NCAA Basketball: Top 25 NCAA Tournament cinderellas since 2000
By Adam Childs
16) 2002 Indiana Hoosiers, No. 5-seed
Record: 25-12, National Runner-Up
Beat: (12) Utah Utes, (15) UNC-Wilmington Seahawks, (1) Duke Blue Devils, (10) Kent State Golden Flashes, (2) Oklahoma Sooners
The Indiana Hoosiers, like the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at No. 17, do not seem like your normal cinderella type team, but what they did in the 2002 NCAA Tournament definitely fits in that category.
They finished the regular season 19-10 and lost in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament to the Iowa Hawkeyes by two. Indiana didn’t have a winning streak longer than four games all year long. It definitely did not look like the Hoosiers were a national title contender when the tournament started. The fact that the Hoosiers even got a No. 5-seed was a bit of surprise.
The Hoosiers were led that year by Jared Jeffries and Tom Coverdale. They were the only two players to average in double figures. Overall, this just wasn’t a team that struck a lot of fear in opposing teams. Jeffries would go on to play in the NBA, but the Hoosiers lacked any real stars.
Some may say they caught some breaks in their road to the finals, as they only played one single-digit seed to get to the Final Four. That is true, but you still have to win the games. Indiana took care of the Utah Utes and the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks to make it to the Sweet 16, where they would run into the No. 1-seed Duke Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils were loaded that year, as every one of their starters would go on to play in the NBA. The Hoosiers were big underdogs. It looked like Duke would run away with the game in the first half.
Duke led 13 at the break and the Hoosiers seemed to have no answers for the high-powered Blue Devils. Indiana would trail by as many as 17 in the game, but the Hoosiers battled back on the shoulders of Jeffries and would dethrone the defending champions by one. It was a huge upset and cemented the cinderella status of the Hoosiers.
Next up would be another fellow cinderella team in the Kent State Golden Flashes. The Hoosiers would catch fire in that game, shooting 15-of-19 from outside. That was just too much for the Golden Flashes and Indiana ran away with a 12-point win.
The win sent Indiana to their first Final Four since their National Championship in 1987. There, they would defeat the Oklahoma Sooners by nine. The Hoosiers flipped a four-point halftime deficit and dominated the second half to get the win.
Their dream run would end in the finals against a Maryland Terrapins team that was in their second Final Four in a row. Indiana just couldn’t muster the magic that got them to the championship. The Hoosiers only scored 52 points in their 12-point loss. While it was a disappointing end to their run, it was still a magical ride for the Hoosiers.