INDIANAPOLIS – It’s fitting that the news about Indiana’s hire of Mike Woodson broke amid No. 1 Gonzaga’s merciless thumping of No. 5 Creighton on Sunday afternoon. The ghost of Bobby Knight lingered at Hinkle Fieldhouse, as two programs in disparate places amid the college basketball food chain are concurrently chasing Knight’s peak.
Indiana has spent two decades attempting to capture the highs where Knight brought them — the three national titles, five Final Fours and 11 regular season Big Ten titles. The Hoosiers haven’t reached the NCAA tournament since 2016, and Indiana is one bad hire away from being viewed by recruits as a nondescript Big Ten program that’s famous for once being famous.