The foreigners must not know any better.
If you’ve grown up in America and around basketball, you know about Indiana.
The history — five NCAA Championships and one of two programs to have a perfect season since 1960 — is awe inspiring. Assembly Hall, the Hoosiers’ home in Bloomington, Ind., has a moldy old scoreboard, some of the worst spectator sightlines ever devised and is a temple for thousands who worship basketball in the state most devoted to the sport.
The Hoosiers are the only team that can omit players’ names from the back of their jerseys and not look like posers.
Vince Scott all but peed himself when faced with two free throws with 10.8 seconds left to put away the Hoosiers. Two clanks later and Scott retreated from the horrifying stage.
It was a feeling that just didn’t faze Northwestern’s international flavor in the squad’s 63-59 win Wednesday night against Indiana in Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“When you step up there you’ve got to exclude everything out of your head,” Vedran Vukusic said.
The knowledge that you have the chance to step on the neck of one of the most prolific programs in the nation can make the rim look mighty tight for Joe America.
But Vedran in his four final-minute free throw attempts? Nylon, four times.
It was his first time ever facing Indiana — injuries have kept the Croatian out of the Wildcats’ past five meetings with the Hoosiers — but Vedran shot and banged his way to 23 points in an injury-shortened 29 minutes.
He dismissed the kings of Hoosierdom without a second thought.
Then there’s Mohamed Hachad. The Moroccan who spent his high school playing days in Quebec needs to sign a lifetime contract to play against the Hoosiers. In his three real appearances against Indiana — the sophomore played just two minutes in NU’s 2003 trip to Bloomington — Hachad has recorded 12 steals and shown a complete disregard for the cultural tie between the Hoosiers and basketball.
Hachad’s coming-out party came against Indiana his freshman year in Welsh-Ryan Arena, as he recorded 12 points and six steals in NU’s 74-61 win on Feb. 5, 2003.
In the Cats’ first meeting with the Hoosiers this season, Hachad poured in a career-best 18 points. And again, on Wednesday night, Hachad didn’t give a thought to tradition, making himself a thief four times over and grabbing a team-high six boards. His nine points included a clutch three with 8:56 left in the second half that handed control of the game back to NU after an Indiana run.
Hachad also provided a memory that will remain near and dear to my heart for some time to come.
In a move not unlike a certain shot from the 1998 NBA Finals, Hachad crossed over Patrick Ewing Jr., to put the Indiana freshman flat on his back as he stroked home a 12-footer with 3:15 to play to give NU a 55-47 edge.
NU’s foreigners are helping to give rise to a new tradition as their team drove another nail in the Indiana coffin that will be buried along with the Hoosiers’ 19-year streak of Big Dances.
Thank God — or whomever — for cultural differences.
Nick Collins is a Weinberg junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
