By Mark Mix
Home day care providers would be forced into unions
Indiana's basketball practices are getting lonely these days.
Indiana's Cody Zeller turned down one chance to play in the NBA. He couldn't say no twice.
Indiana junior Victor Oladipo is heading to the NBA. Cody Zeller could be next.
The means of exit seemed especially painful for Indiana. The powerful offense that ranked among the country's top-10 teams in points, field goal percentage and 3-point shooting crumpled against Syracuse's fluid, adaptive 2-3 zone defense.
In Indiana, basketball is treated like a king's sport. Stars are considered royalty and the Hoosiers still rule the state, especially now, just two wins away from their first Final Four trip since 2002 after one of the grandest comeback stories in its storied history.
The NCAA tournament will not have a repeat champion for the sixth straight season. Kentucky made sure of that by failing to make the field of 68.
Indiana coach Tom Crean was a believer in Victor Oladipo right from the start.
Indiana climbed its way to No. 1 this week, back where it started the season.
Cody Zeller finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Victor Oladipo added 15 points, leading the third-ranked Hoosiers to an 81-73 victory against Michigan on a day that the nation's top two teams lost. The results will likely send Indiana back to the No. 1 spot, which it held for the first seven weeks this season.
After stumbling in December against Butler and again early in conference play against Wisconsin, the Hoosiers have been trying to play their way back to the No. 1 spot they held through the first month of the season. A win Saturday might finally get them back on top, and Indiana is playing its best basketball of the season.
Ryan Evans had 13 points and seven rebounds, and Traevon Jackson added 11 points as Wisconsin upset No. 2 Indiana 64-59 on Tuesday night to take sole possession of the Big Ten lead.
No. 1 Indiana, which has been playing short-handed all season, is getting reinforcements.
Georgetown's overtime thriller against No. 1 Indiana on Tuesday showed off the tantalizing potential and painful inexperience of sophomore center Mikael Hopkins.
A night after an ineffective game, Cody Zeller had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 1 Indiana to an 82-72 overtime win against Georgetown in the title game of the Legends Classic tournament on Tuesday night.
The Washington Times' Patrick Stevens ranks the top-40 NCAA basketball teams for the 2012-13 season.
"I think the guys kind of expected it," Zeller said. "The people who helped me the most, I asked them to put themselves in my shoes and asked what they would do. A lot of them, a lot of teammates told me they would go."
The 7-foot sophomore center who returned to school last fall for one more shot at a national championship announced Wednesday he is leaving college early to enter the NBA draft.
