.

Tonight's game is about winning the last game of the regular season. It's about seeding for both the Big Ten and NCAA tournament. It's about Indiana vs. Purdue. But most of all, it's about recognizing who was there to help bring Indiana basketball back from the dead.

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