The Tipoff

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard that President Barack Obama has penciled in Indiana at the top of his bracket for the 2013 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Usually we can’t take our eyes off of Victor Oladipo, but today we couldn’t help wondering which lucky kids got the honor of surrounding him on the Sports Illustrated cover. Dustin Dopirak of The Hoosier Scoop tells us that most of the covermates are IU athletes, and tweets from IU athletic departments confirmed the appearance of baseball, soccer, football, and volleyball players and a (swollen-eyed) wrestler.

Oladipo threw down a huge dunk at Chicago’s United Center against a Fighting Illini squad that simply watched (presumably in amazement) from midcourt.

Of all the curious selections announced last night by the Big Ten Conference during its annual awards show, perhaps the most puzzling was the pick for Coach of the Year.

IU basketball fans might still be reeling from recent setbacks to the team’s hopes of winning an outright Big Ten title this season. But if it’s any consolation, they can spend a few moments today reveling in past glory.

Just two short weeks ago, Indiana was even with the likes of Duke, Miami, and Kansas on the list of teams most likely to win this year’s NCAA title. Not anymore.

Bob Knight’s version of book promotion hit The New York Times Magazine today in an interview, “Coach Bob Knight on Why He’s So Unpleasant.” The headline riffs on the name of Knight’s new book, The Power of Negative Thinking, co-written with his longtime collaborator in Bloomington, retired sportswriter Bob Hammel. Related: Hammel on why Knight makes a good author.

See our list of the best IU bars around the nation. It’s our roundup of the top spots to make new fellow-alum chums and take in Hoosiers action wherever you are.

Another week, another court-storming. In what has become the only predictable result in NCAA men’s basketball, last night students cheering on their home team (Minnesota) wildly flooded the court after upsetting a higher-ranked team (Indiana). The (over)reaction has become so ubiquitous, you’d think the NCAA had started awarding banners for it.

Well, Hoosier fans, how does it feel to get slapped around a little bit? Last night’s game was not for the fainthearted. Just ask Cody Zeller, who spent a good portion of the game picking himself up off the floor.

You might see a familiar face in Assembly Hall during today’s rivalry matchup with Purdue (2 p.m., ESPN): former North Central High School phenom and IU star Eric Gordon.

IU is up for a notable social media award—and it would only further bolster the school’s penchant for No. 1 finishes lately.

If you’re still scratching your head over how Indiana lost a big game and sole lead of the Big Ten in under one second—less time than you’ve already spent reading this post—then check out Buzzfeed’s frame-by-frame analysis of that final, unforgivable play, and trust that Cody Zeller will never let that happen again.

Joani Crean has a pretty stressful week ahead with high-pressure IU games against Purdue and Michigan before the family leaves for New Orleans. Forget scanning the Assembly Hall crowd for Meg Ryan; we’ll be looking for the feisty Mrs. Crean and Crimson in the stands now—and in the Superdome this Sunday.

Fans seem to think that the game at Purdue on Wednesday will be an easy feast, and I can see why that might be—after all, Purdue is barely above .500. IU has lost just twice and now is finding ways to win with minimal point production from Cody Zeller.