Tuesdays with Torbee

The game that made me fall in love with college basketball forever was played in the sauna-hot old Wisconsin Badger Field House on a frigid February night in 1987.

The mostly hapless Badgers pushed the Bobby Knight led Hoosiers to the brink – three overtimes with a chance to clinch the game with a pair of free throws – before a raucous and sweaty crowd stomping red paint chipped ancient wooden bleachers underfoot for a delirious 55 minutes of Big 10 basketball.

Steve Alford set the all-time Indiana scoring record in that game, despite being lambasted courtside by a Knight furious that his star guard was an abysmal 4 of 19 shooting and missed game winning shots at the end of regulation and the first overtime.

Dick Vitale and ESPN were in town for a rare prime-time game for a Wisconsin team battling to stay out of the cellar with an equally awful Northwestern. The next day’s Capital Times had no fewer than four bylined stories by three reporters spread over two pages to document the event.

I was 16, a big Badger fan, and didn’t care that the hometown team was 1-11 in conference heading into the showdown with Indiana, ranked #2 in the country and in first place in the Big 10.

The game was vintage 1980s Big 10 basketball – no three-point line, lots of big bodies banging, floor burns, hard fouls, fast breaks and lead changes. A miasma of cigar smoke and stale popcorn odor created a haze hanging over the court in the old stone barn.

With 24 seconds left in the third overtime and the Badgers clinging to a one-point lead, Wisconsin guard Shelton Smith bricked two free throws. As mentioned, there was no three-point line at the time, so sinking the pair likely would have secured the win. Instead, the Hoosiers hustled down the court, Joe Hillman takes an ill-advised long distance two from the left corner, but 6’10 Indiana center Dean Garrett hauls in the air ball and gently lays the ball through the cylinder to crush Badger upset dreams.

Being a Badger backer, I was heartbroken. But the competition was so intense, the atmosphere so charged, the energy and effort expended by the players so impressive that a college basketball junkie was born that day.

I share the anecdote to explain why I get so frustrated with fellow fans talking about their apathy and disinterest. It’s not that I don’t rationally understand the reasons; it’s that I know there is beauty even in struggle and losses, from the sheer spirit of competition. I know this sounds corny, because it is corny! I also know that even in its imperfect modern state, Big 10 basketball still delivers these moments with regularity.

Red-hot Nebraska finding a way to trip up seemingly invincible Purdue in Lincoln, leading to a court storming – only to be dismantled themselves in front of a tiny-but-vocal blizzard-crossed crowd in Iowa City days later is another such moment.

If you pay attention and love basketball, it is hard to not be entertained by the roller coaster ride that is a Big 10 season. For the second year in a row, Iowa’s hoops team has escaped an ugly 0-3 conference hole and finds itself back in the thick of the race for a mid-pack finish and possible NCAA tournament berth.

How can you not be entertained?

I continue to fear these Hawkeyes have a limited ceiling – as noted, they lack a “go-to” surefire star. Nevertheless, they are a team that is always looking to outscore and out-gun their opponent, something they did with alacrity in Minneapolis Monday. Yes, good defensive teams can disrupt that by controlling clock and grinding Iowa down in the half court, but when the Hawks are cooking, it’s one of the prettiest showcases in all of college basketball.

The astute former Illinois star Stephen Bardo  – who certainly has no latent love for the Hawkeyes following his tenure as a member of the Flyin’ Illini – noted Monday that Iowa is the “most connected” team in the Big 10 and may be the best example in the conference of a team where guys “play for each other.”

Forgive me if it rankles me that a former Hawk-hater talks nicer about my favorite team than many of its own fans. However, don’t worry, the bandwagon has plenty of room when you decide to hop back on!

Follow me on Twitter @ToryBrecht and the 12 Saturdays Podcast @12Saturdays.