Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indiana Basketball – Why a different set of criteria for Mike Davis than Tom Crean?

by Kent Sterling

Mike Davis’ return to Assembly Hall last night as Indiana defeated his Texas Southern team piqued my curiosity about his separation from Indiana University in 2006, and what has changed in Bloomington as a result.

I was no fan of Davis. He seemed unsure of his ability to lead, and spoke his mind in a way that conveyed a lack of understanding about exactly where he was and what was expected by Indiana fans and boosters.

The stories about Davis recruiting Indiana high school players were odd – at best. He was indifferent toward Lawrence North point guard Mike Conley while passionately pursuing his teammate, big man Greg Oden. Everyone knew they were a package deal, and that Conley was at least the equal of Oden in on-floor impact.

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Ignoring one while pitching the other was dumb, but I heard from several in the Lawrence North program that Davis did exactly that.

Winning at Indiana is impossible without having a recruiting foothold in Indiana, or knowledge enough to attempt to establish one, so I was no fan of Davis. The 14-15 and 15-14 in back-to-back seasons followed by a 19-12 and a second round loss in the 2006 NCAA was enough to convince even doltish athletic director Rick Greenspan that hanging meaningful banners (those suspended on the south end of Assembly Hall that commemorate national championships) was not in the cards for the Hoosiers if led by Davis.

None of that is Davis’ fault. He was hired as the result of terrible timing exercised by then IU president Myles Brand – a wonderful example of the stupidity of a zero-tolerance policy – as he dismissed Bob Knight on September 11, 2000. Davis was tabbed as coach to quell a player uprising that might have made the exodus of 2008 look like a tea party.

This was his first head coaching gig, and Davis was doomed from jump street. Being able to lead the Hoosiers to the national championship game in 2002 was a hell of a surprise and a wonderful accomplishment for a guy who just two years before had never been a head coach.

Many defenders of Tom Crean cite the difficult terrain he needed to traverse when he got to Bloomington as a mitigating factor in judging the first couple of years of his leadership at IU. Not sure how Davis had it much better. Sure, he had players, but fans had expectations that just didn’t exist in 2008.

Crean got a virtual pass, and rightly so. Davis was asked to compete, and Indiana did. Obviously, as time passed, Davis showed himself incapable of effectively leading Indiana, and he rightly moved on. Sadly, a change in leadership requires two steps – the exit of the current coach, and his replacement being secured. Davis gone – good. Sampson hired – very bad.

Indiana’s record in six seasons under Davis was 115-79. Crean’s record in his first six years was 101-97. Davis went to four NCAA Tourneys and one NIT. Crean has gone to two NCAAs. Neither won a Big Ten Tournament. Crean’s teams have gone to the Sweet Sixteen twice, and Davis went to a national championship game. Crean has won a regular season Big Ten championship, while Davis never did. Davis won seven NCAA Tourney games, while Crean has won four. Crean’s average strength of schedule has been 8.14. Indiana played a schedule with a 9.71 SOS under Davis.

On the behavior front, the Hoosiers Academic Progress Rate is exemplary under Crean, and it didn’t exist under Davis. As far as arrests and suspensions, Crean has had six players either suspended, arrested, or hospitalized due to alcohol and drug-related incidents or tests. Under Davis? I don’t recall any, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t incidents that equalled those under Crean.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. If Crean had won another 14 games to equal Davis’ total, he might have gotten another contract extension. Davis was handed a box and a severance check.

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Not saying they are equal, but the Davis brand was evaluated as an ill-prepared knucklehead who couldn’t recruit and had a tough time leading. Crean is often described as a great recruiter and outstanding Xs and Os guy. And I’m trying to figure out whether Davis was much better than he was branded or if Crean has been branded far better than the reality.

Or is it as simple and myopic as perceiving a black guy as being less capable to a white guy?

I’m not writing that the timing was wrong in Davis leaving Indiana or that the time has come for Crean to be out as coach. What I am saying is that Crean will be seen a hell of a lot differently if in 2014-2015 he duplicates the 19-12 with a second round flame out in the NCAA Tournament that Davis posted in his final season.

Asking why is a legitimate question.

Mike Davis return to Indiana trumps Colts costly loss and Pacers split for Monday coverage

by Kent Sterling

Mike Davis will be back in Assembly Hall tonight as his Texas Southern team plays his former employer.

When the Colts lost a game where – again – virtually everyone but safety Mike Adams failed to show up on the defensive side of the football, I decided it would be a lot more fun to write about the Indiana Hoosiers welcoming Mike Davis back to Assembly Hall than to regurgitate analysis of the Horseshoes latest debacle at the hands of a good NFL team.

The running game of the Colts was so inert that Andrew Luck scrambled for more than three times the yardage compiled by running backs Ahmad Bradshaw and Trent Richardson combined (15 for Luck, four for Bradshaw, and zero for Richardson). Conversely, in three seasons as an employee of three NFL teams, the heretofore completely anonymous Jonas Gray carried the ball six times more than his career total for 199 yards and four TDs for the Patriots.

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It’s just too depressing to think about, much less write about. Plenty of time to talk about the Patriots dominance this afternoon on the radio show. No point in putting myself (or you) through even more misery here.

Questioning the Colts ability to compete in the postseason presupposes they will qualify for the playoffs at all – not a sure deal at all with the Houston Texans only one game back in the AFC South.

Tonight, Mike Davis makes his first trip back to Assembly Hall in Bloomington since being asked to vacate the premises at the conclusion of the 2005-2006 season. His record of 19-12 and a second round loss in the NCAA Tournament were too much for Indiana fans and athletic director Rich Greenspan to bear, I guess, in Davis’ sixth season.

Indiana fans would probably settle for 19-12 and a second round flame out this season. It might be enough to prompt Indiana to offer current coach Tom Crean another contract extension.

Davis was unappreciated as the Hoosiers coach, and not entirely without reason. He was everything Bob Knight was not – quiet, unassuming, and black, but also not exceptionally cognizant of what kind of basketball Indiana fans enjoyed watching. After the Knight recruits graduated or left, it seemed Davis was more comfortable bringing in kids from his native Alabama natives as Hoosiers.

That wasn’t a great recipe for success or acceptance among fans.

Davis talked about changing the uniforms to feature player names on the backs, and getting rid of the red and white striped warm up pants altogether. Regardless of the seeming meaninglessness of those two positions, it permanently etched Davis’s name among outsiders who just don’t get what Indiana Basketball is all about.

When his Indiana teams in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 went 14-15 and 15-14, fans reflected exactly the wrong emotional state for the survival of a coach – apathy. The Assembly Hall crowd for the opening game in the 2005 NIT was under 8,000, and that was enough to set the stage for the addlepated Greenspan to accept the need for a change.

Given his choice for a replacement, Hoosiers fans might have been thrilled to retain the anti-charismatic Davis. Less than two years after Davis moved his family back to Alabama as he accepted the head coaching position at UAB, the Indiana program was in ruin as Kelvin Sampson brazenly rebuilt quickly with flawed parts gathered from nefarious suppliers.

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Since 2003 (Davis’s third season), Indiana has gone through an entire season unranked by the Associated Press seven times, and been ranked in the Top 25 at least once in five other seasons. Prior to that, Indiana was ranked in every single season back to 1971 under the under appreciated Lou Watson the year before Knight came to Bloomington.

Davis was the answer to holding a fragile team together following the clumsy zero tolerance firing of Knight by then president Myles Brand, but he was unable to build a program that both suited his basketball dreams and the vision of the IU fans who demanded a specific essence from their team.

Fit is key for a person and a job, and the fit in Bloomington wasn’t snug between Davis and Indiana. But when he comes back to Assembly Hall tonight, I hope the reception is warm. Recognizing the good for which Davis was responsible is the bare minimum Hoosiers fans own their former coach.

Over the last 22 seasons, Indiana has been a participant in exactly one Final Four (2002 in Atlanta). Davis was the coach. That alone is worth standing for ten seconds and applauding.

Colts, Pacers, Hoosiers, Jaguars, Football semistates, and great college football highlight sports overload weekend

by Kent Sterling

Sadly, a life like this is not a technological possibility.

How many channels can be DVRed at once? The sheer tonnage of games are going to my system tonight and throughout the weekend.

The only time during the weekend when I won’t be multitasking by watching two or three games at once, or catching up on games that I record will be at the end – on Sunday night when Lex Luthor tries to render Andrew Luck ordinary again. The Colts and Patriots I get to watch with total focus.

Until then, my eyes will be darting from TV to smart phone to tablet and back. My retention level will likely be quite poor, but there is no expansion possible for my internal hard drive.

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Human beings weren’t built to absorb the input from three separate complicated events simultaneously, but what choice do we have when the Pacers, Hoosiers, and IUPUI Jaguars all play at 7p. Throw in the Ben Davis vs. Center Grove high school football game I’ll be watching and describing on WHMB TV-40, and steam will stream from my ears like Grampa on “The Munsters.”

It’s likely I will be up half the night watching games I missed, and then at noon Saturday it’s off to the races again. A bit of a break early as Ohio State vs. Minnesota and South Carolina vs. Florida are the only two games I have an overriding interest in. At 3:30p, life gets serious when Mississippi State and Alabama lock horns with a potential trip to the College Football Playoff is on the line. Indiana visits Rutgers at the same time, and while only IU and Rutgers alums and the insane could give a damn about that game, I’m guilty on both counts. Notre Dame hosts Northwestern, and while this is not too big a deal, I like to watch Notre Dame.

Saturday night, the mayhem continues with the Pacers visiting the Chicago Bulls and the brittle Derrick Rose, who came out this week as a freeloader interested in making it through meetings 20 years hence without residual soreness from a career of barely playing basketball. I want a Pacers win against the Bulls bad enough to taste it.

At the same time, Michigan State will either be exceptionally exceptionally pissed off after losing to Ohio State last Saturday or still hungover as they travel to Maryland for a trap game from hell. I like to watch Michigan State lose because East Lansing is a dump, and I can’t figure out why their football and basketball programs are light years ahead of Indiana and Purdue’s. If I’m asleep by 3 a.m., it will be a victory.

After so much input, my brain might freeze in a psychotic mode where additional stimulation is demanded. This has happened before. When I was a kid staying at my grandmother’s, she would stay up all night doing crossword puzzles, and I would bounce off the walls exhausted because why go to bed? Eventually, the crash comes. Hope it isn’t light out, because Sunday is an even bigger day.

Every single game being played Sunday is of interest for me. Usually, there are three or four clunkers, but not this week. Can’t wait to see what the Bears do this week to prove their culture is built on quicksand. And while the Rams hosting Peyton Manning and the Broncos appears to be a one-sided train wreck with the Rams exchanging one subpar backup quarterback for another, this is the kind of opponent they figure out a way to beat.

The Rams defense is crazy fast and talented, and Jeff Fisher is very familiar with Manning. He’ll dig into his bag of tricks, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Rams cover that +10.

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On Monday, I get to purge all of what I’ve seen here on kentsterling.com, and the radio show. And then Indiana welcomes home Mike Davis as the head coach of Texas Southern for their second cupcake regular season game. Happily, Pittsburgh plays Tennessee on Monday Night Football, and who gives a damn about that mess.

In the meantime, some 20-year old dumbass is going to screw up and grab headlines. We adults will wag our fingers because entitled and enabled dumbness frustrate us. Maybe an NFL stud will knock his wife unconscious or hit his kid with parts of a tree, and the cycle will begin all over again.

Loving sports has its price.

List of all-time great Indiana coaches flawed – should have included Frank Vogel – and now it does

by Kent Sterling

Frank Vogel is not just an effective leader who wins, he’s a good guy. Check and check! Put him on the list!

Yesterday, I posted a list of 12 coaches of Indiana teams who stand about the rest. People expressed outrage, frustration, disappointment, and occasional agreement that their favorites were omitted. Some of the names – Knute Rockne, Doc Councilman, Hobie Billingsley, Frank Leahy, Lin Dunn, Muffet McGraw, and even Notre Dame fencing master teacher Michael DeCicco.

One name I included caused some distress – Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano, now in only his third year.

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Other than the large number of Notre Dame honks who believe every single leader in the history of the university is by definition a great coach, the biggest surprise was that Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel got virtually no support at all as someone who should have been included.

It seems impossible, but Vogel is in his fifth season as the coach of the Pacers and will become the franchise’s all-time leader in NBA games coached on March 7, when his ticker for games hits 329. That will break a five-way tie of 328 games coached that includes Slick Leonard, Rick Carlisle, Larry Brown, Jack McKinney, and – very briefly – Vogel.

The record of 190 regular season NBA wins held by Brown will also fall toward the end of the season – maybe sooner if the Pacers keep rebounding like they did last night in Miami.

Vogel will also break the all-time record for number of NBA playoff wins if the Pacers get through the first round of the 2015 Playoffs and win one more game in the second round.

How can a list of 12 great Indiana coaches that includes three former Pacers coaches not have Vogel in a prominent spot? What kind of idiot would leave him off?

Good question – and guilty.

Vogel is a guy who carries himself just a little differently from your average major league coach, and that is a good thing. In fact, he’s one of the least coach-like coaches I have ever met regardless of the level.

He is a coach who actually makes the game about the development and instruction of his players – a normal guy with a good sense of humor who can float into a conversation among normal folks without trying to dominate it. He’s likable, generous, and engenders trust among players, staff, and everyone else associated with the team.

I saw him at a Carmel football game six weeks ago, and he easily moved through the crowd without causing any disturbance. He is normal, excellent, and by and large anonymous.

Unlike predecessors, there is no one within the Pacers organization who has anything negative to say about Vogel – AND he wins.

Yesterday’s list of coaches was assembled to celebrate people like Vogel who not only win, but win while retaining their humanity.

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His resume’ is incomplete, as is Pagano’s, so including a Colts coach while allowing Vogel to drift south of Leonard, Brown, and Bird on the list was silly. I corrected this for the radio show yesterday by including Vogel and Pagano as a single entry at #8 because we just don’t know what historic wake they will leave in Indianapolis once their respective eras end. That is insufficient.

The list now has 13 names, and Vogel is in his rightful place above all in Pacers NBA history. He will soon be there in many other categories, and will likely obliterate every Pacers NBA coaching record.

Shame on me for not including Vogel, and shame on everyone else for not demanding that I should have.

Tony Dungy leads list of my Lucky Top 13 all-time coaches for teams in the State of Indiana

by Kent Sterling

Everyone loves lists, especially me, and to tell you the truth are often the more overrated or underrated elements on their teams. Despite not having a major league team until 1976 when the Indiana Pacers migrated from the ABA to the NBA, Indiana has had their fair share of great coaches.

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Here is my absolute and definitive list of coaches who achieved greatness in Indiana – which takes into account personality, leadership, and level of success:

13 – Bill Mallory Indiana Football might be the toughest coaching gig in major college sports, and after an 0-11 1984 season, Mallory got the Hoosiers rolling to six bowls in the next 12 years. The final two years were a little bleak, but the nine year stretch where the Hoosiers were 64-49-3 (37-42-1 in the Big Ten) is easily the best since the Bo McMillan years from 1934-1947. And he’s a very nice man.

12 – Joe Tiller Winning at Purdue is not easy, but Tiller did it very well. In 12 years running things for Boilermakers football, Tiller led them to 10 bowl appearances, and won a Big Ten championship in 2000. Boilermaker fans were a little too anxious to turn the page on the Tiller Era in 2008 when he decided to resign. Think Boilermaker fans wouldn’t love a trip to the Sun or Alamo Bowls today?

11 – Bob Knight He would be higher on the list if not for his status as one of the great assholes in American sports. A truly selfish and repellent man, Knight is a living scourge on humanity. His excellence as a teacher and tactician is overwhelmed by the boorish and surly canker he became as he fell in love with his ability to amuse himself. Instead of being an elder statesman at Indiana University where he could continue to impart wisdom, he has chosen to blame the institution for the reaction of then IU president Myles Brand to his rampant inappropriate behavior. A bizarre set of contradictions within Knight’s personalities make it impossible to either completely love or absolutely loathe him. His three national championships and 11 Big Ten titles are accomplishments too meaningful to allow Knight to be de-listed or he would be.

10 – Bob “Slick” Leonard I never saw Slick coach, or at least I don’t remember it if I did, but he won three ABA championships, and is one of the nicest guys in Indianapolis. He saved the franchise with a telethon to raise cash for the Pacers, and has continued to be a huge part of the Pacers brand and the lives of fans with his work as a radio analyst.

9 – Chuck Pagano – Tough to anoint Pagano as an all-time great yet given a slim body of work, but it seems that in three seasons his Colts will have won at least 11 games and hung banners as AFC South Championships. He’s gritty, classy, friendly, and has earned the absolute respect of his team. It helps to have a quarterback like Andrew Luck, but the clever defensive schemes and consistent effort from his players has set the table for predictable success.

8 – Larry Bird Timing is everything, and no one knew that better as a coach that Larry Legend as he bowed out as the Indiana Pacers reached their zenith in franchise history by playing in the 2000 NBA Finals. Not necessarily the most open and gregarious guy in the history of coaching, but he knew how to assemble a staff and delegate. His regular season record was 147-67 in three seasons is the high water mark in franchise history, and his 32 playoff wins stood until Frank Vogel trumped it last season. Bird gets bonus points for leaving a player behind on a road trip when he was late for the team flight. That is the kind of consequence that leaves a mark.

7 – Gene Keady – The Purdue Boilermakers were one of the toughest groups year-in and year-out in the Big Ten through the majority of Keady’s time in West Lafayette. He won six conference titles and 512 games as the architect of the greatest basketball era in Boilermaker history. Keady has always been one of the classiest men in sports, and a pleasure to deal with. He continues to embody everything good about college sports, and his battles with Bob Knight defined a great era in this state’s rich college basketball history.

6 – Larry Brown Given his history of cross-crossing the country for basketball coaching gigs, it was inevitable that Brown wind up in Indiana for a few years. The Pacers were a perennial loser (never moving beyond the first round of the playoffs until his arrival) when Brown rolled into Indy in 1993. The Pacers qualified for the Eastern Conference Finals in Brown’s first two seasons before the magic ran dry. He also co-hosted a very entertaining radio show where he spoke bluntly about his players, once saying about Jalen Rose, “He doesn’t have a clue, man.” Of course, he was ultimately wrong about Rose, but was always great radio.

5 – Brad Stevens Stevens was at Butler for a brief time – so brief that he was no initially on the list – but taking a team from the Horizon League to back-to-back national championship games, and an inch from actually winning one is one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of the NCAA Tournament. Think Knight winning three is a big deal? Turn him loose with players that virtually all of major college hoops passed on and see if he can roll through the tournament to that final Monday twice in a row. Plus, he is one of the nicest men on the planet. Hopefully, one day he returns to college basketball where I believe his heart is.

4 – Lou Holtz An oversight led to Holtz not being included in the first iteration of this list. Of course, he is among the very best. After the grim Gerry Faust era, there was rebuilding to do, and Holtz got it done. After a losing season in his first effort, the Fighting Irish got good fast. In Holtz’s third season, Notre Dame won its last national championship. Holtz resigned with a mark of 100-30-2 record. He’s a tremendous motivational speaker and analyst an ESPN, where he does the impossible – charm as a Notre Dame homer.

3 – Frank Vogel Incredibly, the very young Vogel will become the longest tenured NBA coach in Indiana Pacers history, the leader in wins, and may become the all-time leader in playoff wins by the end of the 2014-2015 season. Ranking him behind any Pacers coach in their NBA era is unjust. Back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference Finals with a team bereft of a bonafide MVP candidate is a great accomplishment, and in particular leading a team in the process of self-immolation as last year’s Pacers were is a great accomplishment. He has done this while being one of the least self-impressed people to ever coach at any level. A likable winner, Vogel’s initial omission from this list was its most egregious error.

2 – Ara Parseghian In 11 seasons running the most watched and scrutinized program in college football, Parseghian won two national championships, and posted a 95-17-4 record. His Fighting Irish teams lost three games in a season only once, and never lost more than three games (only once – 1972). He retired at the age of 51 in 1974. Going out on top is a big deal, and living the rest of his life as a magical presence helps him as the living embodiment of a legend.

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1 – Tony Dungy Dungy won a Super Bowl while being a calm and cool guy who treated players, staff, media, and fans with respect. He overcame the adversity brought by the suicide of his son. The Colts earned a spot in the playoffs during all seven of Dungy’s seasons as coach, and never failed to win 10 or more games. Dungy’s 85-27 regular season record as Colts coach isn’t due entirely to his leadership, but he sure didn’t screw it up. A postseason record of 7-6 is not overwhelming, but a Vince Lombardi Trophy trumps the other failures. Dungy didn’t miss a field goal or fail to outmaneuver Ben Roethlisberger on a fumble return, so just as all credit for regular season excellence doesn’t go to him, the blame for postseason missteps aren’t his either. As was the case with Parseghian, Dungy went out on his own terms.

There are some people who were considered but not included. John Wooden is from Indiana, but never achieved greatness as a coach here. Digger Phelps was a mediocre coach at Notre Dame for a long time. We don’t reward longevity here. He’s also a miserable guy in my experience, and was a brutal analyst for ESPN for the same number of years as he coached.

Another needed disclaimer based upon a conversation with Jake Query is that comparing a guy like Knute Rockne with Tony Dungy is just impossible, so I left both Rockne and Frank Leahy off the list. Also not included much to the dismay of the Indianapolis Star’s David Woods, were Doc Counsilman and Jerry Yeagley – without question the two best college coaches in the history of their respective sports (swimming and soccer). Counsilman invented the Butterfly for goodness sake. The reason is I have no idea how they compared as leaders to their contemporaries. I have no idea what kind of a leaders Rockne, Counsilman, Leahy, or Yearly were.

Indiana Basketball – Fans should relax after behavior issues and exhibition wins over Northwood and UIndy

by Kent Sterling

Results of the work being done in Bloomington were not revealed during last night’s exhibition win, but will be soon enough.

Everything at Assembly Hall is okay. It’s not great. It’s not awful. It’s okay, and that should be what fans expect out the of the 2014-2015 Indiana Hoosiers.

After four individual events of serious misbehavior, the message has been sent that the next shoe to drop will kick a player onto a bus headed somewhere else.

With the two exhibitions now behind them, the Hoosiers are still trying to figure out what they do best. Despite those two games, it’s still impossible to predict the level of success this team will enjoy.

Last night’s game against the University of Indianapolis was a tale of two stretches. For the first 12 minutes and final 20 minutes, the Hoosiers looked lackluster. During those two spans, Indiana was outscored by nine points by a Division II team. For the final 7:37 of the first half, Indiana went on a 22-0 run that was impossible for the Greyhounds to overcome.

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There are plenty of places where the Hoosiers need to show improvement, but the exhibitions are played with an eye toward exposing those areas. Because of a lack of size, Indiana will have a tough time out rebounding anyone in the Big Ten. As a result, they need to take good care of the basketball.

The ill-effects of turnovers will be magnified because of the additional possessions opponents will generate by dominating the glass, and the 18 giveaways by the Hoosiers last night were far too many to allow them to compete against top 50 teams.

When the Hoosiers shoot it well and take care of the ball, they will have a chance to compete against anyone. If they are careless with the ball, and can’t cause mayhem for the opposing offense, they may look very mediocre – or worse.

Regardless of what happens from this point forward, taking the play of the Hoosiers in the exhibitions as a harbinger of future tidings is silly. Even if Indiana had been unable to vanquish both Northwoods and Indy, those contests are for the coaches and players to experiment a little bit, not to hammer lesser teams.

Tom Crean was able to take a look at the Hoosiers playing a variety of defenses, and running a bunch of different offensive sets. That intel will drive decision making for the games that count beginning a week from last night.

Making a prognosis about the value of individual players is useless. What we found out about James Blackmon Jr., Robert Johnson, Yogi Ferrell, and Hanner Mosquera-Perea is what they look like competing against players who represent a lower tier of athleticism and ability.

This is a big year for Indiana and Crean. Fans are antsy, wondering with ever increasing volume whether Crean is the right leader for IU. I spent a considerable period of time during yesterday’s radio show on CBS Sports 1430 talking about a variety of areas where I have concerns – recruiting as a national program, overcommitments when scholarships are guaranteed (Indiana has two verbals for two scholarships that currently don’t exist), behavioral problems, wild swings of competitiveness from season to season and game to game, and recent comments that revealed a lack of understanding in how discipline works.

Indiana calls itself “The Crossroads of America,” and Indiana Basketball is at its own crossroads. The plans to rebuild the culture of Indiana Basketball that seemed to be executed with such discipline from 2008-2011 have devolved into grab bag recruiting, and the result has been predictably uneven – both on and off the court.

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But the exhibitions are not the time to do any serious evaluation of this roster. The energy of fans is much better invested in supporting the players who continue to work exceptionally hard to improve. There is no point in pining for the future to come more quickly than it will.

This season will be what it will be. Wins and losses will come in similar numbers, but with the Big Ten as wide open as it is, who knows what might happen in Bloomington?

All that is for sure is that basketball players better stay out of bars and cars after drinking.

Indiana Basketball – Ridiculous levels of passion move reasonable people to shout and bicker

by Kent Sterling

When fans care more than the players, it’s time to re-plate the front page of our lives.

Can’t people present an opinion anymore without those who disagree losing their minds?

For whatever reason, recently I have been assailed for voicing a variety of opinions, and I just don’t get it. Because I didn’t enjoy waiting a long time at the Apple Store yesterday, I am a “prick,” “douchebag,” or worse. Because I vote against incumbents, I am narrow-minded. And because I believe Indiana Basketball cannot thrive longterm due to the spate of alcohol and drug issues, I must be a Tom Crean hater.

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Actually, the number of those on the attack in response to people questioning the need for a change in leadership at Indiana has been small and quiet by comparison, but there have still be a couple of radicals who spend their time shouting at people seeking truth.

Regardless of whether you like and respect Crean, and I do, it’s impossible to see how the players actions over the last nine months have enhanced Indiana’s position in recruiting. Short term fixes that brought the wayward folks into the Indiana Basketball program were high risk, luke warm reward moves engineered by Kenny Johnson, and that’s why I didn’t mourn his decision to abandon Bloomington for Louisville.

Indiana is in need of a serious infusion of mature talent – the kind of young men represented by Jordan Hulls, Cody Zeller, Victor Oladipo, and Yogi Ferrell. Yes, Ferrell fell out of the mature category with his arrest last April when he was arrested for trying to use a fake ID to gain entry to Kilroy’s Sports, but when he got to Bloomington, he appeared to be the latest solid Hoosier to report to Bloomington.

Hard to argue with that, but people do. They view those who trumpet Indiana (the state, not the university) as a bastion of basketball purity and unique hoops instinct as xenophobic buffoons. Rather than just agree to disagree, they launch into violent diatribes that bring more bluster than content to the discourse.

Whether Crean survives this mess of his own creation I don’t know, but there will be plenty of vitriol on both sides regardless of the outcome.

No one enjoys a verbal sparring match more than I do, but the relentless yammering of those without the ability or desire to listen is exhausting. Noise does not equal logic or intellect.

And what the hell are we arguing about anyway? It’s basketball played by 18 year olds for goodness sake.

Sure, we want to see Indiana represent the best of what this state holds when on the basketball court, but how each of us chooses to behave in our homes is far more important – how we treat our family, friends, and neighbors represents who we are.

That is far more important than 10 kids running dribbling, and shooting an inflatable orange ball.

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And Hoosier basketball fans look like members of the Algonquin Round Table compared to the fans of SEC football. Paul Finebaum makes a handsome living by opening up the phone lines and allowing the insane rant about Bama, the Gators, Death Valley, and the Georgia Bulldawgs.

It’s silly and fun, and as long as we view it through that prism, we are using collegiate sports as a diversion. When it becomes the chief priority in our lives, or the cause for relentless disharmony, it’s time to assess and realign priorities.

Paying a coach $7-million per year is completely out of whack, but given the revenue at stake it can be explained. Bickering to the point of fury because of college basketball is just nuts.

Take a deep breath, ask what really matters to you, and smile.

Meet the Press – No more arguing about politics; none of us is very bright, each of us is equally wrong

by Kent Sterling

Chuck Todd is a reasonable and smart host in charge of “Meet the Press” – a show where the unreasonable debate the arcane.

Here’s a new idea – we don’t need to agree with each other to like and respect one another.

If media has done us a disservice over the past 30 years, the debate-related political conflict presented as drama by television and radio has enforced in us a need to take one another way too seriously.

Like Bill Murray says in Stripes, “We’re all very different people. We’re not Watusi. We’re not Spartans. We’re Americans, with a capital ‘A’, huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse.”

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So why can’t we understand that disagreement doesn’t equate to disrespect. You might be right, I might be right, or we might both be right (or wrong). Who gives a damn one way or the other?

We process information through our own unique filters, and the result is almost always an intellectually flawed position that reflects a perspective that is uniquely our own.

The midterm elections reflected an angry dissatisfaction for Barack Obama’s presidency. It happens in midterm elections every four years. Anger is stoked by addlepated candidates who understand ill-temper is a good motivator to get people to the polls.

The average American give as much thought to who they vote for as they do what they eat for breakfast. I show up at the poll with three tactics – vote against incumbents, when not sure who the incumbent is for local office – vote for the most familiar sounding name, and vote not to retain all judges.

Why? Shorter terms equal better government, judges should not serve on the bench for a lifetime, and who gives a damn who serves on the city council?

Am I really supposed to research the candidates for virtually meaningless posts? Their goal is to sit in endless meanings discussing the language of governmental measures that by and large have no effect on anyone. How could any of the candidates be worth a damn when by winning they are sentenced to a term of pretending to pay attention during public hearings with crankcases blathering about their concerns over easements, zoning waivers, and expenditures on swingset safety updates? I would rather be imprisoned.

So a guy running has the same name as a friend who lives in Dallas? I’m in! Guilty!

Does that make me irresponsible? Sure, but compared to the 70% of the people who don’t vote at all, I’m the patron saint of democracy.

The point is that whatever our beliefs, can’t we just listen, present our thoughts, and then politely agree to disagree by buying each other a sandwich or beer?

Democracy is kind of an idiotic concept that confers power to an electorate that refuses to take part in any portion of the process. In countries with monarchies, people cede control to a family willing to give a damn about the mundane issues of the day. They throw their hands up and say, “You know what, it really doesn’t matter enough for me to care, so let’s have the Tudors, Grimaldis, or the Al Sauds run stuff.”

They go about their business, hope for the best, and sleep without concern.

Listen to the men and women on Meet the Press discuss the issues of the week. They are all relatively intelligent, but disagree, bicker, and yelp at one another. Is there any chance for a house of representatives with 438 members or a senate with 100 to embrace the pursuit of common ground in legislating effectively? Of course not, so why worry?

People hoping for unanimity aren’t paying attention.

We each have lived unique lives, developed a similarly unique set of beliefs, and trust our values are pure. No one is purposely espousing idiocy.

Can’t we accept the inherent flaws in our own arguments as quickly and easily as we dismiss all who disagree with us?

To assume we each hold the keys to wisdom is as silly and arrogant as it is myopic and moronic.

No one has to agree, but we should all have the respect necessary to listen with the same energy we use to share our own philosophies.

For 230 years, Americans have continuously squabbled with results including idiocy like a Civil War, prohibition, capital punishment, slavery, and a bizarre ban of animals mating publicly within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship.

Sure, we’ve eliminated most of the truly egregious legislated wackiness, but the time has come to relax, listen, and buy beer for people.

Now that sounds like a country we can all be proud to call home!

[Ed. note – By espousing an informed apathy, I am guaranteeing that no one reads what has taken me a significant investment of time and effort to produce. That’s alright. It’s the price I am willing to pay for being right]

Indiana Basketball – Recruiting is one of five keys to Tom Crean’s survival as the Hoosiers coach

by Kent Sterling

There is a lot of work for Tom Crean to do to be the coach at Indiana in 2015-2016, but if anyone can run through these walls, it might just be him.

It goes without saying that one more lapse in judgment from a player that results in media scrutiny of Tom Crean’s stomach for assessing the kind of consequences that results in a change of behavior will cost him the job he so desperately wants to keep.

But the job isn’t limited to keeping his roster from smoking pot, underage drinking, and driving while intoxicated. The longterm effects of the recent issues in Bloomington will be far more difficult to overcome.

Five things have to go very right for Indiana University to continue to support Tom Crean as the leader for the most important branding vehicle of the school.

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1 – The first is winning recruiting battles that have become much more difficult at a school where cheating on any level is unacceptable. When evaluated as a launching pad for professional basketball careers, Indiana can stay in the game. While other schools have become very clever about circumventing NCAA rules, Indiana is staunchly against those tactics. That makes winning tough, but the fact that coaches competing for the talents of high school kids are now trumpeting the news of six out of 13 players either being arrested, suspended, or hospitalized due to alcohol and drug use will make the terrain even tougher.

2 – It’s not just a matter of recruiting, but recruiting math that will be troubling for many parents. There are 13 players on scholarship for both this season and next, and yet Indiana has received two commitments for next year. No doubt that Crean is tired of scouring the country for the best of the uncommitted during the spring and summer as players either transfer or declare their early eligibility for the NBA Draft. Who can blame him? So he is overstocked like a Costco on Black Friday. Indiana is now guaranteeing scholarships for four years, and that makes this practice especially murky. He needs to recruit well without appearing to shove kids out the door. When asked about clouded math of recruiting, coaches generally respond, “It all seems to work itself out.” Nobody buys that, but whatever happens to allow the two incoming freshmen from Missouri to report for duty had better be above board and righteous.

3 – This year’s team need to win. The 17-15 of last year without a postseason tournament was one thing as an aberration, but a similar record this season with the promise of the entire roster returning would turn the Hoosier fancies surly. Indiana fans, despite many reports and posts to the contrary, demand winning the right way as the program’s core value. Winning is not the only thing, but it is definitely a thing. At minimum, some success in the NIT is the bare minimum that will be deemed acceptable.

4 – Crean needs to moderate his behavior in the halls. The number of stories that have wandered from Assembly Hall and Marquette University about callous arrogance from Crean out number the stories of good deeds done for fans, and that has to stop. There is no way to unring the bell of the past, but adding to it by treating people with indifference cannot continue to mount. On the plus side, I heard a story from a friend about an episode of great generosity toward she and her fiancee from Crean. Those need to continue. Managers and office personnel coming out of the woodwork to share negative experiences are weighing heavy on Crean’s image.

5 – Current players need to understand they don’t have the power. I interviewed CBS Sports college basketball analyst Chris Spatola on CBS Sports 1430 yesterday, and he made an interesting point. Players sense weakness, and the fact that Crean is one folly away from a pink slip will be seen as a sign of frailty that gives them the advantage. Crean may decide to look the other way knowing that he is in a precarious spot where one more transgression is lethal. If that happens, the inmates will have control of the asylum and the game will be over. Crean needs to assert whatever authority the players will grant him. Right now, he’s Glenn Ford in “Blackboard Jungle,” praying Vic Morrow doesn’t stab him.

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Overcoming all of those obstacles is going to be exceptionally difficult. I can’t recall a coach getting all those thing right simultaneously. It would require virtual perfection.

This March or April, athletic director Fred Glass will sit down and decide what he believe should happen. IU president Michael McRobbie and the trustees will ponder Glass’s thoughts and decide whether Indiana can afford to keep Crean as donations and season ticket sales continue to suffer – unless the team goes on a run and shuts up the naysayers themselves.

It’s going to be an interesting season with the kind of strange metrics for success that only seem to exist at programs like Indiana with fans who insist on classing it as “elite.” And that brings us to the sixth and final question Crean needs to answer in the affirmative. Is he the coach to return the Hoosiers to elite status.

Indiana Basketball – Game tonight brings respite from relentless attention to off court issues

by Kent Sterling

Tom Crean answered questions about team issues for longer that the 40 minutes of a college basketball game.

Never has a coach and team needed a basketball game so much.

The focus of fans and media has been trained on the off-court issues of the players on the Indiana University basketball team since Saturday’s injury of player Devin Davis – an injury suffered at least in part because of illegal alcohol use.

Two days later, the announcement of two suspensions for positive drug tests was made, and the math became clear. Whatever level of discipline Tom Crean believed helped create the culture in Bloomington was the cause of creating an environment where players didn’t listen or respect authority.

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Six of 13 scholarship players had run afoul of alcohol-related laws, drug testing protocols, or an SUV in 8 1/2 months.

Crean and his team need to briefly change the channel if only for their own sanity. A basketball game – even an exhibition against an anonymous Northwood University – fits the bill just fine.

All associated with the program feel as though they are under siege, and are likely exhausted by wrestling with the culpability they share in both causing these issues and battling to ensure they are not repeated.

Crean and his coaches came to Bloomington to coach, teach, lead, and mentor. Players came to Bloomington to prepare to earn a living playing the game they love. None, despite being the cause themselves, foresaw the difficulties in which they are immersed today.

Answering a battery of questions about why three players are under suspensions that end as the real games begin is not what anyone rolls out of bed hoping for. To be quizzed about what kind of permissive society of extravagance and debauchery has been created and allowed to fester at IU is even worse. Accepting the notion that a teammate/player is in the hospital battling to regain cognitive functionality because of the culture you created or the decision you made is unthinkable.

Of course, Crean is responsible for that culture as each opportunity to bring meaningful penalties to bear against wayward players has come and gone unanswered. The continuation of self-indulgent behavior among players reveals that ineffectiveness.

A certain amount of entitlement is always anticipated and tolerated with celebrities like members of the Indiana basketball team. All eyes go to them on and off campus. They are the most recognized people in Bloomington, and the battle between the coaches and sycophants for their attention and allegiance is always being waged.

Some people listen when told by strangers how great they are, and then they reject the corrections attempted by authority figures. That causes the problems made very public over the last 8 1/2 months as law enforcement officials in Bloomington are no longer willing to handle alcohol fueled mischief with basketball players differently from the common students.

And Crean looks like a camp counselor whose cabin full of sixth graders has decided that whatever punishment might be forthcoming is worth the fun running wild represents.

That doesn’t make Crean a bad man, or the players a bunch of drunken sots. It does mean there is a disconnect between them that has resulted in the players tuning out the man paid handsomely to be their leader.

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So tonight, they get down to the business. Basketball returns as a safe refuse for young men exhausted by the challenges their immaturity has wrought.

The decisions at 7:00p will be whether or not to switch off a screen or chase, not whether to suspend a player or send him home – not whether to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking or to Uber a ride back to the dorm.

If Crean hasn’t been able to affect a change in behavior or get the attention of his players, maybe a teammate recovering from a fractured skull and brain injury has. Maybe the relentless questions and rampant criticism will serve to provide a level of adversity that cannot be ignored as decisions are made after the game tonight. Maybe they just don’t give a damn one way or another and will decide they still know best about how to enjoy themselves.

Nature has a way of ratcheting up consequences until somebody pays attention. Lessons come hard for college students, and sometimes coaches too.

Tonight, though, safe harbor will come in the form of the game they all love.