Survey says: IU 13th on list of programs to buy

  • 04/05/2008 11:43 am in

indtick.jpgI woke up this morning to an interesting exercise performed by longtime Courier-Journal columnist Rick Bozich. The question posed to 30 knowledgeable college basketball minds was as follows: “If you were buying stock in 10 college basketball programs, which 10 would you buy and in what order?”

Some of the names of those who participated (and among my favorite college hoops scribes in the country): Pat Forde of ESPN.com, Blair Kerkhoff of The Kansas City Star and Skip Myslenski of The Chicago Tribune. It’s also important to note that Greg Doyel of CBS Sportsline wasn’t included, which immediately brings more credibility to the survey.

Here were the results:

Ten points were awarded for a first-place vote, nine for second and on down to one point for a 10th-place vote.

The voting (first-place votes in parentheses):

1. North Carolina (23) 293 points; 2. UCLA (4) 264; 3. Kansas (1) 208; 4. Duke (2) 171; 5. Florida 126; 6. Texas 106; 7. Louisville 99; 8. Kentucky 89; 9. Memphis 73; 10. Georgetown 62.

Also receiving votes: Michigan State 45, Connecticut 36, Indiana 24, Ohio State 19, Tennessee 13, Arizona 9, Stanford 4, Gonzaga 4, Wisconsin 3, Washington State 2, Xavier 2, Southern California 1, Marquette 1, Pittsburgh 1.

To be perfectly honest, I was surprised to see IU this high on the survey given the recent tournament success (or lack thereof) and the uncertainty regarding the program due to possible NCAA sanctions. However, I think the results speak highly for not only the tradition of the program but also the potential for success under Tom Crean moving forward.

A few other random observations: Loved to see Louisville ahead of Kentucky. That is sure to irk Big Blue Nation and for that, we’re thankful. Texas seemed a bit high to me given they’ve only been to one Final Four under Rick Barnes, but they do recruit well and have ridiculous facilities in Austin.

So my question for you, ITH faithful: Where do you put IU on your list of programs if you had to buy 10 and why? As always, your thoughts are welcome in the comments.

(No, the picture of the stock ticker isn’t supposed to be IU’s stock. The school isn’t publicly traded, duh. But if they were, INDU would so be their ticker symbol. Props to PostmanE for digging up that photo.)

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