Derek Schultz: Pacers season in free fall
We knew the 2025-2026 campaign wouldn’t be a continuation of 2024-2025 after Tyrese Haliburton crumpled to the floor last June in Oklahoma City.
Montieth/Sports
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Mark Montieth: No one has come closer to assuming Reggie Miller’s mantle than Tyrese Haliburton
Head-to-head comparisons between eras aren’t always fair, but Haliburton has produced as many stunning individual highlights and led as many jaw-dropping comebacks in his three-plus seasons as a Pacer as Miller did in 18.
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Mark Montieth: Confluence of Indy 500, Pacers playoff game reflects longtime connections
On Sunday, Indy’s twin passions will combine forces for a rare doubleheader that will send a jolt of adrenaline throughout central Indiana and capture the attention of the nation.
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Mark Montieth: Can Purdue win it all?
It seems appropriate the Boilermakers would be playing in the final game on the same day as a total solar eclipse, given the rarity of both events.
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Mark Montieth: A word to describe the late Bob Knight? Complex.
He’ll ultimately be remembered for his coaching acumen, of course. His teams featured what for his era was the ultimate brand of basketball. Controlled pace, crisp ball movement, careful shot selection and stout defense.
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Articles
Mark Montieth: Former Colt helps children from tough circumstances similar to his own
Jackson’s dedication comes from the exceptional challenges of his childhood.
Mark Montieth: Brushes with gamblers were losing propositions for Indy pro hoopers
If nobody bet on sports, Indianapolis might still have an NBA franchise named the Olympians. Then again, if nobody bet on sports, the city might not have the Indiana Pacers today.
Mark Montieth: Are preseason games problematic?
NBA preseason schedules have come a long way.
Mark Montieth: Daniel Jones is just the latest pro athlete to enjoy a career resurgence here
The Giants’ pariah is the Colts’ Superman—one who has the power to cool the seats of his general manager and head coach and perhaps extend their employment beyond this season.
Mark Montieth: Soccer trailblazer Angela Berry White now head of IU Indy women’s team
She continued playing for regional and national teams for nearly a decade after college, including two years as a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team.
Derek Schultz: College football pundits can’t stop talking about IU’s schedule
Now, coming off the best season in the program’s modern history, a College Football Playoff campaign that brought both ESPN’s College Gameday and FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff to Bloomington, IU is legitimately in the conversation for the first time.
Mark Montieth: Speedway’s Tom Gilbert was billed as Purdue’s next hoops hero, but fate intervened
Gilbert passed through the stages of an idyllic childhood and nationally recognized high school athletic career at Speedway High School to a college experience at Purdue that was both snakebitten and self-destructive to an adult life that was cruelly unfair.
Mark Montieth: Summers of endless hoops—pickup games, tourneys, fundraisers and pro challenges—are long gone
It also became more difficult to attract NBA players as salaries skyrocketed and endorsement and business opportunities filled the offseason.
Mark Montieth: Sportswriter Bob Hammel wasn’t a paragon of objectivity, but he remained true to his kind nature
Bob Hammel might qualify as the biggest homer of all sportswriters in Indiana, if not beyond, during his 30 years as sports editor of the Bloomington Herald-Times (which was named the Daily Herald-Telephone the year his tenure started).
Mark Montieth: Players named Miss Basketball over five decades know the path that led to the WNBA All-Star Game in Indy
They form a human timeline that also measures the progression of their game. The early ones just happened to come along too soon.
Mark Montieth: For worse or sometimes better, the Pacers have been shaped by injuries to young stars
Kellogg, Stipanovich and Granger didn’t experience specific injuries; they had the misfortune of being stuck with knees with early expiration dates.
Mark Montieth: Pacers in 2000 were a few bad breaks away from championship
The Indiana team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals and took Chicago to seven games in 1998 might be sexier, but the 2000 squad had the guts and clutch shooting to go farther.
Mark Montieth: When playoffs arrive, some players excel at rising above their regular-season selves
Why do some players perform best when the pressure is greatest and the competition the toughest while others succumb to the moment and go quietly into the night?
Mark Montieth: Paying compliments pays off
A few words from an accomplished veteran or coach can give the young player enough confidence to carry him or her through the thickets of the early stages of a career, no matter what level.
Mark Montieth: Unprecedented shift of power
Changes are coming, but it’s a fluid environment with churning waters and probably always will be.
Mark Montieth: Soft skills on the hard court
Every coach craves leadership from players—someone who leads by both word and deed and supports the coach’s standards for on-court performance and off-court behavior.
Mark Montieth: Hobbled in college, Robbie Hummel could make Final Four as a star broadcaster
He will have worked 84 games by the time his broadcasting season ends, which is about 35 more than the industry norm for elite announcers.
Mark Montieth: Naming sports facilities is all the rage. What happens, though, when colleges run out of available real estate?
When attaching a name to something is done as an honor, it makes people happy.
Mark Montieth: Indy’s sports stars of yesteryear earned peanuts for endorsements
It’s safe to assume it’s a stratosphere or two beyond what the local stars of yesteryear received for their humble endorsements.