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Stuhoo

All-Time Hoosier Favorite Victor Oladipo is in Indy

By Stuhoo, in Indiana Men's Basketball

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CampHoosier    3,697

CampHoosier
Posted
A knee injury will force Victor Oladipo to watch from the bench Friday night while his Orlando Magic teammates face the Indiana Pacers in a preseason game.
 
But Oladipo will savor the trip to Indianapolis anyway.
 
Oladipo has never forgotten that the Indiana University basketball program gave him a chance when no other major program did.
 
"It's special going back there," Oladipo said. "If I'm playing or if I'm just visiting, it's always special. It's my second home."
 
Indiana's basketball fans treat him like family.
 
 
On Oct. 29, 2013, when the Magic opened their regular season in Indianapolis, a group of several hundred crimson-and-cream-clad Indiana Hoosiers fans attended a pregame meet-and-greet with Oladipo. The fans shook his hand. They posed with him for pictures. They asked for his autograph.
 
A couple of hours later, when Magic coach Jacque Vaughn subbed in Oladipo midway through the first quarter, almost every fan inside the arena stood and applauded as he made his NBA regular-season debut.
 
 
"Vic, in his time at Indiana, he was a guy that played extremely hard," Vaughn said Thursday. "It's one of the reasons we drafted him. The fans in Indiana, they appreciate good basketball and good basketball players."
 
When Oladipo arrived at IU's campus in Bloomington, the Hoosiers were Big 10 bottom feeders. But the team got better. It reached the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 during his sophomore and junior seasons.
 
The Magic are hoping for similar growth, and Oladipo, a 6-foot-4 guard, is a key part of the franchise's nucleus. For the team to develop, Oladipo must develop, too.
 
 
He has pegged the upcoming season as a key stretch of his career, and that's one of the reasons he's frustrated by the knee injury he suffered on Oct. 3.
 
He dropped almost 20 pounds during the offseason — cutting bread out of his diet — and he felt more explosive and more energetic.
 
Vaughn thinks Oladipo displayed "a greater confidence" in the Magic's six training-camp practices before Oladipo sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee.
 
"I think he really worked on his body in the offseason," Vaughn said. "He worked on his game, and when you feel good about yourself, a lot of times that parlays into how your game is playing. I definitely think his ability to get the ball up the floor and his ball-handling [are] better. His shooting seemed to be improved."
 
Oladipo will have to wait to show off any new-and-improved wrinkles to his game.
 
The team will not provide a timetable on when Oladipo is expected to return, but he seemed spry on his feet Thursday, even with a brace wrapped around the knee.
 
"It's good," Oladipo said. "By God's grace, it wasn't as serious as it could've been. But I'm taking my time getting back. I'm not rushing. I'm doing what I can, trying to stay in shape at the same time. When I'm ready, I'll come back."
 
He visits Indiana as often as possible.
 
Tom Crean, IU's coach, offered him a scholarship when Oladipo was a high-school senior at a school in Hyattsville, Md.
 
If Crean hadn't made that offer, Oladipo thinks he would've attempted to walk on to a Division I team somewhere.
 
It all worked out. Oladipo became the second overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, and Hoosiers fans love him. IU alumni root him on everywhere the Magic play.
 
The fans Friday night likely will show him some love, too.
 
"It's an amazing feeling," Oladipo said. "After only being there for three years, it feels like I've been there all my life. Then, for them to treat me the way they do? There's no words for it."
Walking Boot of Doom, LazOffTheBench, LockdownD and 1 other reacted to this

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