by Kent Sterling
Now I know why I didn’t like this guy – and it had nothing to do with him at all.
It’s been almost five years since Indiana University hired Tom Crean to run it’s basketball program, and that is the same amount of time I’ve taken in trying to figure out what it is I don’t care for in Crean. Today, thanks to an on-air intervention by 1070 the Fan host Dan Dakich, I have the answer.
I’ve known Dan for 25 years, and hired him to host 12p-3p on 1070 the Fan in 2008 – roughly the same time Crean was joining the IU family. Dan has always been a guy who asks great questions and holds people accountable for their opinions, so when he got a tweet from a listener as I was a guest on his show that asked me to stop busting on Crean, Dan asked what my problem with Crean is.
Not a tough question for a person with a good answer, but in the past what I came back to were behavioral tics and the opinions of two friends – one of whom worked directly for him at Marquette, and another who was in the media office of a team that played against Crean’s Marquette team annually. I respect both of their opinions, but need to form my own as well. Tics aren’t adequate.
Today, I finally said something that made sense. My issue is not with Tom Crean at all but with the immediate adoration of the students at Indiana who welcomed him to Bloomington like he was the messiah. Crean took Marquette to one Final Four, and agreed to take over an Indiana program that was in the midst of an absolute revolt.
The guy who hired Crean was the same boob who hired Kelvin Sampson, so why in the hell would anyone in their right mind trust that Crean was any better a choice.
Some bad kids recruited by Sampson had been sent packing by Dan while he was the head coach, and then the rest left shortly after Crean was named coach. By the time the following season began, Crean had hosted an open tryout, and filled the roster with some recruits like Matt Roth and Tom Pritchard. Indiana won six games the first season, including one Big Ten game that Roth single handedly shot IU into. Students at IU loved Crean.
Second year under Crean brought ten more wins. Students at IU loved him. The third season – 12 wins. Students loved him ever more.
When I was a college student, we behaved like 20 year-olds are supposed to – with disdain and distrust for all authority figures. Being skeptical is a positive thing for kids who have yet to be squeezed or prodded into compliance by financial needs or professional allegiances. The students at IU appeared to trust Crean without any concrete reason for doing so, and that bothered me.
There are a couple of things I do know about Crean. He is tireless, and is always working. The first time I saw him was at the press event where Eric Gordon announced his decision to forego the rest of his eligibility and enter the NBA Draft. Crean was a whirlwind as he grabbed all the important AAU and high school coaches who showed up. He began building the framework for his in-state recruiting before that, but on this day I watched him waste zero effort socializing. He was a man with purpose, and I would suspect that is exactly how he conducts himself always.
I sat at a table with Pat Forde, Rick Bozich, and IU Basketball SID J.D. Campbell as Crean held court. His conversation was focused, and he had a clear agenda of beliefs that he wanted Forde and Bozich to adopt. He wasn’t manipulative, but he again wasted no time nor effort.
Every moment that I have had with Crean, I’ve tried to figure out who the hell he is, and I think he is the coach of the Indiana Hoosiers. That isn’t just what he does – it’s who he is. Every moment during the last almost five years has been spent trying to rebuild this program. He appears to embody the character the quote, “If you never take no for an answer, you’ll eventually get a yes.”
Crean’s players do some other things too. They get their degrees, and they get the most out of their abilities. living life to your potential is each individual’s choice and responsibility, but a coach is employed to help those two things happen. Crean gets an A+ in both regards.
Oh yeah, after winning those 12 games in 2010-2011, they won 27 last year, and 24 and counting this year as the #1 team in America. Indiana is tough, outstanding defensively, and explosive offensively with five players on the floor who can score. What’s not to like?
Today, on Dan Dakich’s singularly superb radio show, I finally figured out that my problem was never with Crean – it was with those who supported him at a time when there was no reason to because if college students refuse to embrace cynicism, who the hell will. That heavy lifting shouldn’t be left to adults, so I took my anger out on Crean.
Now, with my anger properly assigned to the lemming student boosters living in McNutt, Briscoe, Foster, Wright, and Teter quads, I can evaluate Crean based on what’s important – the quality of the kids playing high quality basketball on their road to Atlanta.
As an IU grad who grew up in Milwaukee with a Mom that worked at Marquette I think it gets lost at what Marquette was before he got there. Mike Deane drove that program into the dumps, the O’neal years weren’t great but they had some flashes. Prior to Crean the Bradley Center was empty. Tickets were easy to come by and usually given away for free. Sure he “only went to one final four” but no one could do that since the late, great Al McGuire. Marquette was a hot ticket again. My guess is your problem with Crean wasn’t actually because of the students but actually because of the salty people that were left behind by them. During my Mom’s overlap there I never heard anything negative about Crean, but it sure did start when he left. Buzz is a great coach but Marquette fans are lucky Crean turned the BC, one of the worst college sports arenas, into a packed house so he could continue to recruit.
If you would have saw the bigger picture, a guy that could find diamonds in the rough that were over recruited or a guy that already brought a program from irrelevant to relevant, you may have never hated him in the first place.
After hearing you and Dan this afternoon, I reached much the same conclusion. Over time recently I’ve gathered an opinion that today’s students are largely looking to tick off a “bucket list” through their time in Bloomington. When they chose to enroll at Indiana, their is an expectation that they’ll all experience all the things promised by the admissions office, the internet, & ESPN — including raucous fall tailgates, late nights at Kilroys, “Sink the Biz” at Knicks, a week-long debauch for Little 5, candy striped warm-ups, a “rush the floor” moment at Assembly Hall, and a godhead figure as a basketball coach. The latter component is partly left over from all that was invested in the position of the Indiana head basketball coach in the form of Bob Knight, plus the need of ESPN to build the coaches’ cult of personality across the nation.
What does this have to with Tom Crean — very little, as you’ve realized as well. In fact, maybe we should be just a tad bit grateful that he’s worn this role with admirable respect for the University, the greater fandom, and the people of Indiana.
A thousand pardons for the auto-spelling swapping out Nick’s for Knicks.
If I’m reading this correctly, your problem with the lemming students who supported Crean when he was new to IU and the program when it was in the dumpster. Don’t you think that support played a role in getting the program back to where it is today? Surely it meant something to recruits to know that the building was full even though the team was horrible.
I think there’s something to be said for being true to your school and your team until you have a reason not to be.
In any case, keep up the good work at 101.
I supported Crean from the start because that was the only logical choice. Not supporting the coach or the players was not going to help anything. Rebuilding was going to take time…any sane person knew that amount of time was several years. Having the team play in an empty arena with no fan support would only prolong the rebuilding process. Nobody knew for sure whether Crean was the right choice when he was hired, but as a fan, withdrawing support before giving him a fair chance was only going to ensure failure.
Kent,
You didn’t win me over. The current team and record are a real tribute to IU. I am sure alot fo people have contributed to this great accomplishment, foremost the HBBC. There is just something about his “way” of operating that leaves me very concerned and unconvinced. IU supporters in the Star calling him “Clappy the Coach” is hilarious because the show he puts on in front of IU’s bench is slapstick comedy at his best. How do you spell disengenuous??? Every time I have seen him and heard him talk this GIANT bullshit detector goes off wildly in my mind. I guess in a different age we would say he is phony. The assembled team is great, the tradition restored, the present kids are fabulous, and I hope they triumph in Atlanta!!!!!! But if he left for the Memphis Grizzly’s job, it wouldn’t break my heart.
Bob,
Not sure I really get why you feel the way you do. I do know how to spell disingenuous, and I know what it means, too. Do you have a specific example of Crean being disingenuous on something significant that really bothers you? He said he was going to recruit Indiana kids. He has. He said he was going to recruit good kids. Check. He said he was going to re-establish relationships with the players of the past. Yup. He said commitment to academics would be a cornerstone of the program. 2 academic All Amercans this year and APR issues long over. And, oh yeah, #1 in the country. What exactly do you want?
I trust my bullshit detector too. But the thing is, at some point doesn’t our vague unease about something or someone have to be validated by something concrete? If not and we keep holding on anyway, aren”t we the ones full of shit?
Over signing, personal relationships with coaches and recruits/players, and other concepts will eventually reveal many of my concerns. I am entitled to an opinion and through some first hand experiences and some shared reflections I find myself uneasy about several issues. I truly admire and respect IU’s return and hope thay win it all, but I have a right to express my opinion and make an independent judgement.
You’re a moron, period. Take your negativity about our coach and shove it.
You don’t like Crean because IU students like him too much? You sure it’s not because people you know tell you Crean is a jerk?
I can tell you I don’t like Crean because he oversigns and he’s a massive sore loser who’d much rather kick your locker room door than shake your hand after you beat him. He also has no problem dropping f-bombs while yelling at opposing players and he treats the people around him horribly.
But you’re right, it’s mostly just that IU students liked him too much.
Boy you would have really hated Bob Knight then! LOL!
Luke, those are some pretty harsh accusations. It has been known that Crean no longer uses profanity. He has talked about it. He said he gave it up a few years and no longer does, which is probably a difficult habit to break in a highly energized, emotional position he is in. Treats other around him horribly? Any anecdotes? I have a tough time believing that. Every interaction that fans have talked about involving him have been nothing but superb – talking the time to chat with you, even rememebering your name months later. I’m not buying what your selling.
When has the oversign reared its head at IU? It hasn’t? Could it next year? Maybe? But you have guys like VO and CZ likely to the NBA. And its looking less and less that PJ may be ready for this level. Seems like there may not be an oversign issue at all. Is he a sore loser? Let’s jsut say he is as intense as they come and he puts everything into winning – the preperation, coaching, emotion, etc. He doesn’t like losing, so when he does, he’s immediate reaction is disappointment. Could be be a bit more respectful in a loss to the oppossing coach? Probably. Ok, so we found one negative about Coach Crean. I’ll take it. He’s our coach, he’s restored the program to greatness and he’s done it with great kids that we are all proud of. I’ll take coach crean over any coach, any day.
Try reading this thread. You can disbelieve it if you want, but there’s way too much smoke for there not to be fire:
http://buckyville.yuku.com/topic/51302/FU-Tom-Crean?page=1
Both Tom Lea of ESPN MIlwaukee and Adam Hoge of CBS Chicago tweeted that Crean yelled at Josh Gasser during last year’s Big Ten tourney and told him to stop talking to the refs and keep his [effing] mouth guard in.
How about when earlier this year Tom Crean tweeted a picture of Hollowell and said it was good to have Jeremy smiling again, except he had tweeted the exact same photo 2 months earlier. Talk about disingenuous.
https://twitter.com/TomCrean/status/285535842510966784
https://twitter.com/TomCrean/status/256550080637702145
As for oversigning, Crean has said publicly that he plans to oversign every year. Malik Story, Nick Williams, Bawa Muniru, and Bobby Capobianco all transferred in the spring, well after the guy who would use their scholarship had signed his LOI.
Keep in mind that IU was oversigned last year until Ron Patterson didn’t get in.
http://oversigning.com/testing/index.php/2010/06/18/indiana-crean-on-the-clock/#more-1419
http://www.insidethehall.com/2012/06/06/crean-on-scholarship-issue-its-not-an-easy-process/
You know if it comes from buckyville.com or illiniboard.com or Peegs.com then it HAS to be true.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24783503/disconnect-between-tom-crean-and-players-has-indiana-in-disarray
“Devitte left the program after that 2012-13 season. Still, he was, like all managers are, very much a part of the program that season, working side-by-side with the staff for countless hours, hanging behind closed doors with the players day after day. His lasting memory, he said, is this: “Crean never learned my name and always called me ‘Detlef Schrempf’ or ‘Hey You’ despite me telling him my name is ‘Tyler’ over and over again. I’d run errands to his house, drop off his kid, Riley, and he still wouldn’t make an effort to learn my name”
Are you sure about your remarks? I know several people that work at AH that don’t feel that way at all. Plus the players have commented repeatedly that CTC does not curse at all anymore and gets on them when they do. No way to know if this is true, but the camera spends a lot of time on him and I’ve never seen the f bomb. PS I kinda like a coach that doesn’t like to lose.
Ironically, you were probably the biggest Knight fan in the state and you’ve just managed to describe all of Knight’s negative behavior traits… sore loser, kicking things, f-bombs,treats people around him horribly, etc. Are you sure you have the right guy?
Look, the players LOVE Crean and they’re the ones who spend real time with him and actually know him. And if the character of the types of players he’s recruited is any indication, then Tom Crean must be a pretty good guy. This team has two academic all-americans and a lot of his players are going to graduate in 3 years, unless they leave early. Not to mention, his team plays harder than anyone and they play unselfishly and represent IU in very positive light.
Wow, another clueless idiot. Some of you people are fucking morons.
The first to bask in the glory sans players when it’s a W (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoH54tXSSnk) and the first to place blame elsewhere when the ship hits rough water (examples abound)…how could you not respect that? #sarcasm
you think its bad to mingle with fans and celebrate? i have seen him make mistakes, acknowledge them and then improve. our players graduate, he develops talent as good as any coach in the country and you morons wanna bash him for celebrating with the fans? wow….
I think you must be thinking of Coach Cal and not Coach Crean. Or maybe your remembering that Godsend of a Coach Bruce Weber. Or maybe Slick Rick down at Louisville? My point is all big time D1 coaches are guilty of the traits you describe. Coach Crean has been the lift that IU needed after Sampson. Look where we were and look where we are now.
My problem with Crean, if I have one, is that he doesn’t seem to be a great X and O guy. He runs the same offense as seemingly 90% of the rest of the college teams run – the ball screen/pick and roll scheme. Because of this unimaginative system, it is hard to get shooters open when they REALLY need an open shot (e.g. Roth last year). Fortunately for the IU Nation, what Crean lacks in technical or strategic adeptness, he makes up for in nearly everything else – especially recruiting. If you can recruit better than everyone else, than you do not need to have a better system than everyone else.
I will take that deal.
Seems to be working though doesn’t it Jeff? Seriously you said it is hard to get shooters open in Crean’s offense? Indiana is leading the nation in scoring…kind of a stupid thing to say in light of that don’t you think?
No, I am not saying they never get shots. I am just saying that often the shooters have to make their own shots. Sometimes, it is nice to be able to get an open look when you need one. Go replay the games they lost and tell me how stupid that comment was – especially last year when Roth could hit everything but couldn’t get open.
Even things that “work” can always work better.
We don’t run a motion-offense a la Knight. Get over it. We’re not running the picket fence with Jimmy Chitwood, let alone Math Roth, who wasn’t fast enough to get himself open.
Do you understand many open threes both Jordy and Watford attempt? Because of dribble penetration by Yogi and the constant double teaming of Cody, these two guys are shooting roughly 50% from behind the arc. So is Oladipo – who was never known as a shooter until this year. It’s not like they are consistently making half their threes with a hand in their face or playing one-on-one basketball. Your position has zero merit.
Yeah, I feel really stupid after the Minnesota game for talking about how IU can’t get their shooters open when they really need to. Hulls had to shoot from 30+ feet at the end of that game to get a shot off.
Minnesota’s defense was stifling. Why? Among the reasons was the predictable sets IU was running.
You are right. IU doesn’t run a motion offense. Do you realize that penetrating and dishing is ALSO part of the motion offense. I don’t particularly want them to run the motion. However, it would be nice to set a couple of screens to get a guy open – and I am not talking about lame old, predictable ball screens.
I hear people talk bad about the motion these days and/or screening. I just haven’t heard one good reason why they think it is ineffective. No one on here seems to know, either.
A fan of IU basketball for 34 years, we’ve (my wife and I) supported the team through the glory days of Knight (easy to do), the twilight last 5-6 years, when RMK thought that, as god, high school recruits should come begging to undergo the famous Knight tirades and abuse, through the unsettled years of Mike Davis (a good guy but not such a good coach), through the disastrous Sampson period. Kent Sterling is uninformed about the circumstances of Crean’s hiring: sure, he was hired by the same AD, Rick Greenspan, as hired Kelvin Sampson, but what Sterling leaves out is that Sampson was the choice of the IU president then, Adam Herbert, despite Rick Greenspan’s skepticism (KS was under NCAA probation for recruiting violations at Oklahoma when he was hired at IU).
Why should fans who support a team and a coach during down times (which they had nothing to do with) be the object of hate: Kent Sterling is either perverse, or stupid, or both. I’ve never been prouder of Hoosier Nation when we ranked 11th in attendance in the nation in 2009, when we had just finished a 6-25 season, and were in the middle of a 10-21 season. I doubt that the other teams ranked in the top 20 had losing records, certainly no team had lost as many as IU in those two years (46 games in the period 2008-2010.
Although it is short supply, even at the college level, but loyalty counts for something, and I can’t help thinking that this season is the reward for fans who have been loyal even when loyalty to the team was no fun.
I’d really like to know why your friends at Marquette didn’t like him. That really seems more pertinent. As for students, when I was there they loved Bobby passionately. I think everyone appreciated the mess that CTC took over and understood it was going to take awhile. People could also see his tireless recruiting and the character of players on his team. You are right about the tics, and honestly, I think that’s why many people don’t like him. Another note, he is extremely friendly to fans who just approach him out of nowhere and always appreciative of supporters and Hoosier nation. I’ll take the tics.
One said that of all the coaches he dealt with – including Dean Smith, Bob Knight, Jim Boeheim, etc… – Crean is easily the most arrogant. The other would be impossible to talk about with revealing who he or she is, and I won’t do that.
Stick to your guns,Kent. You may great interest and great knowledge, it is a fascinating post. Bob
If I worried about the knuckleheads who comment, I would not be long for running this or any other site. There are some who comment, yourself at the top of the list, who make checking for comments rewarding.
Anyone can wander on to a website and yell “idiot.” If they want to articulate their position, I look forward to reading it.
Hope all is well.
Kent
You have missed the whole point about Tom Crean…it is why the “lemmings” embraced him immediately. He is a recruiter, not just a recruiter, but the ultimate recruiter…when he arrived in Bloomington and said the reason he was there was because “It’s Indiana, it’s Indiana” he recruited most all of the Hoosier Nation…that comment reflected the pride nearly all alumni and most of the population of Indiana feel about the Indiana University. He recruited all those AAU and high school coarches who showed up that day…he recruited Pat Forde, Rick Bozich and J. D. Campbell while he held court. He continued to recruit the state of Indiana as he travelled around to Ft. Wayne, Evansville, Indianapolis, the Region and Jeffersonville speaking about how great Indiana University is…most of those who heard him signed their letters-of-intent on the spot. He also turned his attention to recruiting the best basketball players in the state, in fact, initially, he focused on those in-state players while taking a few from the nearby areas to fill out his roster. He continued to recruit Bloomington, both students and the local “stone cutters”, both the faculty and the administration. He recruits those people everyday…when he takes doughnuts to the students waiting in line for admission to Assembly Hall.
In addition to all of that he finds time to recruit some of the best basketball high schoolers anywhere he can find them…but if the stories are true he also recruits those kids parents, and uncles and coaches as part of his method of recruiting the ballers.
Kent, he even recruited Dan Dakich…and you’d better be careful because I think he wants your “letter-of-intent”.
Good reply. You are right. Part of the issue is the feeling that he is selling all the time. He’s good at it, but I’m a reluctant customer – not just of Crean’s or Indiana’s, but of anyone and everyone.
You disliked Crean for the students blind loyalty when he first arrived…How did/do you feel about Knight’s supporters and their blind loyalty in the face of all of the negative things he’s done? I’m not forgetting the 3 Championships or all the Big Ten titles…but the blind loyalty shown to a man who cannot admit to his own flaws by people who would rather blame the kids as the problem as opposed to him?
What? The students are lemmings because they were smarter than you when they were 20? They (we all) recognized what he was doing and how he was doing it. Sorry it took you so long to see.
No the students were lemmings because they followed blindly – without any evidence their decision was correct.
LEM-ming – A person who unthinkingly joins a mass movement. Yep
That may have been the worst, most pointless article I’ve ever read. Terrible.
Your article does not address WHY the students fell for Crean early on. CTC came to the students with the same energy he attacks everything else. He said “Hey guys, we need you!” He also from the very beginning showed them that he gets it. Indiana Basketball is like the smoking hot girl next door. Mike Davis (a good guy) and Kelvin Sampson (a bad guy) were the boyfriends that never treated her right. Davis tried to change the object of our worship in to something we didn’t want. Sampson simply treated her like a whore. From day one Crean treated our beloved with the same reverence that we do. The first time I met CTC was in May or June of 2008 at the local big box home improvement store. I went over to shake his hand and wish him luck. He spent 20 minutes quizzing me about what I thought about the program. Perhaps he really wanted to hear my opinion but I suspect he was willing to win us over one fan at a time if he had to.
Well, I just totaly wasted 3 minutes of my life reading this. I’ve never seen a more worthless article that says absoultely nothing —- and the few things that it does say are factually inaccruate (Sampson was not Greenspan’s choice).
To you people that commented about how much of waste of time this article is . . . then why waste more time commenting on it? Why not take your hate out on a UK or Purdue site or something instead?
Greenspan and his lieutenant were giddy that they were hiring Sampson. You can believe the talk about Adam Herbert making that call, but I spoke to those guys on the day of the hire, and they were genuinely thrilled to have agreed to terms with Sampson. The announcement hadn’t been made, and they could have walked in and out of the meeting without mentioning anything about Sampson, but they were too enthused to contain themselves. They said, “We got our guy.” If they were lying, they were great at it.
I was giddy when Sampson was named HC at IU. I have lived in Texas for many years and have held UT season tickets for more than 25 of those. My reason for being happy is two-fold. The first being that I was tired of how Sampson’s OK teams would regularly beat Texas. My observation on Kelvin was that he was one hell of an in game coach. He had beasts who seemed to foul with impunity yet never foul out. The second being that I love IU and felt that Kelvin could be a difference maker. As the employment in the NBA shows, the man can coach. That he is not above breaking a few of the less meritorious NCAA regulations, does not make him a villain.
Having said all of that, I think that Tom Crean has fulfilled the IU fans hopes to the highest level possible. While he may or may not win the NCAA tourney this year, he is showing that he knows how to get within range of it. If not this year, it will happen one day soon.
>>That he is not above breaking a few of the less meritorious NCAA regulations, does not make him a villain.<<
No, what makes him a villain is that he trashed a long-standing NCAA basketball institution with his failure to follow "a few of the less meritorious NCAA regulations."
Being an assistant coach in the NBA does not validate the basketball acumen of a coach. There are some good, and some not so good. His show cause order expires before next season, and now that the rules for contact have been removed, I’m sure Sampson’s arrogance will manifest itself elsewhere – but perhaps without another bout with the NCAA.
If Tom Crean had been slightly over .500 this year, I think we WOULD be looking for a new coach. Next year, with Zeller and Oladipo certainly going pro, and Hulls and Watford gone, it’s going to be a rebuilding year again. Today, recruiting seems to be the factor that determines success and in that regard for whatever reason Crean seems to be a great communicator. What coach in the country couldn’t be over 500 with one Dwayne Wade on their team? If you want a be negative, you could look at the VCU game in the second round of the tournament last year…VCU led almost the whole second half…some missed free throws and a Will Sheehey final shot saved our bacon…this team could win a National Championship or go out in the second round. Basketball is just that competitive these days. Let’s wait til April before we pass judgment.
Crean has an opportunity to shape perspective on Bob Knight. If Crean hangs a banner, he will be the 4th different IU coach in 4 different decades to win it, speaking to the enduring quality and talent in the state. Crean becomes beloved, Knights stock drops further. Knight is, in my opinion, basically giving every loyal supporter the finger by continuing to shun IU. Selling his championship rings was an act of aggression.
Crean wins it, it’s a new era in Indiana, Coach Knight becomes less relevant to two generations of IU fans, those under 40.
Crean makes the Final Four, it’s nice but a draw.
Crean does not make the Final Four, there’s a monkey on his back already.
I’m all in for Crean and IU.
Very well put. For the glory of Indiana basketball (our state, not IU) I’ll opt for the banner!
I don’t think there is any reason to think that Crean is competing with or is a rival of Bob Knight. As a matter of fact, Crean talks of continuing the winning traditions of Knight. I have seen attend him attend Knight’s speeches. I’m not sure painting that kind of picture of Crean/Knight is particularly helpful or accurate. It is just a new generation; it doesn’t erase former ones.
I agee with this article,Tom Crean has been at I.U. 5 years now barely made it to the sweet 16 last year,has been ranked #1 almost all year so he better at least make it to the final 4,I am not exactly on Creans band wagon just yet.His whole life so far has been based on D.Wade and the fact he is married to a Harbough.I love I.U. but I do not have to love the coaches,if memory serves me many of the blind followers loved Kevin at first.My real beef with Crean (just who is he?)I am afraid the fans havent met the real Tom Crean yet. He always says what he thinks fans want to hear,does anyone but me think he is a bit phoney.At least with Knight love him or hate him you knew who he was,and I for one did not love him.Just saying……………
OK its Obvious that AFter 3 Loses as the #1 team… the basketball gods are trying to tell all the voters and the team- You aren’t supposed to be the #1
Issue with Crean is he’s arrogant, true, but he can’t win 6 games in a row in the tournament. He proved it again tonight.
But, Dakich is just as big an arrogant ass as Crean. Maybe bigger. At least Crean has a track record of winning.
Creenie is not going to Atlanta. Not even close.
Well, I think crean is a horrible (yes, truly horrible) coach. If the other team shuts down his transition game, he’s toast. Nothing but a 1 trick pony. There is NO half court plan AT ALL- when forced into half court ball, they devolve into pickup ball and can lose to a div2 school easily.