BLOOMINGTON - To win in the NCAA Tournament, you have to be tough, tough-minded and resilient.

Does that sound like the Indiana Hoosiers?

Recent history says no. But interim coach Dan Dakich can't focus on the past. This is the last chance to find glory in this mess of what was once a promising season and for Dakich, it comes down to two things.

“You've got to play defense and make shots,” he said. “Guarding and making shots. For us to be a viable NCAA team, we have to make shots.”

A critic might also mention rebounding (IU has given up 31 offensive rebounds in its last two games, both losses), but that misses the point.

Making shots have come as easy as building a time machine for the Hoosiers (25-7) lately. They've shot 37 percent in their last three games and lost two of them. They're 20-for-90 from three-point range in their last four games and lost three of them.

“We just haven't made shots,” Dakich said. “We make them in practice. I know it doesn't look like it, but we do practice them.”

Three-pointers come easier when IU gets the ball inside to Big Ten MVP D.J. White first, but that's been difficult with defenses geared to keeping the ball away from him.

So that has left Eric Gordon and Armon Bassett trying most of the perimeter shots, and struggles are everywhere you look. Gordon is 10-for-56 from beyond the arc in his last nine games. Bassett is 6-for-26 in his last three. In the Big Ten tourney loss to Minnesota, they were a combined 1-for-11. That doesn't count Jordan Crawford's 2-for-10 three-point shooting in those same three games.

That's not nearly good enough.

“Everybody has ups and downs in shooting,” Gordon said. “I keep on practicing and shooting. It's not like it's been horrendous and I've had no field goals the entire game. It will come to me.”

Maybe it will also come to senior forward Lance Stemler. He was a forgotten man against Minnesota. He played three minutes and did little more than grab a rebound. Nobody in America works harder at shooting than Stemler for worse results. In his last six games he is 0-for-12 from three-point range. He is 6-for-18 overall in that stretch - and almost all his shots are wide-open.

“We practice and practice and practice (our shooting),” Dakich said. “I'm not sure anybody shoots more - maybe Butler. We have good shooters, and I think we take good shots.”

At least the defense has picked up. IU has allowed less than 60 points in each of its last three games in regulation (Penn State scored 10 overtime points to finish with 68).

“The last three games is probably the best defense we've played all year,” Dakich said. The gut-wrenching Minnesota loss has some wondering if Dakich can pull this team together for this week's NCAA tourney. He said that's not the point.

“Guys have got to get ready to play in the NCAA Tournament. Nobody should have to bring anybody together to play in that.”