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After turbulent season, Indiana looks to regroup

Mar 21, 2008 - 11:19 AM No. 9 Arkansas (22-11) vs. No. 8 Indiana (25-7) 9:40 pm EDT RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Following one of themost turbulent seasons in school history, Indiana received its lowestseed in the NCAA Tournament in more than a decade.The Hoosiers settled for a No. 8 seed and will face No. 9Arkansas on Friday in an East Region first-round contest.Dan Dakich, who played and coached under Bob Knight at Indiana,was named the Hoosiers' interim coach after Kelvin Sampson wasfired with five games left in the regular season for recruitingviolations. Indiana also endured three player suspensionsduring the year.Led by the talented inside-outside combination of senior forwardD.J. White and freshman guard Eric Gordon, the Hoosiers (25-7)are capable of making a deep run. But they did not play well atthe end of the season as the off-the-court distractions mayhave caught up to them.The Hoosiers have dropped three of their last four games,including a crushing 59-58 loss to Minnesota in the semifinalsof the Big Ten tournament when Blake Hoffarber caught an 80-footpass and hit a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer.After the game, Dakich, who will be making his NCAA Tournamentcoaching debut, needed a pep talk from his brother."My brother called me up and said, 'Listen, man, you're thecoach at Indiana University taking them to the NCAAtournament.'" Dakich said. "You know what, that is prettydoggone good. I'm fired up. I'm really fired up about it.Like I said, if we're a great team we'll have a chance to proveit."Arkansas (22-11) also is coming off a disappointing loss,falling to Georgia, 66-57, in the Southeastern Conferencechampionship game.The Razorbacks finished second in the SEC West in their firstseason under John Pelphrey. They play solid defense, holdingopponents to 41.2 percent shooting.However, Arkansas has not won won a tournament game since 1999,losing its last four first-round games.