UCLA, Indiana and the NCAA basketball fan bases living in the past

2. Indiana basketball fans long for the days of Bob Knight.

The top of our list takes a look at two of college basketball’s most prestigious programs that have fallen on hard times of late. Indiana, which has had little prominent success over the past two decades, certainly applies.

Basketball is everything in Indiana and the Hoosiers are truly the pride of the state. The program reached incredible heights under Hall-of-Famer Bob Knight, who guided the Hoosiers to three national championships.

The peak of the Knight era came in 1976 when Indiana went undefeated to win it all, making them the last program to accomplish that feat. The Hoosiers won two more titles in the 1980s and were tournament regulars throughout the 1990s before Knight was fired in 2000.

Knight’s successor, Mike Davis, took Indiana to the national championship game in 2002 before losing to Maryland. The Hoosiers have made the tournament on a pretty routine basis since then but haven’t advanced past the Sweet 16 since that 2002 run, a major disappointment for the school’s fans.

Indiana hasn’t suffered this fall from grace well, cycling through another two coaches before handing the job to Archie Miller. It’s unclear how patient Indiana fans will be with Miller since they are used to a legacy of success.