Jason Smeathers got accustomed to receiving a certain postgame text last season. It was from Joey Brunk. Once the team returned the locker room beneath the Assembly Hall seats, shortly after the final whistle of Indiana’s games, the message would come through.
“In the gym at 11:30?” the text from Brunk would say.
“Yep,” Smeathers would respond. “See you there.”
Smeathers, an Indianapolis based trainer, would make the 45-minute drive to Cook Hall in Bloomington. That’s where they’d frequently workout until one or two o’clock in the morning.
“The game is just the game,” Smeathers said.