Bloomington, Ind. ? Indiana’s Final Four chances are summed up in four words: Get Tom Coverdale healthy.

The Hoosiers have faith  especially after last Thursday’s epochal win over Duke, a clear demarcation point for the Mike Davis era at IU  but might not have their junior point guard.

Coverdale, who sustained a severe sprain to aggravate an already injured ankle during Saturday’s win over Kent State, is not merely IU’s floor leader. He supplies a big portion of the Hoosiers’ guts and guile.

The Hoosiers will need such qualities in quantity against Oklahoma. The Sooners play hard and play defense. OU has to pick its poison when setting up its defensive scheme, though.

Do the Sooners double-down with guards on 6-foot-10 sophomore front-liner Jared Jeffries, the Big Ten Player of the Year? If so, they may suffer the same fate as did Kent State, which finally wilted under IU’s withering 15-of-19 shooting from three-point range.

Do the Sooners concentrate on taking away Indiana’s perimeter shooting, as did No. 1-ranked Duke in last Thursday’s Sweet 16 matchup? If so, Jeffries may post the sort of dominating 24-point, 15-rebound performance he had against the Blue Devils.

While Coverdale’s ankle makes his participation problematic Saturday, Jeffries seems almost fully recovered from an ankle injury which curtailed his production during the final weeks of the regular season.

IU still shared the Big Ten regular-season title, but many observers felt the Hoosiers would have won the league outright had Jeffries stayed healthy. The Hoosiers, at full strength, are a Big Ten championship-caliber club.

But they’re not fully themselves without Coverdale, a second team All-Big Ten pick. Still, Indiana is surging for a lot of reasons beyond Jeffries’ return.

Reserves A.J. Moye and Jeff Newton have developed into crucial components, each acquiring more consistency and passion. Wing players Dane Fife, the Big Ten’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year, and Kyle Hornsby are again aggressively seeking three-point looks.

IU shoots .406 from three-point range as a team, and shoots a lot from there (252-of-621). Oklahoma’s quick perimeter defenders have limited opponents to .292 shooting from beyond the arc this season, however.

The key could be how efficiently the Hoosiers are able to maintain their spacing and ball movement to get good looks outside, or get the ball into Jeffries if Oklahoma overloads its perimeter defense.

And that really comes back to Coverdale.