Larry Birds' Great Basketball Career

When people think of Indiana State, the name Larry Bird often comes to mind. For a while in athletics, that seemed to be the only thing Indiana State had going for them, until recently. These past few years however, people are now starting to see Indiana State as a school with good athletics because of their basketball, baseball, and running programs.

“It’s all over now,” said the Tribune-Star’s Todd Golden on Indiana State’s chance of going to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament (Golden). That loss, which was to Missouri State, started a three game losing streak to end the Sycamore’s regular season. “I have a lot of pride putting on the jersey for Indiana State,” said Indiana State’s star point guard, Jake Odum after the senior day game, and final loss, against Northern Iowa (Seniors React to UNI Game). Odum’s career, and the Sycamore’s season, came to a disappointing end on Tuesday, March 18, 2014 when the Indiana State Sycamores lost to the Arkansas Razorbacks late Tuesday night by a score of 91-71. Let’s not talk about the struggles this team has gone through. Let’s focus on the good things that Odum and these teams have brought to Indiana State instead. Under four year head coach, Greg Lansing, the Sycamores have had four 18+ game winning seasons, a new school record, including the Sycamores 23 wins this year. In his first year, 2011, he took the Sycamores to the NCAA Tournament where the fell in the first round to No. 1 seed, Syracuse. That’s when Indiana State started to get some attention again. Since then, Indiana State has been in the CIT (2012), and the NIT (2013 and 2014), where the lost in the first round in all three. In the Odum era, which is what people have called Odum’s years at Indiana State, the ...

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As you can see, the athletics of Indiana State University have made a huge influence on the university over the past few years. In basketball, baseball, and running, the Sycamores have grabbed some attention throughout the nation, whether that is being nationally ranked, going to the NCAA Tournaments, or having an individual that stands out on the team. Hopefully, the Sycamores can now stay up where their expectations are, because if they do, that means getting better athletes. Getting better athletes means having a better team, and having a better team means winning more and going to national tournaments! Indiana State deserves to be given more attention because they have great athletic teams and athletes, and they shouldn’t be underestimated. They are a lot better than what they’re given credit for, and I think people are starting to realize it.