Hoosiers Will Rise Again

I'm baffled by some of the comments about Indiana basketball I've seen recently...mostly from Wisconsin fans. They seem to think IU hoops has been on such a downward spiral since the mid 90's that it's just another mediocre program. Like Cal, or Providence. As a Bucky fan, Goldy said he's been more worried about programs like Minnesota and Iowa, among others, than Indiana in the past 15 years. And the infamous "anonymous" said he would almost put Northwestern at Indiana's level. Northwestern?? Do they even have an athletic program?

For the record, I'm not an Indiana (or Crean) lover. Just hear to say IU will be back. Back in a big way. Why?

1) They were never really gone (relative to most programs). Oh, the luster wasn't as shiny as it once was, no doubt. But even the "dark ages" of IU basketball were not terrible. Indiana has made 12 of the last 14 Brackets. Included was a trip to the NCAA championship game. God I hated Tom Coverdale. Speaking of players, IU has had 6 Big-11 POY's in that time span as well: Cal Cheany, Brian Evans, AJ Guyton, Kirk Haston (Yikes!), Jared Jeffries, and DJ Bubba White. That's a run %97 of teams wish they had. Not too shabby for "down years."

2) Stability. Say what you will about Tommy TanTan...the guy stayed at Marquette for 8 years despite being linked to other opportunities seemingly every off season. Conversely, Mike Davis was reportedly run out of town every off season. People were just waiting for him to get fired, no matter what his record was. Plus, Crean runs a clean program which graduates players. Lets just say Kelvin Sampson didn't. Even the end of the Knight era was like waiting for Three Mile Island to explode. Crean brings stability.

3) "It's Indiana." As Crean said, it IS Indiana. Certain jobs just need the right guy to once again become elite. IU is the basketball equivalent of Texas football, circa 1997. Texas was a former powerhouse that hadn't lived up to its name for well over a decade. The David McWilliams and John Mackovic eras just didn't do it for people. Enter Mack Brown. He got the players (namely VY) to win a title, and is now riding 7 straight 10+ win seasons. Indiana hoops is one of those kind of jobs. Just like UCLA hoops pre-Howland, USC football pre-Carroll, Florida football post-Ball Coach and pre-Meyer, and Minnesota Hockey pre-whoever was there before the current guy. Some jobs just need the right guy.

4) "It's Indiana," Part II. As in, The Hoosier State....Basketball Country...did you see the movie? Despite it's modest population, Indiana produces a huge number of quality college players. I remember before the 2006 tournament hearing something like 35 of the 65 teams in the field had at least one Indiana kid. That's amazing. Just off the top of my head, here's a list of Indiana kids that did NOT sign with IU in the last few years: Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Luke Harangody, Dom James, Josh McRoberts, E'Twaun Moore, Scott Martin, and Rob Hummel. I bet the tire fire of a coaching situation for the last decade had something to do with it. And, as we know, Crean can recruit.

Yes, Indiana should be Penn State-West for the next couple years. But, if you think they can't once again be among the nation’s elite, you’re kidding yourself.

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.

Thanks, But No Thanks

Isiah Thomas on the Tom Crean hiring:

Zeke: "He's got a brilliant basketball mind -- definitely a good hire for Indiana -- I was very vocal about Dan getting the job, but Tom is definitely qualified and will do an excellent job at Indiana," Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said before his game in Milwaukee on Tuesday. "Any way that I can help him, I definitely will."

Tom Crean: (backing away slowly)... Uh...yeah, Zeke, thanks, I'll, uh, give you a call if I need any, um, help...you're...you're doing a nice job there...with the, um, Knicks....keep it up.

Thoughts on Crean Leaving

It appears that Tom Crean will be announced as Indiana's new head basketball coach today. Needless to say, I was a little shocked to hear it (as were all the talking heads around the Milwaukee area). You can debate his physical coaching in-game ability all you want, but I'm not going to do that here. Let's just think about some of the positives that Tom Crean had done for the Marquette program since taking over:
-9 years, 190-96 record.
-Final 4 appearance
-Was part of the process that got Marquette in the Big East
-Built program into a perennial top-25 team
-3 members of his team were drafted, and another 3 on current roster have a decent shot
-Was not an asshole, and the players loved playing for him

So it's safe to say, in relative terms, that Tom Crean built a solid Men's basketball program with good principles that was a consistent winner.

So why leave now? I first assumed it was about money...and it still could be after we hear the terms later on today at Indiana. But after doing some research I found out he made 1.5 Mil in 2006, and various talking heads in Milwaukee all reiterated he was still probably in the top 5 IN THE COUNTRY as far as pay goes. So unless Indiana goes far and above that...money can't be the primary issue (Marquette had Crean locked up for like...8 more years or something).

Here's an article that pretty much sums it up.
Crean might have felt he had taken Marquette as far as it can go. He got the Golden Eagles to the 2003 Final Four with the considerable help of Dwyane Wade -- but that was before they joined the murderous Big East. Since then, he has won 20 games for three straight seasons, which is quite impressive, but sustaining that will never be easy in a 16-team meat grinder.

Crean's ego finally won him over. He had the money, the power, the support, & the foundation built at Marquette. Now he wants the legacy. He wants Big Ten titles. He wants more Final Fours. He wants the national media attention. He'll get that all at Indiana.

Put it this way. If Crean can succeed at Marquette, is there any doubt that he can succeed at Indiana?

Crean to Indiana University?

According to ESPN.com, the Indiana Hoosiers are nearing an agreement to hire Tom Crean as their next coach.

Ha.