{"id":685711,"date":"2026-01-18T03:45:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T03:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/685711\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T03:45:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T03:45:20","slug":"indiana-footballs-run-to-cfp-national-championship-has-nba-world-watching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/685711\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana football\u2019s run to CFP national championship has NBA world watching"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Cuban knows a big moment when he sees one.<\/p>\n

The 67-year-old billionaire was the governor and majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks when they won an NBA championship in 2011. He has witnessed and been part of other special events in his career. But last Friday, as he stood inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and watched his Indiana Hoosiers punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff national championship, this particular moment unfolding before him was still hard to believe.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnreal,\u201d Cuban wrote in an email to The Athletic. \u201cI get the chills just thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indiana\u2019s rise under second-year head coach Curt Cignetti, who has taken the Hoosiers from perennial Big Ten afterthought to national contender<\/a>, has stunned even one of its most famous alums. Cignetti has posted a 26-2 record over the past two seasons, vaulting Indiana football into one of the most captivating stories in sports.<\/p>\n

Cuban, the former Dallas Mavericks majority owner and a prominent Indiana booster and alumnus, says he\u2019s never seen anything comparable.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone,\u201d Cuban wrote. \u201cHe literally has turned the concept of \u2018Blue Blood\u2019 programs on its head. Cig\u2019s line of \u2018production over potential\u2019 says it all. Some people might not like this analogy, but it\u2019s far more like building a professional organization, but with limits on how long a player can stay. There is nothing like it anywhere. Coach, (IU athletic director) Scott Dolson and their staff have figured it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/p>\n

\n Mark Cuban has increased his financial contributions to Indiana as the Hoosiers\u2019 rise continues. (Grace Hollars \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Cuban\u2019s belief in the Hoosiers goes beyond his vocal support for the team. The Class of 1981 alum has upped his contributions to the football program<\/a>, though he\u2019s quick to distinguish between ownership and support \u2014 even in the name, image and likeness era.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing an owner brings a lot of responsibility,\u201d Cuban wrote. \u201cI\u2019m more like someone who cares enough to help something that is important to me, and IU fans everywhere. When I ran the Mavs, I always said I was responsible for the bills, but it was Mavs fans everywhere who owned the team. It\u2019s IU fans that make this run so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoo Hoo Hoosiers !!! Let\u2019s Gooooo!!!@IndianaUniv<\/a> @IUHoosiers<\/a> @IUBloomington<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark Cuban (@mcuban) October 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

That shared sense of Hoosier pride is felt inside NBA locker rooms as well.<\/p>\n

Less than an hour before the Golden State Warriors faced the Sacramento Kings last Friday night, a different game, almost 2,500 miles away, had players\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n

As Cuban watched up close in Atlanta, Warriors center and 2023 Indiana alum Trayce Jackson-Davis watched the game from a nearby laptop in the Warriors\u2019 locker room. Jackson-Davis, who spent four years on the Indiana men\u2019s basketball team before being selected in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft, still can\u2019t quite believe what he\u2019s seeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to be able to call that my school,\u201d Jackson-Davis told The Athletic.<\/p>\n

As the Hoosiers built a 35-7 lead over Oregon by halftime that night, one of Jackson-Davis\u2019 teammates got into the spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrayce,\u201d veteran guard Gary Payton II calls out from nearby. \u201cCan I get a Hoosier Daddy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can get a Hoo \u2014 Hoo \u2014 Hoooooosiers!\u201d Jackson-Davis responded.<\/p>\n

For the affable 25-year-old, the Hoosiers\u2019 transformation under Cignetti, whom he met when Cignetti was first hired, still feels surreal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was, I think, at the time he took over, the losingest program in football,\u201d Jackson-Davis said. \u201cWhat he\u2019s done is incredible. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a story in sports that\u2019s equivalent to what he\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson-Davis remembers what the program looked like before Cignetti. During his four seasons at Indiana, the Hoosiers football team recorded a 20-25 record. Back then, Memorial Stadium would be filled with opposing fans and emptied by halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stadium would be packed, and it would be mostly Ohio State fans or mostly Michigan fans,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd now we got the whole stadium rocking cream and crimson and kicking people\u2019s ass.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intensity is paying off for members of Indiana\u2019s giant alumni base across the country. It\u2019s also given Jackson-Davis and other alums bragging rights in the ever-competitive world of pro locker rooms, where arguments about college programs pop up all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d Jackson-Davis said of his friends back in Bloomington. \u201cWe had one good year when I was in school, and it was COVID. So being able to see this, I\u2019m kind of mad that I\u2019m not there seeing it in person, but it\u2019s really cool to see from afar, and I\u2019m cheering those guys on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many others across the sports world, Jackson-Davis still can\u2019t wrap his head around what Cignetti has accomplished. He\u2019s enjoying the ride the 64-year-old has put the school on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he\u2019s done with Indiana football, what he\u2019s done in the college football landscape is incredible,\u201d said Jackson-Davis, whose NBA IU brethren include the Knicks\u2019 OG Anunoby and the Heat\u2019s Kel\u2019el Ware, who he\u2019ll face Monday night at Chase Center in San Francisco while the national title game is happening in Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cSalute to him because this is crazy to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Indiana football didn\u2019t fare well during the time Trayce Jackson-Davis played basketball for IU from 2019 to 2023. (David Butler II \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Steve Kerr has won nine NBA championships, five as a player and four as a coach. He knows what it takes to build a high-level culture on and off the floor. He was recently voted the most admired leader in sports in a poll\u00a0<\/a>compiled by The Athletic that included Hall of Fame coaches, assistant coaches, and current and former players and executives. He knows a good leader when he sees one, and even he speaks in awe when he describes the job Cignetti has done at Indiana in two seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just blown away,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most remarkable coaching jobs of all time in any sport. To take a team that has been down for that long in football, a total afterthought in probably the best conference in the country, and to just flip \u2019em, like immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerr, like Cuban, couldn\u2019t think of a comparison in the world of sports for what Cignetti has done at Indiana.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember laughing when I saw his press conference, when he said, \u2018Google me, I win,\u2019\u201d Kerr said with a smile. \u201cI remember laughing like, \u2018Man, this guy\u2019s got some you know what.\u2019 And he was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did Kerr Google him?<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not Google him,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cBut I googled the clip in the press conference a few times because I enjoyed watching it so much. Man, he backed it up, but it\u2019s really remarkable. He must be an amazing talent evaluator because watching his teams, watching the broadcasts, they said they only have a handful of four-star guys. No five stars. You watch their team, they\u2019re loaded, and they all obviously have just come the last couple years. So the guy obviously knows what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerr hasn\u2019t had the chance to meet Cignetti yet, but he\u2019ll be rooting for him on Monday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter-in-law\u2019s an IU grad, so she\u2019s really excited,\u201d Kerr said.\u00a0\u201cSo we\u2019re definitely cheering for IU right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

So is Cuban, who recently sent out a tweet<\/a> on X, in hopes of helping IU fans and alums secure tickets to the game in Miami Gardens, Fla. He said he feels a similar sense of pride for his school that he did when he purchased the Mavs in 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had been voted the worst pro team of the previous 10 years,\u201d Cuban wrote. \u201cWhen we won our first playoff series on a last-second shot, my first full year, I felt every emotion possible. This is a lot like that.\u201d<\/p>\n