Friday, May 30, 2008

Tom Crean Update

Very well written article on how the Tom Crean era has begun at Indiana.

He's got it pretty bad over there. He has absolutely no players of merit, plus his recruiting efforts are limited due to the Sampson (now the Bucks main assistant!) fallout.

His schedule is tough as well.
The schedule includes the Maui Classic, Kentucky, Wake Forest, Gonzaga in Lucas Oil Stadium and 18 Big Ten games.

Definitely not what he is used to from the Marquette days when playing Arkansas Pine Bluff was the main non-conference game.

Anyway, I just don't see it possible that the team is a .500 team...probably for at least two years. Speculate all you want about his 8 year contract...who knows if the people down there are going to give him that long to succeed.

11 comments:

wv23 said...

actually, every single IU person i know is positively thrilled about how things are going in bloomington with crean.

he cleaned out the sampson-era players and knuckleheads, he has brought accountability back in a very short time, and he has brought back into the fold the former IU players who were alienated during the davis-sampson years. not only that, he has filled out the '08 class with serviceable players (though not good by iu standards) and has signed an '09 class with three rivals 150 recruits.

to say he won't be given time to turn it around simply isn't an accurate reflection of what is going on in bloomington these days.

not only that, the article you cite is about an annual gathering in rural southern indiana that attracted 850 people who paid $50 in may to hear crean talk about the challenges ahead and how he plans to turn things around. by all accounts, he has been well received at this and other similar events.

to portray this as a bunch of hickory town elders ready to run coach dale out of town is simply false.

Anonymous said...

he'll turn it around just enough to have his replacement come in and take all the credit for it.

that's how they do things in bloomington, despite what mr. hayseed wrigleyville says.

Matt said...

Perhaps at some point Indiana basketball will be relevant again in the Big Ten.

It would be good for the conference.

wv23 said...

this is a good place to check the mood of hoosier fans: www.insidethehall.com

though it is cute that wisconsin folks are always so concerned with doings in bloomington.

Anonymous said...

Indiana was great in the 70's and 80's but since I graduated from high school (1995) Indiana has one 1 Big Ten title. And they shared that with 3 other teams. I have a feeling it is Marquette fans that care more about what is going on down there than Badger fans. We just want Indiana to be competitive so that it improves our RPI.

wv23 said...

oh, my UW friends have always been very concerned with IU doings ever since I lived in Madison in the late '90s...

IU ball will be fine within 2 years and good within 3, assuming the ncaa doesn't disband the program. that would suck.

Anonymous said...

Since UW basketball started coming out of the dark ages (Post-1993) I would say fans are mostly concerned with:
1. MSU
2. Illinois
3. Minnesota
4. OSU
5. Iowa
6. Indiana

Maybe we ran in different circles, but I don't know of too many Badger fans that really get revved up about Indiana. Maybe it was some left over hostility from when Randel-El and company pasted the football team at CR.

Anonymous said...

Goldy, in regards to hoops you could arguably put Purdue ahead of IU on that list too, right? Who's after IU then, PSU?

Anonymous said...

Yah, good point AP. I would almost put NW at Indiana's level. The Badgers usually play like crud at Welsh-Ryan and I hate losing to NW. So that pretty much leave Michigan and PSu as the only teams below Indiana.

Matt said...

Your UW friends are probably concerned about IU's doings solely because they know you like IU and enjoy your suffering.

Because that's how good friends are supposed to act.

Anonymous said...

Why are Badger fans concerned with Iowa and Minnesota? They blow balls.