UTC director of basketball operations Alan Treakle works with freshman center Latif Diouf on Monday at HInkle Fieldhouse.
photo by NCAA.com/NIT
INDIANAPOLIS – When Trey Bonham connected on his game winning shot in the waning seconds to defeat Bradley last week, it was a dramatic moment filled with theatrical undertones.
The clutch 3-pointer enabled the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to advance to Indianapolis for Tuesday’s National Invitation Tournament semifinals for the first time in school history, with UTC (27-9) taking on Loyola Chicago (25-11) inside of historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Built in 1928, Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University is an iconic area known as “Indiana’s Basketball Cathedral”. It was the site of the high school basketball state finals until 1971 but is better known as the setting for the final scenes of the 1986 feel-good basketball movie “Hoosiers”.
The storyline of “Hoosiers” is about a basketball coach with a checkered past finding redemption by leading a small-town Indiana high school, Hickory, to a state championship. The movie was inspired by Milan High School’s victory in the 1954 state finals, and starred Gene Hackman as Coach Norman Dale.
Thoughts abounded that Bonham was possibly channeling his inner Jimmy Chitwood last week at Bradley a few days early, making a connection to the star player for Hickory who demanded to take the game-winning shot in the movie by confidently telling Coach Dale, “I’ll make it.”
But there was no cinematic connection with Bonham and his winning shot. In fact, the juicy storylines of the Mocs being able to replay some of the memorable scenes from a movie that captivated a certain generation simply did not gain any traction when queried by the media on Monday as UTC practiced at Hinkle.
“I thought it was about the Indiana Hoosiers,” Bonham said. “I didn’t know it was filmed here. He (teammate Honor Huff) kind of makes fun of me because I don’t really know much about college basketball history. I was more of a football kid growing up (in Alabama). But I’m learning, and it’s been cool.”
With the release of “Hoosiers” taking place nearly four decades ago, it hasn’t found its way among the “must-see” viewing preferences of this current Mocs’ roster.
“I’ve watched it a few times, but I really don’t remember a lot about it,” senior guard Bash Wieland said.
Senior forward Frank Champion admitted his “Hoosiers” IQ was pretty much non-existent.
“I’ve been hearing about it,” Champion said. “I did not know that (it was filmed at Hinkle). Is that like legendary or something? Is it supposed to be like a legendary movie?”
Oh, the innocence of the younger generation…
At least senior forward Garrison Keeslar was able to redeem his teammates by being able to articulate the general story line from his four years at Walsh University when asked if he had seen the film.
“Yes, I have,” Keeslar said. “Our old team was watching it on a road trip one time. I’ve seen it probably one other time.”
The limited exposure to the movie among Mocs players did enable them to make comparisons between Hackman’s portrayal of Coach Dale and current UTC head coach Dan Earl.
“When you think of Coach, that’s a great comparison,” senior guard Jack Kostel said. “You think of an old-school guy, and Coach Earl compares to him a lot. I could tell some stories that would make some people interested.”
Keeslar was in agreement in that the 50-year-old Earl exhibits some of the coaching traits of Dale.
“He’s just a tad bit of the old school, where he still tunes into it every once in a while,” Keeslar said.
There should be some comfort among Chattanooga fans that the Mocs are more focused on advancing to Thursday night’s championship game than they are reliving Hinkle’s past. While they collectively have little historical connection to “Hoosiers”, there is still an appreciation of playing in this historic arena.
“We’re playing where a movie was made,” Wieland said. “That’s got to be a big deal, you know. So, it’s exciting.”
This will be UTC’s third trip to Hinkle, having lost on their two previous visits. The last time was in November 2014 when the Mocs trailed by three at the half before going more than eight minutes in the second half without a field goal to fall 70-48.
The other appearance was in 2011 as Butler was coming off a season when it lost in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs broke open a one-point halftime lead with a 13-4 start to second half. The Mocs were able to cut the deficit to three with six minutes remaining but could claw no closer before falling 57-46.
Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com
