March Sadness

Ty Bolton

            Like most conference tournaments, this year’s Big Ten tournament was cut short due to the pandemic that is going on around the world. Fortunately, they were able to play a few of the first round games this year. The tournament took place in the roots of the Midwest, in Indianapolis, Indiana at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse. Banker’s Life Fieldhouse is the home of the Indiana Pacers and is a great venue for hosting the Big Ten tournament. One of the more popular games to watch was the Indiana University game. They came into the tournament as the eleven seed and squared off against the University of Nebraska. Indiana dominated the game from the start of the game. They finished off the first half with a 31-5 run, using their size and depth advantage. They continued to soar past the Cornhuskers in the second half as well. The final score ended up being 89-64. It was a pretty easy game to get the Hoosiers feeling good about their second round opponent. The Hoosiers leading scorer was Armaan Franklin, leading the team with thirteen points. The Hoosiers had multiple other guys in double digit scoring; Justin Smith, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Aljami Durham, and Devonte Green. The Hoosiers next matchup was going to be against Penn State University. The NCAA had deemed the game to only have the essential personal there and no fans. This was due to the virus.  Archie Miller was disappointed about that for his players, he said the atmosphere would just have a closed scrimmage vibe. Miller also said the Hoosiers would be ready for the tough Nittany Lions. The pandemic was getting more and more out of control in the United States, therefore before the game between Indiana and Penn State could be played, the rest of the tournament had been canceled. This was a big shock to all of the sports world with everyone’s season coming to an end, but life is bigger than sports.