Hoosier glory lives on (04/23/03)

After about an hour of autographs, pictures, handshakes, hugs and admiration, Indiana University senior Tom Coverdale leans back to talk with teammate Jeff Newton.

“Man, what time is it?”

Newton checks the watch of a man standing nearby and whispers something back in Coverdale’s ear. They both try to lean forward to see just how long the line of autograph seekers is after an hour of signing. Newton — the 6-foot 9-inch forward, who is expected to be drafted in the late-first or early-second round of the upcoming NBA Draft — stands as if he needs to stretch, but is really trying to determine how much longer until he can head back to campus.

Newton plops back down, signs another signature, poses for another picture and looks back at Coverdale, giving him a wide-eyed look that says “we’re not going anywhere.”

The line has gone nowhere. The crowd of well over 2,200 — which was in attendance at South Adams Monday night for an exhibition game involving the former Hoosier players — stands patiently in line, waiting for their moment with the Indiana basketball stars.

Newton and Coverdale are joined by fellow senior Kyle Hornsby and former Hoosier Damon Bailey, and fans simply don’t want to leave.

Welcome to the Indiana heartland, where they love their Hoosiers.

“This,” Coverdale says, taking one more glance at the line of fans, “is probably the biggest crowd we’ve had by far.”

But the IU point guard, who led his team to a NCAA runner-up last year on a bad wheel, doesn’t seem to mind. It is no secret that he, not the former-Pacer Bailey or the soon-to-be-drafted Newton, is the star attraction of the night. Funny, considering Coverdale is the only Indiana player in history with 1,000 points, 200 three pointers and 500 assists, and won’t play a single game in the NBA.

And just minutes before, during the game, Coverdale was diving for loose balls and yelling at himself in disgust for missing shots.

“I guess that’s just the only way I know how to play the game,” he said.

Much like Bailey — a fellow Mr. Basketball who was drafted in the second round by the Pacers, but eventually landed in Europe — Coverdale knows he might wind up in an NBA pre-season camp, but he’s probably going to have to go abroad to continue his career.

“I don’t know anything right now, but I definitely want to keep playing basketball,” he says, laughing as another high school girl professes her love to him. “I think I have an outside shot at the NBA, but if that doesn’t work out I’ll go to Europe.”

But Hoosier fans don’t really care where he goes from here, he’ll always be that gritty red-headed point guard that almost took his team all the way.

“I think that’s part of being an Indiana basketball player,” Bailey said, knowing he was getting the same amount of attention only a few years ago. “Indiana basketball fans are special in the fact that it doesn’t necessarily matter how good you were, or how long ago you played, people will always remember you, and that’s what makes Indiana basketball special.”

Neither Bailey or Coverdale has much of what NBA scouts crave, but they both fit the mold of what the man that recruited them — departed coach Bob Knight — loved in his ballplayers.

“It came as a shock,” Bailey said of The General’s departure. “I’m just like everybody else, like or dislike Coach Knight, he’s been a big part of Indiana basketball. But then they come right back and go to the final game (of the NCAA tournament) and I think that was a great thing for the program. It proves that Coach Davis is worthy and that Indiana basketball is bigger than one man.”

“I was just blessed to play for two talented coaches while I was there,” Coverdale said. “They had two different styles, but they both were effective and they both were great coaches.”

While their national recognition is limited to a pair of Final Four appearances, both players will forever have their place in Indiana basketball history. No million dollar signing bonuses, no shoe contracts, just a state full of obsessed basketball fans who aren’t about to forget.

“I knew I wanted to play in Indiana, but I never thought it would come to all this,” Coverdale says, taking another look at the crowd. “(I never thought) we’d be able to play for a national title and all that, but that’s something I’ll probably look back on and enjoy for the rest of my life.”[[In-content Ad]]