Never quite Wright

Bracey Wright always was front page news in Bloomington. Thus, it was intriguing when his name appeared on page B8 of Sunday\'s Hoosier Times.Wright took out a one-quarter page advertisement in Sunday\'s sports section in order to thank Indiana fans for their support.It read, "Thank you Indiana! I\'d like to thank Coach Mike Davis, the entire Indiana University Family, and most especially YOU, the FANS who make Hoosiers Basketball the best in the country. "I look forward to joining you as we cheer on the 2005-06 Hoosiers to a Big Ten Championship! Thank you!"Wright left school with a season remaining to try to play professional basketball. Considering some of the things said about him around town one wonders why he would care how IU fans feel.I can\'t recall a former Hoosier who was more of an enigma than Wright, who arrived in Bloomington 2 years ago amid serious hype. Much of that came from the lips of Davis, who had trumpeted the future arrivals of Wright and Marshall Strickland.I also can\'t think of a better player at Indiana who gained less favor from IU fans. The start of his career was spectacular as the Hoosiers won the Maui Invitational, he was named its MVP and the Hoosiers won their first eight games.Wright was considered one of the best freshmen in the country. The only direction to go after that was downhill.Wright suffered a back injury later in his freshman season and when he did play he mostly fired up 21-foot jumpers. He also was a streak shooter, which is dangerous to your reputation.When Wright arrived he could accelerate down the baseline in spectacular fashion but such bursts appeared less frequently as his career continued.When Wright first committed to Indiana he apparently thought he would be playing with Sean May and Jared Jeffries. He played with neither. Instead, he was asked to run an offense around 6-foot-2 power forward A.J. Moye and 6-11 George Leach, who often became as invisible as a man his size can become.Such a situation almost necessitated that Bracey become a "gunner." If he was hitting IU fans considered him a star; when he went cold they chastised him. As a reporter who often attended practices I never got the impression that Wright was unpopular with his teammates. I did get the impression he was a bit of a loner.If there is a sad ending to this story it\'s that we never really got to know Bracey Wright. Reporters usually found him willing to talk but there was a void between the story\'s subject and it\'s author. It was sort of like pushing a button and getting a Bracey Wright quote. I suspect Bracey was a far more sensitive person that his persona revealed. Fans who didn\'t like Davis considered Wright to be his pet. He was Indiana\'s most visible player during the years IU missed out on the NCAA tournament.Meanwhile, Bracey\'s high school teammate, Deron Williams, took Illinois to the Final Four. Watching Williams and May playing for the title had to leave some mixed feelings.Bracey said he will be cheering for the Hoosiers next season. He may do that from an NBA city or some foreign port in Europe.Whichever, IU fans should be cheering for him, too.