Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indiana Basketball – Time to thank Tom Crean for nine years of service and replace him

Tom Crean did some good work at Indiana, and now it’s time for someone else to take the program to another level.

“The Program is in great shape – the team’s gotta improve.” Tom Crean, March 14, 2017, after losing to Georgia Tech in the opening round of the NIT.

That quote should be stitched onto a banner and presented to Crean as he leaves Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for the final time – which I’m guessing will happen later this week.

It’s emblematic of the confusion and illogic that has been been obvious within the basketball program on the floor and off for a good portion of these last nine years.

I listen to Crean last night, and then re-listened to see if maybe I missed something. I often do that with Crean press conferences, but with the same result each time. “The Program is in great shape – the team’s gotta improve.” Nope, it is as nonsensical as I write it this morning as it was last night His comments makes no more sense as the words run through my brain a second, third, and fourth time.

The players, I’m guessing, feel much the same way. At least their on court behavior seems to convey the same bewilderment I feel.

Crean also mentioned the two Big 10 regular season championships “in four years”, which is technically true, but they weren’t during the most recent four years. From 2014-2017, Indiana has won one championship, and in the other three seasons finished 7-11, 9-9, and 7-11. During that four year run, IU has gone to two NCAA Tournaments with a 2-2 record. Continue reading →

Indiana Basketball – IU AD Fred Glass chooses broken window over cracked foundation

IU AD Fred Glass decided to take short-term pain over long-term damage by not hosting NIT game.

Indiana was presented with a no-win scenario. They chose bad option B over Bad option A.

IU Athletic Director Fred Glass had no good option.

Two weeks ago, Glass had to choose whether Indiana should host a first round NIT game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall or go on the road. This was contingent upon Indiana not playing well enough to be invited to the NCAA Tournament, but succeeding to the extent they qualified for the NIT.

Neither choice was inviting. If Indiana chose to host, it was likely the Hoosiers would play in a mostly empty Assembly Hall for two reasons – it would fall during spring break, and the majority of Indiana fans do not care about the NIT. Continue reading →

Indiana going to the NIT, and fans dazed by decade and a half of mediocrity

Indiana walked off the floor last night unable to win a second game in the Big 10 Tourney for the 14th straight season.

So now Indiana fans look ahead to Selection Sunday to find out where the Hoosiers will play in the NIT.

After the false promise built on the spindly legs of early season victories against Kansas and North Carolina, the Hoosiers backtracked into a season where on-court confusion was such a consistent presence, it appeared to be part of the game plan.

After last night’s loss to Wisconsin in the quarters of the Big 10 Tournament, Indiana’s record for the 2016-2017 season against teams ranked in the top 200 by Ken Pomeroy dropped to 10-15.

The loss last night should not have come as a surprise to anyone, as Indiana has won twice in the 20 Big 10 Tourneys just two times – both under Mike Davis (2001, 2003). 2001, 2003, 2006, and 2013 were the only times the Hoosiers played on Saturday in the event. Continue reading →

Indiana Basketball – Bob Knight wishes IU bosses dead

Nobody makes Bob Knight laugh the way Bob Knight does.

My Dad was a guy who liked to say outrageous things, and then when people became upset he never understood, “Why are they worried what I have to say?”

I would think, “Words have power.” I wouldn’t say it because you didn’t poke the bear.

Amusing himself and the people who shared his unique wavelength fueled Dad’s penchant for going way beyond reasonable. Those who didn’t understand thought Dad was cruel, angry, and intolerant.

One friend of my parents once said to my Dad, “I don’t know anyone I hate as much as you that I enjoy being around as much as you.” That summed it up pretty well.

Bob Knight seems to have been wired for the same level of both amusing and providing outrage.

On the Dan Patrick Show this morning, Patrick asked Knight about going back to Indiana University as a way to bring closure to fans and himself. Here was that exchange:

DP: I know this may not be on your wish list, but the fans [want closure in Indiana].
BK: I’ve always really enjoyed the fans and I always will. On my dying day I will think about how great the fans at Indiana were. As far as the hierarchy at Indiana University at that time … I have absolutely no respect whatsoever for those people . And with that in mind, I have no interest in ever going back to that University. Continue reading →

IU Basketball – Five myths dispelled about the coaching position and Tom Crean

One thing is for sure about the Indiana coaching position – Tom Crean will hold it when IU takes on Iowa tomorrow night.

People are talking about the Indiana Basketball coaching job – again.

The Hoosiers have just finished languishing through their third non-winning Big 10 season in the last four, and alums and boosters are getting restless.

While there is still work to be done for Tom Crean and the 2016-2017 squad in the Big 10 Tournament and maybe the NIT, interest has shifted from the short-term results to the long-term vision for the program.

The Missouri job would be a great fit for Crean, and if he decides to jump prior to being pushed (almost all coaches are eventually pushed), Indiana will be looking for its fourth post-Bob Knight leader, (not including the short but sweet stay of Dan Dakich, who was selected not hired).

There are myths being proffered by writers and pundits who should know better about the IU job that we can dispel. Here are five of them:

1 – Indiana is a top five job! If Indiana is a top five job, why has it never hired a top five coach? The most successful coach in the history of the program was Knight, and he was a 31-year-old nobody when IU tabbed him. Since then, IU has hired Mike Davis, Kelvin Sampson, and Tom Crean. By his own admission, Davis was nowhere near ready for the gig. Sampson was a cheat on his way out at Oklahoma. And after nine seasons at Marquette, Crean had plateaued during the post-Dwyane Wade Era, and worn raw those in Marquette’s Athletic Department. Continue reading →

Five reasons why Tom Crean would be a great fit at Mizzou

Tom Crean may be the target of Missouri’s coaching search. If they are smart, the Tigers will pounce!

Tom Crean may or may not return to coach a 10th season at Indiana, but a job opened yesterday where he could land and succeed.

Missouri and Kim Anderson are parting ways three years after he was given a five-year deal to take over for Frank Haith – just ahead of an internal investigation that accused Haith of a variety of compliance issues.

Anderson had trouble rebuilding from the rubble caused by Haith’s malfeasance, and after three years, Mizzou has had enough.

Indiana has fallen on hard times after Crean’s initial surge in rebuilding the once proud Hoosier program. A Big 10 regular season championship in 2013 has been followed by three years of non-winning conference records and one more Big 10 Championship.

The fanbase at Indiana is restless, and with an unranked recruiting class on its way to Bloomington while O.G. Anunob y, Thomas Bryant, and James Blackmon Jr. likely leave, reasons for optimism are in short supply.

Those two scenarios have converged to present Crean with a unique opportunity – to leave a situation that is deteriorating toward another for which he is uniquely predisposed. Continue reading →

Indiana Basketball – Trail of tears season has been a tale of turnovers, not injuries

In basketball as in football, when you turn the ball over, you lose. That’s true at Memorial Stadium and Simon-Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington

The good news for the Indiana Hoosiers is posting a losing season is impossible, barring a first round loss in the Big 10 Tournament and an unlikely bid to the NIT that results in a first round loss.

Other than that, the only worthy discussion about Indiana Basketball is why this disastrous season occurred.

To put this year in perspective, it may be the most disappointing in the program’s history because the expectations just three months ago were so high. After beating Kansas and North Carolina, “experts” spoke of the Hoosiers in terms of potential of winning a national championship.

Those who watched Indiana closely knew the Hoosiers were deeply flawed. Their propensity for turning the ball over made them especially vulnerable, but no one saw on the horizon what Indiana was destined to become – a bad (and hard to watch) basketball team. Continue reading →

Indianapolis Colts – Chris Pagano and Chris Ballard want speed, toughness, and competition

Colts coach Chuck Pagano echoed his new bosses message of the need for speed and competition as the roster is rebuilt.

“We are going to be faster!”

“We are going to have positional competition!”

“We are going to be tougher!”

Not exactly riveting stuff, but with a track record of two minor signings, no drafts, and no games, what the hell did you think would be shared at the NFL Scouting Combine by the new braintrust of the Indianapolis Colts?

Maybe it’s unfair to those who have gone before to claim a blank slate when coach Chuck Pagano returns, but the hiring of GM Chris Ballard has provided a breeze that swept out cynicism and infused the air with hope for brighter Sundays and more productive drafts.

That fresh air has deodorized Pagano as well as the rest of the organization, and so we declare a new day!

Ballard spoke yesterday of the need for speed and intense positional competition. Both would be welcome. Continue reading →

Indiana Basketball – How does Tom Crean measure up in Big 10 & among past IU coaches?

Like it or not, this is Indiana, and it might just always be Indiana.

Is Indiana’s mediocrity this season because of injuries or incompetence?

Is it an inability to recruit Indiana high school stars or an inability of current players to invest in the process?

Is it Tom Crean as a coach, Tom Crean as a recruiter, or a series of unpleasant and unlucky circumstances?

All good questions that can be debated with the same set of facts applied through different prisms.

What cannot be debated are the records of Big Ten coaches who have been in their positions over the past six years or more years, and how Crean ranks among them. Continue reading →

Indiana Basketball – National perspective more likely to absolve Tom Crean of blame #iubb

Local and national pundits can disagree why this balcony at Assembly Hall is regularly empty, but no one can disagree THAT it is empty

One of the best parts of hosting a sportstalk radio show everyday is that I get a chance to talk to local and national experts on all kinds of things.

It’s college basketball season and this is Indiana, so I spend a lot of time talking to guys who know a lot about college hoops.

Indiana is in the midst of a miserable season and fans want answers as to the cause and correction. And so I ask the questions.

What has happened to turn a Big Ten Champion into a Big Ten doormat? I’m not quite that crass in my wording, but why has Indiana evolved into what it is from what it was is the gist of the thing.

Local IU hoops experts point at Tom Crean as the architect and implementor of the program. They talk about an inability to recruit in Indiana, schematic simplicity, ill-fitting pieces, astronomical turnover numbers, and an overall lack of understanding of how to defend.

National guys talk about injuries to Collin Hartman and O.G. Anunoby. Continue reading →