BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It has been 30 years since Indiana last won the national title, with Keith Smart’s jumper to cap off the 1987 NCAA tournament title serving as a grainy time capsule of what used to be. Long before the age of AAU kingpins, up-transfers and conference television networks, Indiana basketball competed annually for Final Fours and the Hoosiers resonated as one of the country’s iconic programs.
A generation later, the short shorts won by Bobby Knight’s crew in that game have gone from fashionable to obsolete to retro chic. And by firing coach Tom Crean on Thursday, athletic director Fred Glass is demanding that Indiana basketball make a similar retro transformation.