Welcome to “That’s A Wrap,” our player-by-player recap of the 2011-2012 Indiana Hoosiers. Today: Tom Pritchard. Editor’s note: Read our senior day feature on Pritchard here.

Final stats (36 games): 1.3 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.4 apg, 55% FG in 9.9 minutes per game

Tom Pritchard never had it easy during his time in Bloomington. He and Verdell Jones, who we looked at yesterday, had to sacrifice more than any other players on the Indiana roster.

Pritchard said he originally committed to Indiana because he wanted an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. Even when it became clear it would be quite a while before the Hoosiers were back in the Big Dance — and once it became clear his role would be much different than the one he played in high school — Pritchard decided to honor his commitment.

His minutes dipped from 29 per game his freshman year to 19.9 as a sophomore, 18.2 as a junior, and only 9.9 this season. With the addition of coveted big man Cody Zeller, Pritchard became a sparingly used energy guy off the bench. He tried to prepare Zeller for Big Ten competition in practice, and he did his best to affect the game in the short time he was on the floor.

Pritchard, who was often blamed by the fans during his sophomore and junior seasons as the team struggled, started to become a fan favorite toward the end of his career. His put-back dunk against Minnesota last season became an instant hit on YouTube (ironically off a miss from Jones), and Hoosier Nation started to see how much Pritchard had given up for the good of the team.

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Tom Pritchard started strong.

As a freshman in Tom Crean’s first year as coach (2008-09), he recorded a double-double in the team’s first two contests of the season — a first ever by an Indiana freshman. By year’s end, the Ohio native started all 31 games with averages of 9.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, and seemed primed to continue to be an offensive threat as his career continued.

But as Pritchard succeeded on an individual level as a freshman, the team struggled. And those struggles continued during his sophomore and junior seasons, ones in which he found his role decreasing.

He could have left for another program. Remember: Kelvin Sampson recruited him to Bloomington, not Crean. But Pritchard stuck it out, accepted his new role, and is now an important part of the Hoosiers’ surprising 23-7 season. Pritchard will likely play in his first NCAA tournament later this month, perhaps not always something he envisioned during the team’s darkest days.

Sunday’s senior day is a reminder how far Pritchard has come, and how much he has sacrificed for the good of the team. To understand the bruiser you see on the court now, though, you must first understand his journey to get there.

Big Man on Campus?

It looked easy for Pritchard at first.

Those double-doubles in his first two collegiate games were both Indiana wins. There was plenty of talk of his potential and how good he could become as he matured in the program.

But the Hoosiers began dropping games to teams like Northeastern and Lipscomb. They went 1-17 in the Big Ten. It didn’t matter that Pritchard was putting up 16 points and 11 rebounds against Ohio State – the program known for its winning, well, wasn’t.

And interest in Pritchard and the Hoosiers bottomed out.

“Our freshman year, not a lot of people were talking to us (on campus),” Pritchard said. “Not a lot of people were going to the games.”

‘We all saw that little light at the end of the tunnel’

And it didn’t figure to get better anytime soon. The Hoosiers had hometown Mr. Basketball Jordan Hulls coming in, along with top 50 players Maurice Creek and Christian Watford, but those players would need time to develop.

Indiana still needed Pritchard to play a leading role, but he couldn’t. He was a role player forced to be something more, and he struggled with it.

His numbers tailed off as the Hoosiers struggled through a 10-21 season, going 4-14 in conference play. He scored in double figures only three times all year, and he began to lose the potential tag he was given as a freshman.

Things weren’t so easy for Pritchard anymore.

“It was tough, it really was,” Pritchard said of the losing. “But we all saw that little light at the end of the tunnel.”

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