AZTECS VS. SYRACUSE IN HINKLE, WHERE ‘HOOSIERS’ FILMED
The directions from downtown Indianapolis to Butler University’s Hinkle Fieldhouse are not complicated. Get on Illinois Street. Go north six miles. Turn left at 49th street.
And in case you’re not sure, NCAA Tournament organizers stuck placards into the grass on either side of the street, every 50 or 100 feet, one after another, dozens upon dozens of them. They say, “March Madness,” and “Road to the Final Four,” and “In 49 states it’s just basketball, but this is Indiana,” like airport runway lights guiding you home.
Because for this state, for this sport, this is home.
This is where sixth-seeded San Diego State will play 11th-seeded Syracuse tonight in their opening game of the NCAA Tournament.
This is also where John Wooden played shortly after the steel, brick and glass edifice opened in 1928 and hosted its first Indiana state high school basketball championship.
Where Shelbyville High won the 1947 title with the first predominantly Black starting lineup in the country. Where Steve Alford scored 57 points in the state high school tournament in 1983.
Where tiny Milan High beat Muncie Central in the 1954 championship game.
Where “Hoosiers,” the 1986 movie that immortalized Milan’s improbable title run, filmed its final, dramatic scenes with Gene Hackman as coach Norman Dale because Hinkle looked the same then as it did 32 years earlier.
Where CBS is sending Jim Nantz and its lead commentating crew for the Friday games.
SDSU got inside Hinkle for practice Wednesday. The first guy off the bus was coach Brian Dutcher.
He was born and raised the son of a basketball coach in the Midwest, attended Minnesota, was a graduate assistant at Illinois, coached at Michigan, recruited across the region in every venue imaginable, large and small. He had never been inside Hinkle.
“A really cool moment, not only for myself but for the kids,” Dutcher said.
Imagine being Matt Mitchell. He grew up a diehard Syracuse fan. Idolized Carmelo Anthony. Wore an orange headband everywhere from ages 7 to 12.
He also watched “Hoosiers” with his father before every basketball season, watched the scene when players from fictional Hickory High walk into empty Hinkle Fieldhouse the day before the state final and stare up the rows of seats in awe, when Dale has Ollie get on Strap’s shoulders and measure the height of the rim.
“10 feet,” Dale tells them. “I think you’ll find it’s the exact same measurements as our gym back in Hickory.”
Tonight, Mitchell will play in the NCAA Tournament … against Syracuse … in Hinkle.
“This,” Mitchell said, “is a very iconic place.”
Originally Butler Fieldhouse, it was the largest basketball arena in America until 1950 and is the sixth-oldest college venue still in use. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and declared a National Historic Landmark four years after that. The southwest ramp to the upper concourse is named for Bobby Plump, the real-life hero of Milan High.
Indiana’s Basketball Cathedral, it’s called.
SDSU’s players lingered in the atrium that has been converted into a museum, including a “Hickory High” letterman jacket from the movie. Then they walked onto the floor and gazed up at the six-story steel roof and cathedral windows that allow light to filter in from the heavens.
Phones were out, jaws were dropped.
“I let them enjoy it,” Dutcher said. “They took some film when they walked in, but then I got them focused on practice. We’re here to win a game.”
Or two. Or three. Or more.
If the Aztecs want to launch their own memorable tournament run, they’ll need to get past an unpredictable Orange team that has an affinity for making runs of its own. In 2016, it became the first 10 seed to reach the Final Four. In 2018, it also was an 11 seed and reached the Sweet 16 after holding TCU to 52 points and Michigan State to 53.
The difference was coach Jim Boeheim’s unorthodox 2-3 zone, which becomes a weapon in March because you’re typically playing teams that have never faced it. And SDSU hasn’t. In fact, the Aztecs have faced 40 minutes of zone only twice all season, both Air Force games in mid-January.
“Even that doesn’t really matter,” Boeheim said. “I’ve seen teams that haven’t played against a zone at all in their first eight or 10 games, then they play against us and they play great against our zone. You just never know with that.”
And better to have a full five days to dissect film and prepare for it than get the Orange in the second round and have a single practice.
And better to face this Syracuse team, which ranks just 89th nationally in defensive efficiency and gave up 67 points in a half at Pitt.
“We prepared a couple different ways to attack it,” Dutcher said. “I think we have some good ideas. I think our kids are excited to play against it, to be honest with you. We’ve got a lot of good shooters. I suppose if you had a team of non-shooters, you might be overly concerned. We have three or four guys who shoot the ball at a high level, so hopefully we can get them extended a little bit where we can attack both inside and out.”
The game, indeed, may be decided at the other end of the f loor.
Syracuse is 22nd in offensive efficiency, with a multitude of scorers who will have a size advantage over the Aztecs at almost every position. Which means: No matter how well they defend, Buddy Boeheim (the coach’s son), Quincy Guerrier and Alan Griffin will be able to bounce over them and get off shots.
They’ll likely be contested shots, but there’s little you can scheme up defensively if they’re going in.
“They play in the heart of the defense, and they use their height and athleticism to shoot over you,” Dutcher said. “On some level, you’re saying to win the game you want to make the other team shoot tough, contested 2s, and they seem comfortable doing that.”
The Kenpom computer metric predicts the Aztecs will win 71-68.
But what it doesn’t consider is that 11 seeds are 21-19 against 6 seeds over the last decade, and the Aztecs have personal experience with the phenomenon. They were also a 6 in 2012, and they also played an ACC team that squeaked into the tournament with some late wins after underachieving through much of the season — a 70-55 loss against North Carolina State.
And the accuracy of the metrics may be challenged this year given how little cross-pollination there was in nonconference scheduling. SDSU didn’t get on a plane until mid-January and only played teams from the Pacific and Mountain time zones; all 25 Syracuse games were against teams from the Eastern time zone. Their opponents didn’t even play each other.
It casts an uneasy unknown across the proceedings today. SDSU was good against teams in the West, but was the West any good this season?
It has Dutcher concerned enough that he woke up Wednesday night at 2 a.m., couldn’t sleep and watched another 90 minutes of Syracuse film.
“The more tape I watch, the more nervous I get,” Dutcher said. “So I better quit watching tape.”