Indianapolis is no stranger to major sports events. However, this Saturday will be an unprecedented doubleheader of college action downtown. In basketball, No. 22 Indiana University (7-0) will face No. 6 Louisville (7-0) at Gainbridge Fieldhouse at 2 p.m. ET. In football, No. 2 IU (12-0, 9-0) will face No. 1 Ohio State (12-0, 9-0) for the Big Ten championship at Lucas Oil Stadium at 8 p.m.
Media members often have to pull double duty when both the college football and college basketball seasons are underway. That’s not unusual. But covering these two significant events on the same day in the same city has its own challenges. To learn more, we recently caught up with IU beat reporter Zach Osterman of the Indianapolis Star to discuss what will be a busy Saturday.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Awful Announcing: This is the biggest day in IU sports since when?
Zach Osterman: “All factors colliding, it might be the ’87 national championship game (in basketball). Indiana has not had, in recent memory, a ton of moments in Indianapolis, which is the beating heart of its fan base. They’ve never appeared in the Final Four in Indy. IU basketball has a pretty consistent presence in Indianapolis, but it’s not like they play in games there year in, year out. They’ve been in other championship events, the 2002 Final Four and the national championship game.
“I think the combination of what’s going on, where it is, and what it might mean depending upon results, it is certainly among the handful of most important days since ’87 in New Orleans. I don’t think that’s hyperbole.”
What is Indianapolis going to look like this weekend?
“Ohio State fans travel everywhere, and Indy’s only about a two-and-a-half, three-hour drive for them. I expect to see a lot of Ohio State fans. Of course, I would expect to see a lot of Indiana fans. How much overlap (of fans attending both the basketball and football games) will be interesting. I know people who have had this circled for months now.
“I don’t remember exactly when that was, but once the (IU vs. Louisville) game had been confirmed, it occurred to more than one IU fan that they could be doing the double-dip that day.”
What’s your game plan for Saturday?
“I live in Bloomington, so I’ll probably try to get up there a little earlier than I normally would, just recognizing downtown’s going to be busy. Be up there maybe around noon, and then post up for the basketball game. If you’re familiar with downtown Indy, nothing’s that far from anything else. We’ll cover the game, then drive over to Lucas Oil Stadium. Do our sort of basketball postgame from there, and then be settled in for a long night of football.”
How popular is Curt Cignetti?
“I know that there are Indiana fans who will make the Bob Knight comparisons because they see similarities in their personalities. I never covered Knight. I guess it sounds less and less like hyperbole when I make this comparison: Cignetti reminded me a lot more of Nick Saban. I said that last year, and I always was careful to say, I don’t think he is Nick Saban. Nobody’s Nick Saban. His strength is what was Saban’s strength, which is the ability to get a team to never, ever waver in its focus on all the small, crucial details that win games.”
Will the Big Ten championship decide the Heisman Trophy winner, IU’s Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin?
“The Heisman race is so wide open this year. It feels like who is commanding that conversation changes by the week. It was Fernando Mendoza after the Penn State game. It’s been Jeremiyah Love more recently. I think Diego Pavia probably surged into that conversation after what he did in the win at Tennessee over the weekend. The Heisman process is imperfect. It can be driven by narrative. It can take on a life of its own. It does seem like one of the sort of potential narratives that we seem to have built around this year’s Heisman race is that if one of these two quarterbacks comes out in Indy and plays a great game, then that might be the crowning moment because obviously votes are due two days later.”
What are reasonable expectations for the Hoosiers?
“I think they can win. I’m not sure I would predict them to. I probably haven’t dug too deep into my prediction yet. This Indiana team is better than the team that lost in Columbus last year. I think there’s no question about that. Playing on a neutral field is going to make a difference.
“I recognize that if Indiana wins on Saturday, it will be an upset. But I don’t think it would shock anyone. I think that by any number of statistical or analytical, or even anecdotal measures, these are the two best teams in the country.”
Switching to basketball, how do IU fans feel about this start?
“I would say people are encouraged. I think it’s hard because, for example, we all expected Marquette to be a better team. You don’t really know what the Kansas State win is going to mean at the end of the year. But I think from a fan’s perspective, it has been more of a proof of concept. It’s been how efficient they’ve been offensively, the pace that they’ve shown they can play at. They have much sterner tests upcoming. Defensively, that was a big concern about this group. What are they going to look like at the defensive end of the floor? To be top 20 in defensive efficiency at this point in the year, I think people are encouraged.”
What are you looking for in the game against Louisville?
“It’s going to be the game that stresses Indiana defensively at a level that we really haven’t seen yet. They shut down some good offenses, particularly Kansas State. Just the way Louisville spaces the floor, the fact that they’ve got maybe four high-level three-point shooters, you’re going to have to cover. There’s not going to be a lot of ability to sag and rotate easily. Louisville’s the No.2 team in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency. Indiana has not seen a team anywhere near that level.”
Is it strange to say that IU basketball is trying to match the energy of IU football?
“It’s the first time in anyone’s memory that they’re not that worried about basketball yet, because football is eating up so much of the oxygen justifiably. If they beat Minnesota (on Wednesday) and then Louisville, you’re going to see just as much hype and excitement with basketball as you have football.”
As an IU alum, how did that shape your journalism career?
“I went to IU because I wanted to go to a good journalism school. I was interested in a place that had a robust student media setup. Things are different now. The journalism school has been folded into the media school. But this was always what I wanted to do. I was looking for a place that was going to have a lot of resources for someone interested in studying (journalism). I’ve always had, I don’t want to say a strange relationship with my alma mater, but as someone who has professionally covered IU sports for so long, I’ve never really been a fan. I tell people that. I’ve always looked at things a little bit differently, but I’ve always been very proud of where I went to school.”