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My Two Cents: Abell, Creek Exact Touch of Revenge on Syracuse for 2013 Beatdown

The little cherry on top of Sideline Cancer's win on Saturday was a little sweet revenge over guys from Syracuse for former Hoosiers Remy Abell and Maurice Creek.
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It was 2,662 days ago, a late weeknight in March of 2013, at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Syracuse had just upset No. 1-seeded Indiana 61-50 in the regional semifinals, and it's not a stretch to say that it changed the basketball world as we know it for many, many people.

I've written thousands and thousands of words through the years on what that loss meant to Tom Crean and the Indiana basketball program. That defeat, quite simply, changed the dialogue and the perception of Crean. He never really recovered from that missed opportunity with a loaded Hoosiers team and — as we all know far too well — the Indiana basketball program still hasn't recovered from it either, more than seven years later.

For Remy Abell and Maurice Creek, the loss to Syracuse that night was much more personal. For both of them, it was the very last time that they wore an Indiana jersey. Their IU careers ended that night, with both of them transferring soon thereafter, Abell to Xavier and Creek to George Washington.

The pained faces that night still hurt.

Remy Abell (right) covers his face near the end of Indiana's loss to Syracuse in 2013. (USA TODAY Sports)

Remy Abell (right) covers his face near the end of Indiana's loss to Syracuse in 2013. (USA TODAY Sports)

There is no way to balance out the pain of that 2013 loss, but Abell and Creek exacted a touch of revenge on Saturday in The Basketball Tournament (TBT). 

They have been the low-seed darlings of this tournament so far with a team called Sideline Cancer. They've pulled off three upsets in a row, and that includes a big-time beatdown in the quarterfinals against Boeheim's Army, a Syracuse-based team. Creek scored 22 points and Abell had 12 in the 65-48 win.

Brandon Triche, who was on the floor for Syracuse in 2013 and also a starter on this current version of Boeheim's Army, played 22 minutes Saturday — and didn't score a single point.

"Mo talked about that," Abell told Rick Bozich of WDRB before the game. "He said he’s ready for this game. I guess you could say it would be payback."

It certainly was, in a small way. What matters more, though, is that these two are still alive in the $1 million winner-take-all tournament. Now they're just two games away, with the semifinals coming up on Sunday.

Creek was fabulous Saturday, leading all scorers with 22 points.

“I’m always going to be shooting it all the time,” said Creek, who made nine of his game-high 21 field goal attempts. “Everybody on this team believes,” said Creek. “Everyone picked against us against Team Hines and against [Challenge] ALS.”

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Abell scored 17 points in the first two wins, and added 12 more Saturday plus played great defense. Those 48 points by Boeheim's Army were the lowest total of the entire tournament. Army shot just 30 percent for the game, and was only 4-for-27 (14.8 percent) from three-point range.

This Indiana-Syracuse rivalry goes way back, and I don't think Creek and Abell mind one bit if the Hoosier fan base still wants to claim them during the run. As I said a few days ago, these two are easy to root for, even if they didn't finish their careers at Indiana.

It would be great to see them win it all.

What's also great, as Indiana fans, is watching that whiny Syracuse fan base complain after this loss. It started with "it wouldn't be a tournament without an early-round flameout by a Syracuse team'' and ended with so much more. There are those occasional days when scrolling through the Twitter feed leaves a perpetual smile, and Saturday was one of those days.

Let's share a handful.

More than seven years later, Abell and Creek turned out just fine after that Syracuse loss. Creek was finally healthy for a full season at George Washington, a luxury he never enjoyed in Bloomington. Abell got more playing time at Xavier, had a lot of fun and played in the NCAA tournament there, too.

Since then, they've both played professionally overseas and have good lives. It's good to see them back in the national spotlight in the TBT, and we'll have to see if it can continue on Sunday in the semifinals.

Three wins down — with a cherry on top — and two to go.

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