My Two Cents: Not the Ending Trayce Jackson-Davis Wanted, And That's Too Bad

Trayce Jackson-Davis has had a brilliant four-year career at Indiana, and it ended abruptly on Sunday night when the Hoosiers lost their second-round NCAA Tournament game to Miami. The journey ended too soon for the record-breaker, and that's a shame. He's really going to be missed.

ALBANY, N.Y. — The tears were rolling down their cheeks, and there was no off switch. Indiana freshman Jalen Hood-Schifino couldn't stop crying in the locker room after the Hoosiers' NCAA Tournament loss to Miami, and his veteran leader, senior Trayce Jackson-Davis, couldn't do much other than hold him.

Their red-eyed hug was heartbreaking, because it not only signaled the end of another Indiana basketball season, but it was also the end of their time together as teammates in Bloomington.

That's the hardest things about March Madness, the suddenness and finality of it all. One bad game — or even a few minutes of poor play — and your season is over.

That happened to the Hoosiers, and it was not easy to watch. Not the game. The locker room.

There wasn't a player in the room who had dry eyes, and that makes complete sense. The average fan has no clue how close these guys are, how hard they work to be their best and how hard they want success for everyone else in the room.

What hurt the most? It was sending Trayce out this way, with a loss, a week — or two — earlier than they would have liked.

Jackson-Davis, who announced a few weeks ago that this was his final year, finished third on Indiana's all-time scoring list, behind only Indiana Hall of Famers Calbert Cheaney and Steve Alford. He's the school's all-time leading shot blocker and rebounder. 

The only thing missing from his resume was a long NCAA Tournament run, and that's why last night hurt so bad. This team went 23-12 this year and looked really great in most of those wins, and very susceptible in many of the losses.

Many of those flaws creeped in Sunday night in the 85-69 loss to Miami in the second round. Guarding quick slashers has been an issue all year, and Miami had four guys who could blow by Indiana defenders. Rebounding has been a problem too at times, and Miami had 20 offensive rebounds.

It was just the opposite two nights earlier in the win over Kent State, when the team defense was spot on. The Flashes had 19 offensive rebounds too, though, and was, sadly, not going to change.  

"Man, emotions are high,'' said Indiana sophomore Tamar Bates, who had a lot of struggles of his own in Albany. "I think it’s really tough because we just saw ourselves. We set out goals for our team and you know obviously we didn’t reach them and it hurts because our seniors and the team, we’re just so close. So it’s just tough. 

"Obviously it’s going to take a minute to get over it, but we’ll always be a team. We’ll always be together, but yeah you guys can see the emotions just all over the place right now (in the locker room). It's really hard.''

Indiana's basketball team will look completely different without Trayce around. Race Thompson and Miller Kopp are gone for sure, too, and Lord knows who else stays or goes.

But this era, the Trayce era, is over.

And that's really, really sad. The emotions were overwhelming

"I think about just being part of the change really,'' Jackson-Davis said when asked about the emotions he felt at the end of the game. "Just two years ago, we were getting booed in our home city, Indianapolis, booed off the court in the Big Ten Tournament (during Archie Miller's last game as Indiana's coach).

"Just being in this moment two years later, it's really special. It's really special to me to have the Indiana fans on your back and just cheering for you and giving them hope. It's something that this program hasn't had in a while. So I just thought it was really cool to be part of that and be part of that experience. I know this guy right next to me (Woodson) is going to make sure that things stay in the right direction.''

Woodson and Jackson-Davis, two Indiana legends now, have cherished their time together. Woodson made a promise two year ago that he would make Trayce better, and that's happened. Woodson and his staff validated their promise. And Jackson-Davis, he put in all the work to become the best player in college basketball this season, or second-best at worst.

And now it's over. Woodson has coached Jackson-Davis, and he's giving him everything back in spades. The ties that bind between those two will last forever. Trayce & Woody. It's great that they've had this time together.

"Well, he's meant a lot to this program. I don't think we're sitting here today if it wasn't for Trayce Jackson-Davis,'' Woodson said. "He could have left two days after I got the job, but he decided to stay on board. He worked his butt off. I pushed him on and off the court. A lot of nights and days, it wasn't pretty for him, but he got better. He benefited from it, and our team benefited from it.

"I wish him nothing but the best moving forward, him, Miller, and Race, who gave us all they could give us. It was fun times coaching those guys this season, but they're going to move on, and I've got to figure out our next move as far as our program and moving this program forward.''

Indiana junior Trey Galloway has gotten close to Jackson-Davis during their three years together. He hurt for this ending, too.

"It hurts because of all the things that he’s done,'' Galloway said, his eyes still puffy. "Trayce is just the guy that's put so much into this, it hurts us because we want to keep going for them because they’re our seniors and they’ve fought so hard for us and we’re battling together every day in practice, stuff that goes unseen. It just hurts that we can’t have the outcome that we want.

"Obviously it’s not the way we wanted to end the season, but you’ve got to look back on it and take it all in because it’s only motivation for me and guys coming back next year. I think in the end it’s all about just being together as a family and it sucks that it has to end like that, but just thinking back on all the memories this season and accomplishments we had and thanking our seniors. I just think everyone’s passion and will to win. I think everyone came together. You look back on the three-game losing streak we had in January, and a lot of people were counting us out, saying we couldn’t come back together as a team and we fought. We fought after that and kept fighting and kept going.''  

There's a reason why I've enjoyed covering college sports for so many decades. You love the kids, love the group, love all they do.

I've said it before, thousands of times, as someone who spent the same four years as a student and journalist as Mike Woodson did as a player back form 1976 to 1980. We've known each other for 40-plus years and when people have asked me since then who my all-time favorite Indiana player was, I always said it was Woodson.

Coming back to Bloomington four years ago and writing Indiana basketball again has been an enormous amount of fun. It's been a blast to see Jackson-Davis grow over all this time. It's been a pure pleasure, not only the games and the interviews, but also just the quiet, private chats away from the floor as well.

Earlier this year, he passed his coach on the all-time scoring list, and they had a lot of fun with that. ''Records are made to be broken,'' Woodson said ''and I'm glad that it's him.''

Woodson is right. Records are made to be broken. That works for me, too.

Now, when people ask me who my all-time favorites are, I'll have a different answer.

Because Mike Woodson AND Trayce Jackson-Davis are my all-time favorite Hoosiers.

Thanks for the memories, Tracye, and best wishes for a long, successful and healthy pro career. You will be missed, but all the great memories will live on.