https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liPwRG_Amr8
Author Archives: Kent Sterling
Indiana Basketball – Crean-culus 101 for Dummies – Explaining swap of Tom Crean transfers and recruits
by Kent Sterling
The heat is on Tom Crean, and what he might do to the roster to improve his stock will be a focus of fans during the offseason.
“It all works out,” has been the routine response to questions about Tom Crean’s practice of oversigning players without a publicly shared scheme for how scholarships might be available for the new blood.
What is “Creaning”?
Division One basketball programs are allotted 13 scholarships, and without knowing how many players might go pro or leave for supposedly greener pastures with eligibility remaining, many coaches engage in the practice of allowing recruits to sign letters of intent without a scholarship being available. That’s oversigning, and it’s allowed by the NCAA as long as the program has reason to believe a scholarship will be open.
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When no scholarships are available and a player is asked to transfer to clear space for the incoming recruits, that is called “Creaning”. Indiana and Marquette (when Crean coached there) haven’t been the sole practitioners of Creaning, but given the name of the practice bears Crean’s name, it can be assumed he’s done quite a bit of it.
How does Creaning help Indiana win?
For elite programs, and expectation of players leaving for the NBA is always present. Indiana has lost three players to the NBA prior to the expiration of their eligibility after the past two seasons – all of which were foreseeable – but the combination of transfers and recruiting swings and misses left Indiana with a glut of open spots last offseason and a lack of incoming seniors.
If a coach gets caught without a Plan B, he can wind up with less players than scholarships. You can’t win with players you don’t have, so offers are extended to players who for a variety of reasons (lack of offers, poor academics, etc…) are still drifting unclaimed in the Spring.
Prior to announcing the transfers of Stanford Robinson and Max Hoetzel last week, Indiana had its full roster set for 2015-2016 because the team had no seniors nor likely NBA draftees. Making room for incoming freshmen Juwan Morgan and O.G. Anunoby required two current Hoosiers leaving.
Why don’t Indiana fans like “Creaning”?
Math problems like 13-15=”It all works out” makes Indiana fans a little bit nervous. Endorsing the morally questionable practice of “Creaning” requires winning. Even Indiana fans, a singularly high-minded and demanding fan base that abhors all impropriety, would be willing to see the regular churning of players as a reasonable cost for championship contention.
Over the past two seasons, Indiana has disappointed fans with a 16-20 Big Ten record, the first double digit seed in program history, and an 0-1 record in the NCAA Tourney. Losing is a bigger issue than “Creaning”, but a sinking ship lowers all boats, and when presented with losing, Indiana fans tend to complain about everything.
What is the consequence for losing AND “Creaning”?
Lack of success plus “Creaning” makes Indiana look cheap and tawdry under Crean, and given a significant lack of certainty from all but athletic director Fred Glass that he is the long term answer to Indiana’s needs, there is now serious chattering that has led to fans passing on football season tickets and donors writing fewer big checks to the department.
Yes, boosters enjoy a lot of perks because they write checks, and one of them is the attention their opinions receive when the checks don’t arrive as anticipated. Wins = $$$. That is basic athletic math that has nothing to do with “Crean-culus”, but it might be his undoing.
The motto for Indiana’s athletic department is “24 sports, one team”, but when the football AND basketball teams fail to succeed, the money needed to run the other 22 sports successfully tends to dry up.
Were the transfers of Stanford Robinson and Max Hoetzel examples of “Creaning”?
Fans can only speculate because neither Crean nor the transfers are going to admit to either being told to pack if they were “Creaned”. No player will talk about the misery a coach brings upon him because the coach can help him find a new home, and once a player graduates, a coach scorned will not choose to advocate for the young man with a potential employer.
And “Creaning” isn’t always communicated honestly. Coaches might pick a fight with a player, tell the kid he will never play, or employ nefarious psychological ploys to motivate his resignation, so who knows who or what truly happened.
There was virtually no doubt that Crean didn’t want Robinson back, and Robinson seemed disinterested in staying. Hoetzel was a different deal. He was nowhere near the least talented Hoosier, and if Crean wanted to recover a scholarship there were other more likely targets.
With other players being targeted including Thomas Bryant and Thon Maker, the exodus may continue, and then fans will have a better sense of who leaves for what reason when all the silt settles.
(Kent hosts the Kent Sterling show afternoons from 3p-6p on CBS Sports 1430 in Indianapolis.)
Indiana Basketball – Tom Crean is going to be just fine if/when he gets fired
by Kent Sterling
If he’s fired, Tom Crean will be able to look back without regret and count his severance when he’s fired.
With talk of potential for a coaching change in the Indiana University basketball program, there are two camps of passionate fans I hear from regularly – those who are very black and white – pragmatic types who want Tom Crean gone because Indiana should be an elite program because if Indiana isn’t elite at basketball, what the hell is the fun of rooting for Indiana at anything?
The other group are those who have talked themselves into hoping that Crean can succeed, or have simply resigned themselves to the realization that Indiana is ordinary and no one better than Crean will accept the job. I believe the second group is filled with those who for whatever reason feel that a person being fired is awful – as bad a thing as can happen to anyone.
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These poor deluded bastards have either never been fired and live in terror each day may be their last at their current workplace, or they were fired in the past and have never recovered from the insult of that experience.
Crean’s situation is unique because if he is fired before July 1, 2015, he is going to walk out of Assembly Hall with severance so substantial it should be presented to him as a giant novelty check Powerball winners receive from grinning bureaucrats.
$11 million is a nice parting gift that will keep the Crean Family in the black for several generations if they take good care of the money, but that isn’t the part that people fixate upon when considering Crean’s tenuous hold on a very cool job.
They worry about the moment athletic director Fred Glass invites Crean into his office and thanks him for seven great years, then tells him the program’s needs have changed, or some such preposterousness. It’s the sinking feeling in a man or woman’s stomach that some want to protect Crean from.
But just as parents want to encase their children in bubble wrap so no harm can come to them, allowing a little adversity into a loved one’s life can be a great gift. Kids learn not to fall down because it hurts, and adults learn self-sufficiency and develop new talents because they get bounced.
Being fired is a hell of a thing, but once the initial shock wears off – and it is a stunning moment for an adult, kind of like being expelled from school. Being told you can no longer do your best to help those likewise immersed in a difficult situation because of a dunderheaded boss is kind of stunning.
I’m sure it would be staggering to Crean, a guy who has ascended to the mountaintop of his profession – a dream job that pays him insanely to recruit and instruct teenage athletes to play a silly game. I’m sure he feels today like the guardian of a prized but ultimately meaningless fiefdom – kind of like being the king of Luxembourg – and that without his incredible efforts the place will crumble.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. If Crean were dispatched this afternoon, given the way his mind works, he would have a plan to execute what was next before he drove from Assembly Hall to his house. And the guy tapped by Glass to run Indiana Basketball would be rolling almost immediately.
Crean would call his father-in-law and brothers-in-law, ask for counsel from other trusted friends, and by nightfall be in the midst of putting together whatever he thought was his best course of action, secure in the knowledge that money was not an issue.
Maybe ESPN would call, maybe the Big Ten Network, or another school in need of a high-energy whirling dervish of arrogance who treasures the challenge of leading young men into battle on the hardwood might hire him. Hell, even former Indiana coach Mike Davis has taken two other teams to the NCAA Tournament after leaving Indiana.
Being fired is a little like childbirth. While the initial pain is life-altering and excruciating, after that last moment of anguish and shock, what stares back into your soul is the potential of what might come tomorrow. At least that’s the way it worked with me.
No, you don’t get to do what you have worked for years to achieve with those you love and respect (if you are very lucky – as I was), but what’s next can be even better, cooler, more impactful and fulfilling.
Sometimes a kick out the window is actually what’s needed to allow a person to prove he or she can soar.
Crean being at the pinnacle of his profession might make a true chance at redemption difficult, but all he needs to do is look at his buddy John Calipari to see that being fired can be a great step toward something grand if the adversity is answered with diligence and resolve – two traits even Crean detractors know he has in abundance.
And the fans who believe Crean deserves another year or more could be dooming him to a future bereft of the new challenge being fired might thrust him into.
An end is a beginning too, and it will not take Crean more than a few minutes to figure out. Fearing it on Crean’s behalf is narrow-minded and silly. If you truly have faith in Crean’s work ethic and drive to succeed, you won’t fear change for Crean – you will encourage him to find his new path – and you might learn how to move past that challenge yourself.
You never forget the feeling of being fired, and you might never forgive completely those who pulled the trigger, but that moment can be the change agent that takes your life in a great direction.
If Crean learns that sooner rather than later, why would anyone say it’s a bad thing?
(Kent hosts the Kent Sterling show afternoons from 3p-6p on CBS Sports 1430 in Indianapolis.)
Breakfast with Kent from the South Bureau – Seeds hold in Sweet 16 as Kentucky rolls; Pacers slow start dooms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbQtq38mclg
Indiana Basketball – Relax, Stanford Robinson leaving is not Creaning; his transfer is what’s best for him
by Kent Sterling
Stanford Robinson made the prudent decision to leave Indiana’s Basketball program so he could play more – and closer to home.
Indiana University basketball coach Tom Crean is so well known for the practice of stripping scholarships from current players in order to accommodate new recruits that it’s widely referred to in college basketball as “Creaning”. When occasionally wayward guard Stanford Robinson announced his intent to transfer from the Indiana program yesterday, many believed he was the latest victim.
Not so fast, my eager-to-find-any-reason-to-discredit-Tom Crean friend.
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If anything, Crean deserves some praise for sticking by Robinson throughout the 2014-2015 season. The sophomore was the author of a couple of embarrassing incidents that painted Crean as a coach who neglected to instill discipline in players who clearly needed a strong dose.
In his first 15 months on campus, Robinson tested positive for drugs often enough that a four-game suspension was mandated, and his arrest for trying to use a fake ID to gain entry at Kilroy’s Sports during Little 500 Weekend showed a disregard for the law and logic.
During the 2014 Big Ten Tournament, Robinson engaged in a heated exchange with assistant Kenny Johnson as the two sat together on the bench. Robinson flailed his arms while screaming at Johnson. If that reflected his frustration with the program, I would have expected him to transfer then.
By the way, the offenses themselves weren’t embarrassing, except for the fake ID arrest coming during Little 5. Everyone knows the excise cops are out then. The pot stuff is ridiculous. Just legalize the crap, and be done with it. The embarrassing part was that Crean had to answer for it, and be held accountable.
Whether out of concern for Robinson and a desire to help him, or because a thinner bench his Indiana team did not need, Crean stayed with Robinson throughout the season. There were opportunities for him to contribute, and he did.
One of the great assets of competing in collegiate sports is in learning how to deal with and overcome adversity. Crean keeping Robinson through this season allowed him to do that, and what he learned about himself through the process should benefit him for the rest of his life.
And this transfer was entirely foreseeable, regardless of the legal bumps and bruises suffered along the way. Robinson’s minutes dropped from 17 to 11 minutes per game during his sophomore season, and his scoring dipped from 6.4 to 3.0 points per game. His shooting percentage receded from 44.8% to 36.7%.
Nothing that Robinson did on the floor improved from his first year to second, and there was no likelihood things would change for him as a junior. Parachute out now or watch your basketball career crash into the quickly approaching rocks was his choice.
Two years of eligibility left is the time to go, and that’s what is left for Robinson. Redemption may be gained with a fresh start at a new address.
What did Crean risk by sticking by Robinson? Another arrest, failed drug test, or bad choice made public may have cost Crean his job – for cause. The difference between for cause and not for cause? Right now, it’s around $11.3 million. That’s a hell of a lot to risk for a deeper bench, or because a kid needed a chance to redeem himself.
But Crean did it, and Robinson paid off that risk by staying out of trouble for the duration of the season. Now, he gets to go to a school where he might play a little bit more in front of his family.
Everybody wins, including the math wizards who are trying to figure out how 15 kids could use 13 scholarships. Well, they are still a little bit baffled over 14 kids and 13 scholarships, but -1 beats -2 – unless this Bryant kid commits, and then the confusion mounts and the Creaning may start.
(Kent hosts the Kent Sterling show afternoons from 3p-6p on CBS Sports 1430 in Indianapolis.)
Indiana Basketball – Five reasons to part ways with Tom Crean; 11-million to wait
by Kent Sterling
Tom Crean came to Bloomington with a smile, and whenever he leaves, his buyout will like bring another smile to his face.
The future of beleaguered Indiana Basketball coach Tom Crean is being weighed in Bloomington based on a number of factors. The most meaningful is money. And make no mistake, when decisions are made by adults, money is always the determining factor.
There are other components, but plugging in the dollars usually leads those in power to pull the trigger or take the bullet out of the chamber. Good people who don’t represent an efficient expense are jettisoned while idiots and the corrupt are retained because their numbers fit.
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Crean is not leading the Indiana program to the level of success necessary to ensure profitability, but paying the ticket to pry him from the sidelines of Assembly Hall is huge, so it keeping him around for a few months or years might be a necessity for a school who otherwise would rather invest in a new coach.
The contract extension Crean signed in November, 2012, pays him $3.16 million per year. If Indiana made the decision to punt prior to the end of June, 2015, the buyout would be approximately $11 million. Waiting until July 1, lowers the price to $7.5 million. The following July 1, it drops to $4 million, and then to $1 million.
Let’s save the harangue about the wisdom of a buyout that large for a coach paid at the absolute high end of his capability to earn – as in who would hire Crean at the number Indiana pays, so why include such a stupendous amount for a buyout? That’s a topic for another day.
Instead, let’s talk about the five reasons Indiana may or should consider replacing Crean immediately and bite the bullet on the lotto-winner-size check he would receive for packing:
Athletic programs are sustained through the very significant donations of donors, and the malaise in which the program is currently held is bad for ticket sales, ticket buyers choosing to attend games, and donors being compelled to write big checks.
- The question may not come down to whether Indiana can afford to buyout Crean’s contract, but whether they can afford to retain him. Indiana Athletics goes as Indiana Basketball goes. In the last 20 seasons, Indiana’s football team has notched a grand total of 71 wins – a hard to fathom 3.5 wins per season. With football mired in such deeply entrenched mediocrity (who says I can’t be kind in my characterizations?), basketball cannot afford to recede to the mediocrity it has seen over the last two seasons (16-20 in the Big Ten) or even the last five (44-46 in the Big Ten).
- Hope requires current players improve enough to contend. With two three-star recruits from Missouri headed to Bloomington for next season, the improvement needed to compete with Michigan State, Ohio State, and Wisconsin needs to come from within. That isn’t just a matter of strength and conditioning, but through learning the game more thoroughly. Indiana’s defense was deficient on many levels – but particularly in court awareness. Is the ceiling high enough to predict better than another middling season.
- Crean and administrators at IU would like fans and media to forget about the spate of behavioral issues that plagued the program. Arrests, suspensions, and the brain injury to Devin Davis caused doubt that Crean had the rapt attention of those on his roster when they were not in Assembly Hall. Kids are going to screw up, and the police blotter has been clean since Halloween, but questions remain as to the ability of players to steer clear of trouble.
- “Creaning” is a common practice at Indiana where athletes on scholarship are asked to transfer to make room for others. It happens at many schools, but given that the practice is named after Crean himself, you can guess who does it regularly. It shows an inability to correctly assess and tap the potential of players, and each player “Creaned” reflects poorly on Crean and his culture.
- Recruiting in Indiana is necessary for IU to be successful. Kids being recruited today were 10 years from being born the last time the Hoosiers won a National Championship, and if a heavy dose of malaise has spread throughout the alumni chapter of Hoosier Nation, imagine what kids in California, Florida, New York, and Texas think about IU. In Indiana, IU still means something, and Indiana can recruit successfully against North Carolina and Kentucky for Indiana kids. Crean has not been able to get Trey Lyles, Gary Harris, Zak Irvin, Kellen Dunham, A.J. Hammons, Ryan Cline, Kyle Guy, and on and on. He did get James Blackmon Jr., and that’s a positive. Relying on east coast recruits to lead Indiana to longterm success is not smart in the short term nor sustainable in the long term.
The reason to keep Crean appears to be limited to gratitude for the digging Indiana out of the mire in which Kelvin Sampson submerged it 7+ years ago, academic success (an accomplishment that should be celebrated), and the giant ticket his buyout represents. That last one might be enough to keep Crean here long enough to drain additional and significant life force from the brand.
$11 million is a hell of a trump card in this game to determine the future of a treasured and iconic brand.
(Kent hosts the Kent Sterling show afternoons from 3p-6p on CBS Sports 1430 in Indianapolis.)
Indiana Basketball – Until Fred Glass gets it wrong, I’ll trust he’ll get the basketball situation right
by Kent Sterling
Fred Glass has done a lot of great work as the AD at Indiana, but he will be forever remembered for the move that comes next to either replace Tom Crean with the right guy, or keep him.
Fred Glass runs a great athletic department at Indiana University. The student-athletes (Indiana is one of the places where that term can still be used without smirking) are provided with the resources needed to succeed in both athletic and academic disciplines, facilities are in a constant state of upgrade, and most of the 24 teams under the IU sports umbrella win.
The two places where upgrades are needed are in football and men’s basketball. Football is a longterm project requiring slow growth, and that improvement keeps coming with each recruiting class and season. Last season’s injury to quarterback Nate Sudfeld eviscerated the team, and ended its chances to go to a bowl. Another year of development has the Hoosiers nearing an era when going to bowl should be a more regular occurrence than the 2007 Insight Bowl Indiana has enjoyed since 1993.
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But basketball is where the Indiana brand is strongest, and where the fan passion is deepest. A lack of new laundry hanging from the south end zone (the last national championship was earned nearly 30 years ago), and one outright Big Ten regular season championship over the last 20 years has fans impatiently asking when the long promised return to routine prominence among the elite programs in the game will take root.
The last two years for Indiana Basketball have been bleak. This just concluded 2014-2015 schedule teased fans with a national ranking that accompanied a 5-1 conference start. The 5-10 collapse has left those who care about IU hoops with intrenched and rational concerns about the direction of the program.
Tom Crean is the coach, and with an $11+ million check to cut to Crean if he is dispatched as many would like, his removal is unlikely. Glass has said that the buyout will not stop him from making a change, but what the hell was he supposed to say, “Yeah, I boogered this one. Painted myself right into this corner with an unnecessary buyout for a coach no one was ever sold on in the first place.” Even an athletic director as candid as Glass doesn’t say things like that.
Indiana fans need reasons for hope, and two incoming freshmen from Missouri are not moving the feel-good meter, not after a 44-46 Big Ten record (including the championship season) over the last five years.
Yesterday, I wrote that Indiana needs to thank Crean and then say goodbye to him because the death spiral has started, and when that happens, a reversal is impossible. Competing coaches poison the program in the minds of recruits because of the doubts about the current coach’s status. There is also the question of where scholarships will come from to accommodate the two Missouians and anyone else who strikes Crean’s fancy.
Fans are tired of “Creaning” and feel a little bit dirty about a coach who forces kids off scholarship, and with him being on thin ice already, departures by current players will force another series of negative news cycles upon a program that needs smooth sailing for a few months.. The arrests and suspensions also burned through a good deal of equity, leaving Crean exposed to the whims of teens prone to stupidity.
There are also good questions being asked about the defensive inadequacies that included a bizarre and confusing strategy that left some Indiana players in a zone and others in man-to-man during multiple possessions each game that have weakened the Crean brand in the minds of fans.
The key to saying goodbye to one coach and hello to a new one is making damn sure that the new guy can get the job done in a way that the previous coach could not, and while it’s easy for media types to say that Crean must go, the timing of the departure is critical because it will determine the ability to hire the right guy.
My trust is with Glass and his ability to find THE RIGHT GUY for this ultra important job. That may mean not making a change until the moment is right. That could coincide with the date the buyout drops to $7+ million (July 1), or a year from now when that perfect guy becomes available.
At some point, a change will be needed because Glass has a seven-year body of work to assess. He knows the best Crean is capable of, and it simply is not enough. If Indiana is going to be considered an elite program, the results of their on-court work need to back that up. Right now, Indiana is a middle of the pack Big Ten team who slipped in the backdoor of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. More of the same can be expected, but not tolerated.
Glass knows that and will provide change that brings reason for hope, but it needs to be done at the right time. I trust Glass to get it right.
(Kent hosts the Kent Sterling show afternoons from 3p-6p on CBS Sports 1430 in Indianapolis.)
Indiana Basketball – Time for Indiana to move forward, say thanks and goodbye to Tom Crean
by Kent Sterling
The time has come for Indiana University to thank Tom Crean for his seven years of hard work in returning a sense of self-respect to the basketball program.
Indiana Basketball needs a leader that will define its culture and bring hope for success each season, and Tom Crean is not it.
It’s not that Crean isn’t a good person, or an ineffective representative of Indiana University. There are many good things about Crean, traits you would seek in a coach that can lead an athletic program. Players get grades and degrees. They work hard too. Check and check.
But if Indiana is going to be one of the top programs in college basketball, it needs to be one of the best in the Big Ten first – and it is not.
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Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about the metrics Indiana University should use to evaluate the position of head basketball coach at Indiana. Here is how Crean stacks up:
1 – Comparison with other coaches in the Big Ten – In a head-to-head battle between IU’s coach and every other coach in the Big Ten, who’s better? In a conference with Bo Ryan, Mark Turgeon, Tom Izzo, Thad Matta, Matt Painter, John Beilein, and seven others, lodging near the top of the list is tough but necessary or Indiana is doomed to mediocrity.
Which of those first six would you rather have than Crean? Ryan? Of course. Izzo? Without hesitation I would make that swap. Matta? Not a big fan, but based on results, that’s a no-brainer. Painter seems a better fit at Purdue, but the Hoosiers could use their own version of Painter. Beilein is a hell of a coach. Turgeon is the one guy I would pass on in favor of Crean.
Crean didn’t rank among the top 50 in college hoops by a panel of ESPN experts a year ago. Would he move up because of a 20-14 overall record, 9-9 in the Big Ten, and a first round bow out in the NCAA Tourney as the first double digit seed in IU history?
2 – Ability to recruit Indiana – I’m sorry to those who see Indiana as a national program who should be able to recruit the finest talent in the country, that’s not who IU has shown itself to be – not today, not ever. When Indiana is best, it chooses players from among the best in its home state, and augments with those from neighboring states (illinois and Ohio). If kids from Indiana choose to leave the state to play, why would a rational kid from California, Texas, Florida, or Massachusetts choose to come to Bloomington. This isn’t Kentucky, and it shouldn’t be. During eras when Indiana kids excel, there is plenty of talent to stock a potential champion.
Gary Harris, Ryan Cline, Zak Irvin, Kyle Guy, Branden Dawson, Deshaun Thomas, Trey Lyles, Trevon Bluiett, and many others have chosen to go elsewhere, and the incoming class features two players from Missouri. Crean was able to get Cody Zeller, Yogi Ferrell, and James Blackmon Jr.
3 – Ability to out-coach fans – In Indiana, this is harder than in most places. One of the cruelest legacies of Bob Knight’s 29 years in Bloomington was his generosity with a vast curriculum of basketball knowledge. Indiana fans know more about defense than the majority of high school coaches outside Indiana, and a desire to see fundamentals executed properly is strong. If a coach can’t strategize and teach basketball well enough to satisfy fans, he is doomed.
Indiana defenders closed out with their hands down, were beaten to the rim in transition, and appeared baffled by their own efforts at playing zone. There were countless possessions where two IU players were in zone while the other three were in man-to-man. There is no doubt Crean knows a lot about basketball, but somehow the lessons were lost in translation to the players – and thus to the fans.
4 – Academics & graduation – Many from outside Indiana believe the blather from IU fans about grades and degrees to be hubristic claptrap that is waived as long as Indiana wins. Not for those who enjoyed the years when banners were hung while classes were attended. College basketball cannot be a minor league feeder system for the NBA regardless of banners, not at Indiana. Indiana University is a school first, a basketball program second, and players need to reflect that standard. Winning without a culture it validates is hollow, and Indiana fans won’t tolerate it.
Here, Crean scores. The APR at Indiana has been perfect for years, and most players graduate in three years. During a time when the only compensation for the works that brings in millions of dollars to the NCAA, conferences, schools, and athletic departments is an education, that needs to be a priority. At Indiana under Crean it has been.
5 – Winning – Amassing victories is a result, not a trait. If the first four criteria are met, winning should be a given. There are fans who work backwards though. They want the wins, and have no interest in the methodology behind them. These are the people who still believe Kelvin Sampson was a good hire. Without winning, all the magnificent culture in the world is meaningless. Sad, but true. If a coach can manage to fulfill #2 and #3, he is going to win at Indiana, and he will be evaluated as a winner in #1. The kids earn #4 as compensation for their effort, even though they might see it as a penance while at IU.
Let’s give Crean a pass for his first two years in Bloomington as the program was rebuilt following the Sampson scandal. The following five found Indiana atop the Big Ten regular season standings once – a season that ended with a loss in the Sweet 16 to Syracuse. In those five seasons, IU’s Big Ten record is 44-46.
Whether you like or loathe Crean, and I like him, 44-46 tells the story of a program mired in mediocrity.
Without taking into account the arrests and suspensions that caused many to question Crean’s ability to bring discipline into the lives of those he leads, Indiana’s path forward needs a fresh approach by a leader who can rally and unite the Indiana fan base. Add the arrests and galling recent admissions of low expectations, and the course is crystal clear.
All 13 scholarship players are scheduled to return, and at least two recruits are coming to Bloomington. That means two current players will be “Creaned”. Yes, the practice of oversigning and bouncing players currently on scholarship is actually named for Tom Crean. That’s not a good thing.
Back to those low expectations for a second. Here is what Crean said following the Hoosiers loss Friday, “They have persevered through adversity, persevered through different trials, and they did some things that not a whole lot of people expected them to do. Unofficially picked 11th in the league and they get into the NCAA Tournament with a 10th seed as the youngest team.”
That is a nauseatingly self-congratulatory appraisal of a mediocre season, and if there was any doubt Crean needed to go before Friday, it evaporated after hearing that. If Crean doesn’t hold himself accountable for failure, how can he claim to lead young men toward maturity?
Whether athletic director Fred Glass wants to wait until July 1 to save $5-million on the buyout, that’s up to him, but Crean returning for another season is likely to cause an unpleasant situation to turn downright ugly. The death spiral has started, and nothing can stop it.
Recruiting will be adversely affected as all coaches recruiting against Indiana will tell recruits that Crean is soon to be gone. Once that happens, future success is impossible – unless success is defined as finishing tied for seventh when picked to finish 11th.
Claiming victory after a season that ended by losing 10 of its final 15 games is weak, and Indiana Basketball deserves better than weak.
(Kent Sterling hosts a radio show afternoons from 3p-6p on CBS Sports 1430 in Indianapolis.)
Breakfast with Kent – Hoosier Basketball needs to define itself; Notre Dame sole Indiana team left; Pacers need win
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfuaQCokTYE
Indiana Basketball – Loss in NCAA Tournament has Indiana fans in search of reason for hope
by Kent Sterling
If nothing changes at Indiana, is hope for improvement reasonable?
Hope is the fuel that powers college sports fandom in all its forms – ticket sales, TV viewing, merchandise sales, and checks written by boosters. Hope for the long term future of the Indiana Basketball program is currently lacking in Bloomington.
The lack of enthusiasm for Indiana’s 2015-2016 season has very little to do with today’s first round 81-76 loss to Wichita State in which Indiana showed plenty of what it does well and poorly throughout.
Three-pointers fell often for Indiana (11-of-22 from deep), and defensive miscues were just as frequent. Hands down on close outs, bad reads on Wichita State out of bounds plays, and general confusion allowed Gregg Marshall’s squad to score their second highest point total of the season (Southern Illinois allowed 84 to the Shockers).
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Yogi Ferrell was splendid in many ways, and freshman Emmitt Holt picked up four fouls in six minutes.
Tom Crean spoke of his players with pride, “We’re not happy with the outcome today, certainly we could have played better, but I have zero disappointment in the way these guys battled, competed, got better and persevered throughout the season.” Good stuff. That’s what a coach should say once the season ends in disappointment.
Then Crean couldn’t help but talk about how the Hoosiers exceeded expectations, “They have persevered through adversity, persevered through different trials, and they did some things that not a whole lot of people expected them to do. Unofficially picked 11th in the league and they get into the NCAA Tournament with a 10th seed as the youngest team.” Translated out of coach-speak into English, “I did a hell of a job this year coaxing a miraculous 9-9 Big Ten record out of this group of ragamuffins.”
He then claimed the players improved throughout the season, and acknowledged the illogic of the statement by saying that only he could see it, “I think they got a lot better during the year. Our record didn’t always reflect it in some of the games, but I’m with ‘em every day, so I’m going to stick with being the judge of it.”
Forget losing 10 of their final 15 games, Indiana continued to improve because Crean saw it during expanses of time when fans had no access to the team. Maybe Indiana should sell tickets to the practices, so fans can see Indiana at its best.
The Hoosiers were excellent again in the classroom, players who stick around Bloomington for even three years are very likely to earn their degrees, and NCAA investigators aren’t combing through emails from academic advisors to professors to find papers written on the players’ behalf. That stuff is good and necessary at Indiana. Fans will tolerate less than perfect basketball, but not a lack of compliance with NCAA rules.
Arrests for alcohol related offenses, suspensions for multiple dirty drug tests, and a fractured skull in a Halloween accident left fans and media questioning the off-court leadership provided by Crean.
The 2014-2015 season wasn’t all bad, and it wasn’t all good. As evidenced by the 9-9 Big Ten record, there was a virtually equivalent amount of each. But from what evidence does hope for a better season in 2016 come?
All 13 players on scholarship are eligible to return. Two new guys from Missouri are headed to Bloomington, and we are safe in assuming two players currently on scholarship will be asked to scram or start writing checks. If incremental improvement from the current roster plus two Missourians brings more wins, that would be great but very unusual.
Has Indiana Basketball fallen so far that exceeding low expectations defines success? There are no banners for “eclipsing predicted finish in the Big Ten by three positions.” By the way, my memory of expectations as voiced at Big Ten Media Day was that Wisconsin would be at the top, Rutgers and Penn State at the bottom, and anything could happen from second through twelfth.
The question isn’t whether sane Indiana fans hoping for brighter days is reasonable, but what needs to be done to prompt it.
(Kent Sterling hosts a radio show afternoons from 3p-6p on CBS Sports 1430 in Indianapolis.)
