COLLEGE BASKETBALL / POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS : MIDWEST REGIONAL : Louisville Has No Answer for Cheaney

ST. LOUIS —  Not long before Thursday night’s game between Indiana and Louisville in the Midwest Regional semifinal, Cardinal forward Troy Smith was asked a simple question:

When he thought of the No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Hoosiers, what did he think of first?

“The first thing I think is military,” said Smith, who got a laugh at the expense of the dictatorial Bob Knight, but also got it wrong.

Teammate James Brewer knew better.

“The first thing that comes to mind for our team is Calbert Cheaney,” he said of Indiana’s All-American forward. “The next thing is Bobby Knight.”

Truer words were never spoken, especially in light of Indiana’s 82-69 victory against the fourth-seeded Cardinals at St. Louis Arena.

Cheaney was nearly unstoppable. When he finally retired to the Indiana bench with 13.6 seconds to play, he was greeted with a standing ovation from the Hoosier bench and a handshake and pat on the bottom from Knight, who got second billing and deserved it.

Cheaney scored 32 points, missing only two of 12 shots. He had eight rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. When Louisville (22-9) moved to within three points of Indiana (31-3) with 9:02 remaining, it was Cheaney who took control.

He made a three-pointer, followed 1:35 later by a difficult floating baseline jumper. Then came an easy layin. And then another short jumper. A tenuous three-point lead had grown to 11, thanks mostly to four baskets by Cheaney.

“Calbert Cheaney was awesome,” Louisville Coach Denny Crum said. “We didn’t have anyone who could guard him.”

Nearly every Cardinal took a turn. But forward Greg Minor, who later said he felt “fortunate” to be assigned Cheaney, was the one who drew most of the minutes. It was an experience he won’t soon forget--no matter how hard he tries.

“In the second half, I think I got a little tired,” he said.

So did Crum . . . tired of watching Cheaney score at will.

“It wasn’t that we weren’t trying to guard him,” Crum said. “We just couldn’t stop him. He’s just too good.”

Louisville forward Dwayne Morton, who traded insults and technical fouls with Cheaney in the first half, best characterized the frustration of Cheaney’s scoring binge.

Said Morton: “What was going through my mind was, ‘Somebody please stop Calbert.’ ”

Cheaney wasn’t the only problem for Louisville. The Hoosiers shot 73.9% in the first half and 62.2% for the game. Guard Greg Graham scored 22 points and slightly undersized center Matt Nover, all 6-8 of him, added 15 points and eight rebounds.

“We didn’t communicate well on the defensive end,” Minor said.

The Cardinals could have written notes to each other and it wouldn’t have mattered with Cheaney. Eighteen of his 32 points came in the second half and almost all of them came when Louisville had crept to within striking distance.

“My job was to score,” Cheaney said.

Even before Cheaney went to work, this was a game worth noting. On one bench was Knight and his 618--oops, make it 619--victories. On the other was Crum and his 518 victories. Between them, there were five national championships and 72 NCAA tournament victories.

Still, despite Indiana’s early shooting percentages, the first half had its share of memorable moments, beginning with the play of Indiana’s Graham and Cheaney.

Cheaney’s reputation is well known: All-American forward . . . a Knight favorite . . . NCAA player of the year candidate. But it was Graham, whose offensive responsibilities have increased since the injury to center Alan Henderson, who scored 10 of Indiana’s 23 points, with Cheaney adding nine.

Louisville stayed close--it was 21-21 with 12:09 left in the half and the Hoosiers led, 29-28, with 7:04 to play.

Then came what could have been a disastrous sequence of events for the Hoosiers.

It began with Morton and Cheaney meeting somewhere near the rim, Morton trying to dunk and Cheaney trying to stop him. It ended with Morton, his dunk denied, and Cheaney trading insults under the basket, their foreheads flush against each other’s.

“That was two young men expressing their emotions,” Morton said.

Cheaney’s hack and his heated chat with Morton resulted in one foul, as well as a technical for unsportsmanlike conduct. Morton was whistled for a technical, too.

But Indiana suffered the worst, as the resulting free throws, lost possession and a three-pointer by Minor gave Louisville a 7-2 run, cutting the Hoosier lead to 37-35.

Knight immediately pulled Cheaney from the lineup after the two successive fouls. It would be one of Cheaney’s few mistakes.