Lilly Donahue | Indiana University

With yesterday’s loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament, the IU men’s basketball team has all but guaranteed that they won’t be receiving an invite to the Big Dance. The season was full of highs, like beating UNC and Kansas, and lows (basically everything post-Anunoby injury), and the Hoosiers are most likely going to be heading to the NIT. While IUBB’s tournament hopes were dashed, IU fans still have the opportunity to dance vicariously through two former players. The East Tennessee State University basketball team recently punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Southern Conference tourney, and two former IUBB players played a major role in propelling the Bucs to the national stage. Both Hanner Mosqera-Perea and Peter Jurkin once donned the cream and crimson, but transferred due to a variety of issues. Jurkin suffered multiple injuries at IU, and wanted more playing time, while Mosquera-Perea was dismissed from the team after multiple legal issues, including a DUI and a marijuana citation.  They were both apart of the 2012 recruiting class that was seen as the future, but the majority of the class didn’t pan out. Both big men, interestingly enough, are also from outside the US, with Mosquera-Perea hailing from Colombia and Jurkin from South Sudan.

In terms of current play, only one of the two Bucs are making a major impact for ETSU. Mosquera-Perea is averaging 21 minutes a game with 8.4 ppg and 4.6 rpg. Jurkin fills in when Mosquera-Perea needs a breather, and averages about a rebound and a point per game. Jurkin’s stats are a bit ironic, as he left IU in search of more playing time and just ended up playing second fiddle to Mosquera-Perea. Both players would have been a hot commodity this season for IU, as the Hoosiers’ bench was insanely thin. Either way, both players are helping ETSU to their first tourney appearance since 2010. Joe Lunardi’s bracketology currently has ETSU as a 13 seed matched up against Purdue. Wouldn’t it be something if two former IU players handed Purdue a major upset in the first round? (fingers crossed)