Keith Smart: You Know, But You Don't Know - Hoosierness and Glory

    The paradox of knowing something but not really knowing it. I will try to explain.

    I am a Hoosier. Many people ask what that is. Most simply, it is a person from Indiana. A state that was created over time through the Northwest Ordinance ny many of the forefathers of America, the United States, the most powerful nation there has ever been. Although, I must say, Vietnamese and Iraqis and Afghans have humbled us to know well enough that we definitely have our limits.

    I digress. But, in the context of the massive United States, we have the more humble but proud 19th state. My Indiana, our Indiana. Some have adopted it, like my parents from Massachusetts, or Hollis Johnson of Utah, or his wife Greta from Denmark. But others of us are born and raised there, and the cultural norms or mores or values, or trends, get into our blood. Like basketball.

    

    This happened a bit to my native Indiana step-parents Terry and Janice, but more so with others blood related to them. Aunt Bernice comes to mind. She made it to her 90s. Nothing was bigger than the Indiana ball game to her in her Bloomington nursing home. That is the way it should be, right? Love it and love it hard. Alone or with others. The game brings glory and contentment. The locus of our universe.

    John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood, is a Hoosier. He is a Boilermaker, yes, but we know and respect our Boilermaker Hoosiers. They and us are part of the lore. If you swing more Purdue than IU, we get it. They captured your heart somehow, whether as a first love or latecome passion, Purdue is part of the Hoosier love equation. It is the homestate rival and foil. It helps sharpen and fulminate the Hoosiers of Bloomington. We get past them, we work our skills agains those Hoosiers, and we test our mettle and perfect the craft. 

    Passing. Penetrating. Shooting. Rebounding. Blocking. The game.

    I know that they care about basketball in Kentucky and North Carolina and Kansas. And Utah and Idaho. But we in Indiana care... more. The Blue Grass State has mountains and hollers, as J.D. Vance will recount. Carolina has some Smoky Mountains and the Outer Banks. Indiana? No mountains, a few scenic hills and forests. A few sandy dunes up on the great lake. A few miles from the blighted suburbs and the nicer enclaves of Chicago. The Region, up there. They give Indiana some its talent and flavor. Composite of the whole.

    Kurt Vonnegut is a Hoosier. David Letterman. John Mellencamp. Even Michael Jackson. Bobby Knight became one. He graduated with advanced Hoosier degrees because of his championships. Etched in our souls forever. 1976. 1981. 1987. 2002 almost happened. Not quite. Others hail back to 1953 and even 1940. Purdue fans go back into the 1910s and twenties and thirties. Fine. We get it.

    We are Hoosiers. We do not forget, nor do we diminish the glorious memories. Milan, 1953. 

    Steve Alford grew up with it. He was the captain alongside the gifted jumper and athlete Keith. Darry; was from Chicago, was he not? Ricky was from nearby Cincinnati. Dean? I cannot recall. We took you in in 1986, because we needed an inside presence. You provided it.

    Keith, I am not sure you ever had a greater game. The second half was yours. It happened to be on the greatest stage, in your hometown of New Orleans. You did not just make "The Shot", but you filled in multiple other field goals. You elevated your game, and in turn millions of us. Hillman of California and Eyl of Ohio, even Todd Meier (of the Midwest?) contributed their parts and roles.

    Keith even sealed the game and championship, the last of Knight's three, with the court long steal.

    Keith. It is 2026. Almost thirty years since that fateful spring night. Monday night.

    You did it. You know it.

    It lives forever, and we long for its return.

    Who could be the next Keith Smart, Hoosier forever?

    Maybe no one. Until another champion such as you, in this sport, not football or soccer or swiminng, you are the one.

    Thank you. Love you. Cherish the acts and the efforts.

    Take care, a Hoosier fan.

    Go IU. And even sometimes Purdue. Or even the near miss Indiana State when they get a Hoosier like Larry Legend.

    By the banks of the Wabash, far away.