Yogi Ferrell’s Season Recap: The Final Chapter of a Legendary Career

Certain media types have said Yogi Ferrell can’t be considered one of the best Hoosiers of all time because he never won a national title. They are wrong.

People tell you very bad opinions all the time. NBA fans tell you that the NCAA Tournament is terrible every March, Purdue fans will tell you that their school has a good athletic program, and even I might tell you that Denzel Valentine won’t have as great a season as everyone is projecting him to have (an actual thing I said in November, could not have been more wrong).

One such very bad opinion comes from a well-known media member, who said during many Indiana’s TV broadcasts as the season was winding down that Yogi Ferrell cannot be considered one of the best IUBB players of all time since he never won a national title. I will keep this person nameless out of respect, but you should know who I’m talking about. Yogi Ferrell is absolutely one of the best Indiana Hoosiers of all time; let me help illustrate why.

Yogi leaves Indiana with his name all over the record books: IU’s all-time assist leader (633), first in games played and started (137), second in three point field goals (272), sixth in scoring (1,986), and he’s the only IU player ever to lead the team in assists four years in a row.

More from Hoosier State of Mind

• Indiana Basketball: Which teams have the Hoosiers never beaten?
• Indiana Basketball: Examining the All-Time Bob Knight Team
• BetMGM Indiana Promo: Get $1,000 Bonus on ANY BET This Weekend!
• 10 biggest Indiana basketball NBA Draft busts of all time
• Kent State vs. Indiana prediction and odds for NCAA Tournament First Round

After Ferrell’s senior campaign, in which he averaged 17.3 points, 5.6 assists, and 3.8 rebounds per game on 46/42/83 shooting, he was showered with accolades. Ready? Here we go: Unanimous First Team All-Big Ten and All-Big Ten Defensive Team, Second Team All-American (Sporting News and USA Today), Third Team All-American (AP and CBS Sports), Wendy’s Wooden Award All-American, and one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award (presented to the nation’s top point guard).

That is quite the resume, and just on paper you would be led to believe that Ferrell is an all-time great. But what he helped his teams accomplish is even more impressive. Two outright Big Ten titles in four seasons is extremely impressive, especially when you consider that IU is the only school to win multiple outright titles since Tom Crean took the job. This past season is really what cemented Yogi’s place in the upper echelon of Hoosiers, in my mind at least.

This season was a roller coaster, and although that’s a storyline that has been beaten into the ground it helps emphasize how much Yogi means to this program. There were countless times where Indiana could have hung its head and lost all hope for a successful season (or later, a Big Ten title): after the Maui debacle, the massacre at Duke, falling behind big against Notre Dame, losing at Penn State, getting knocked out of the Big Ten tournament on a buzzer beater. After each instance (I grouped Maui and Duke together), Yogi led the charge to revitalize the Hoosiers. After Duke Yogi led the Hoosiers on a 12 game winning streak, averaging 18.4 points and 5.8 assists (and even scored 30 in a streak-ending loss at Wisconsin). Against Notre Dame he locked down Demetrius Jackson as a pest at the top of the Hoosier zone, and hit the three pointer that finally tied the game. After losing at Penn State many wrote off the Hoosiers’ Big Ten title chances, but Yogi helped the Hoosiers win six of their last 7–including two wins over Iowa and home wins over Purdue and Maryland. And after the first round Big Ten Tournament loss, Yogi posted his first career double-double against Chattanooga and outplayed Tyler Ulis during Indiana’s run to the Sweet 16.

My point is, Yogi is as resilient and level-headed as they come–on top of all of his talent and athleticism. He continued to bolster his reputation as one of the best two-way players in the country, and along with Ulis one of the two best pound for pound players in America. There truly is nothing that Yogi cannot do. He is too quick for anyone to stay in front of him, and he is lethal both from distance and scoring over bigger defenders in the paint. Ferrell’s quickness allows him to be a surprising versatile defender, including being very adept at denying post players.

Yogi’s size (or lack thereof) is the only reason his draft position is in doubt. It’s historically been difficult for diminutive college stars to find success in the NBA, or even be drafted (See: Reynolds, Scottie). However, short, quick players have recently thrived–most notably Isaiah Thomas. It’s definitely going to be an uphill battle for Yogi to make it in the NBA, but once teams see how talented he is and what a good leader he can be, I’m confident he’ll find a good situation.

Yogi Ferrell is one of the best players in Indiana basketball history. Don’t let very bad opinions sway you to believe anything else.