Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Bob Kravitz Joins “Ahead of the Curve” This Morning from 11a-1p on 1070 the Fan

by Kent Sterling

“Now batting for ‘Ahead of the Curve’ on 1070 the Fan, Bob Kravitz, Kravitz.” You can almost hear the resonant voice of the late New York Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard announcing Kravitz as the pinch hitter for Fox 59’s Chris Hagan as my co-host, can’t you? Well, I can.

Award winning Indianapolis Star sports columnist Bob Kravitz is stepping in today as my co-host in place of the nicest man in Indy sports media. Chris Hagan is pursuing a weekend of enjoyment after working nonstop at Fox 59 following the departure of Jeremiah Johnson, so I called Bob to step in.

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

I’m glad that working together for two years in a previous life hadn’t so completely soured Bob on spending time with me that talking sports for two hours didn’t seem to him like a wholly unpleasant task.

Talking sports with Bob is a pleasure because he’s one of the guys paid to share a perspective who works hard at finding the truth of the people and events about which he writes.

Being a columnist isn’t so much about writing, but thinking and thinking and thinking. It’s about scrubbing a subject so thoroughly in your mind that all that remains is the raw essence of the thing.

There are others who glom onto a specific take and then indulge in the intellectual exercise of arguing it for 700 words. The work of those guys dulls over time because there is nothing personal revealed in their work.

There are four keys to great talk radio that work very nicely to describe the qualities a great columnist must embody – authenticity, relevance, fun, and innovation. The guys like Skip Bayless and Jay Marrioti fail in the authenticity category, and it’s the most critical of the four.

Whether you agree or disagree with Bob, you can absolutely take to the bank that each of his columns comes from a very specific belief that he has developed. That’s what makes him wear well in a city like Indianapolis.

People feel like they know Bob, and they do. The voice your hear as you read his work in the Star is the same as when you sit across from him at lunch.

I’m looking forward to working with Bob because at the end of the two hours, I will be a little wiser for listening to his perspective about the Colts, Pacers, Hoosiers, Big Ten Championship, Jameis Winston, and the signing of Robinson Cano.

This is also a good day because we will talk to Stephen Bardo about the Indiana vs. North Florida game. Bardo is one of the best analysts working college hoops, and he thoughts on Indiana Basketball and the development of the very young roster will be fascinating.

Bardo played basketball at Illinois while I was a student in Bloomington, and there was a serious rivalry between the Hoosiers and Illini. Lou Henson, the coach at Illinois, famously referred to Bob Knight as “a classic bully,” (which was not inaccurate as it turned out), and people in Indiana loathed Henson as a result.

Even with all the disdain for the Illini, Bardo was a player impossible not to admire for his defensive excellence and consistent high effort. Every time I watched Illinois, I wished that he played for Indiana. That was untrue of anyone else on that team, but Bardo was an exception.

He is also one of the best guys in broadcasting, so talking hoops with him at 11:15 will be a treat.

Also joining us will be Doug Lesmerises from the Cleveland.com, who is in Indianapolis covering the Big Ten Championship. College football is a religion in Ohio as opposed to Indiana where it’s that game played in the stadium across the street while Hoosiers and Boilermakers play corn hole and drink beer nearby.

Doug has five predictions at Cleveland.com that we’ll discuss.

It will be a fun as hell two hours. Join us.

Indianapolis Colts – Five Keys to Beating the Cincinnati Bengals

by Kent Sterling

Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton has the gift of angry eyes, even when smiling. That doesn’t give him any advantage on the football field, but it does make calling him Uncle Leo after the Seinfeld character a lot of fun.

This is an intriguing game because it will go a long way toward settling which soon-to-be division champ will be the #3 seed because the Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals were built with radically different strategies.

It will also be a validation for one of two teams built in very different ways.

The Colts like to talk about a code of behavior and citizenship represented by the Horseshoe, and the Bengals target players who have a screw loose, wind up on every other team’s do not draft list, and get great value as a result.

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

The Bengals are the Bungles, and the Colts rebuild Kokomo after tornados destroy part of the town. The Colts bring in a middle linebacker from the CFL with impeccable character in Jerrell Freeman, and the Bengals sign the talented but very flaky Vontaze Burfict. Both play at a high level, but come have radically different psychological profiles.

Both teams have arrived at the same place by taking different paths. The Colts and Bengals are currently tied with 8-4 records, and the winner of this game will have a stranglehold on the #3 seed in the AFC, and a chance to move up to #2 if the New England Patriots falter.

The Bengals do some very interesting things on both sides of the ball to maximize the positives their talent can bring to the game. The Colts have won three of their last five while being outscored by 45 points is anyone’s guess.

Here are five things to look for Sunday, and to be honest, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to, listening to, and reading Coach Rick Venturi’s thoughts on the game, so if he recognizes the spirit of some of these observations – my apologies. I try to make them my own, but he knows so much that I would be a fool to reject them based purely on principle.

Block Vontaze Burfict – The guy is a wrecking machine with 130 tackles in 12 games. The guy with the next highest total for the Bengals is Rey Maualuga with 61. He moves exceptionally well, and is unafraid to hit somebody with authority. In fact, this entire defense hits with ill-intent. The first thing I noticed was the sound of the hits by the Bengals. I thought maybe it was the audio mix from the broadcast as it was recorded on NFL.com’s Game Rewind. Then the Chargers defense took the field. It wasn’t the mix. The Bengals don’t run into the ball carrier, they run through him.

Burfict is also a talker who baited a Chargers offensive player into an unsportsmanlike conduct flag by whispering something in his ear.

Offensive needs to communicate on second or third and long – The Bengals love to line seven guys across the line shoulder to shoulder. Sometimes three drop into coverage, sometimes two, sometimes one, and the rest of the time they bring the house. The pressure comes from different places every time, and I saw no obvious way to predict which would drop and which would come. Receivers need to know to look for the ball quick, the running back(s) need to pick up the blitz, and linemen need to look for stunts that sometimes accompany the blitzes. If everyone does his job, Andrew Luck will live to play against the Wade Phillips led Houston Texans on December 15th.

Pick on PacMan – I was surprised by the Chargers game plan to pick on a guy I thought was a very competent cornerback. They made it work quite often. When I asked Venturi about it, he said that Jones will lose discipline occasionally and that big plays can be gotten if you catch him guessing or sleeping at the right time. The Chargers only scored 10 while trying to attack Jones, but that had more to do with their inability to run than their choice of foes in the secondary.

Succeed on first down – This is a great Venturi-ism, success on first down leads to third down conversions. If the Colts are staring straight down the barrel of 3rd and 10 all day, the 110 mile bus ride back to Indy is going to feel like twice that. Running the ball is tough against Burflict and his crew, so keeping play action viable by getting modest chunks on first and second downs is key.

Manage damage done by A.J. Green – The Bengals offense is nothing to wax rhapsodic about with only one stellar player. Dalton is Andrew Luck Light, and the running game is okay because the offensive line is very competent. The dynamism comes entirely from Green. The Bengals like to get Green the ball in space and let him make people miss. They run a lot of pick plays for him, and if the opposing corner gives a cushion, Dalton turns quickly and throws Green the ball. If through confusion the help from a safety isn’t there, it’s seven for the Bengals, as it was the one time a Chargers safety bit on another route.

Green has 1,103 yards receiving after 12 games, and ranks second in NFL history by starting his first three seasons with 1,000 yards or more receiving (Randy Moss is first with six), so those who believe him to be a top five receiver in the NFL aren’t talking out of their rear ends.

There are many other issues, like making sure gap integrity is maintained against the run, but that’s a big deal against every team. Saying Colts receivers need to hold on to the ball and that Luck needs to be protected are givens.

The Bengals are also 5-0 at home this season, so you can choose your inference there – either they are dominant in Cincinnati or they are due for a beating at home.

Colts players and coaches should also stay away from Skyline Chili as it raises unholy hell with a digestive system. It’s delicious, but there is an unpleasant price.

This game looks like a train wreck for the Colts, who are six point dogs. I hate that spread for those betting the Colts because they win one possession games, so anything under +9 is really a straight up bet. If you need to bet Indy, take them straight up for -130. I feel like this is a terrible matchup for the Colts who have lost badly to their two reasonably talented opponents since Reggie Wayne’s injury.

I hope I’m wrong, but I am picking Cincinnati to win 23-9.

Seattle Mariners 10-year, $240 Million Contract for Robinson Cano is Short-Sighted Idiocy

by Kent Sterling

Robinson Cano might be smiling today, but if history is any guide the Seattle Mariners won’t be in three years.

The very best thing that could happen for the Seattle Mariners is that 31-year old second baseman Robinson Cano flunks his physical of Monday, and will be forced to pass on the ludicrous cash they are willing to pony up for his services.

It’s not that Cano won’t be worth $25 million for the first couple of seasons of the deal, but that he will almost certainly not be during the last five-to-seven that will define the stupidity of this signing.

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

Cano has been an iron man for the New York Yankees for the past seven years, missing only 14 games during that span. His offensive production has been remarkably consistent over the last five seasons with an OPS of between .871 and .929, 25-33 home runs, and between 85 and 118 RBIs. From 2009-2012, Cano scored 103, 103, 104, and 105 runs.

If the Mariners were paying Cano for the last seven seasons, this offer makes sense, but at the age of 31 Cano is likely at or just beyond the peak of his physical apex.

In 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. Future franchise statue Albert Pujols was reportedly 31, and was the author of one of the best 11 year runs in the history of baseball. He was relentless in his production, and solid as a team leader.

The Cardinals were reportedly eager to sign Pujols to a five-year, $150 million deal. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim broke the bank to pay Pujols $240 million over 10 years (exactly the same numbers in the Cano deal – could the Mariners be dumber?) with an addition $10 million over 10 years following Pujols 42nd birthday. The Cardinals said goodbye.

In 2012, the Cardinals spent the Pujols money on Carlos Beltran, and had enough left over to bring back horse Adam Wainwright and future hall of fame catcher Yadier Molina. They made it to game seven of the NLCS in 2012, and played in the 2013 World Series. The Angels have posted a combined 167-157 record with a gimpy Pujols putting up the two worst offensive seasons in his career.

After 2006, the Chicago Cubs grew tired of watching Matt Murton play left field, so GM Jim Hendry took a chance on the 31-year old Alfonso Soriano with an eight-year, $133 million deal. The previous six seasons, Soriano had been one of the most dynamic players in the game with totals of 205 home runs and 208 steals. For his six full seasons in Chicago, Soriano hit 164 homers and stole 60 bases.

The return on investment for any player signing a longterm deal after age 31 brings diminishing returns, and history suggests Cano’s deal, which seems to be done as I write this, will be no different.

Seattle may enjoy Cano for a couple of years, but as father time saps Cano of his power and flexibility, that $25 million each year will keep the Mariners from signing equally productive players for far less money, and Cano will end his career playing for the bad team his pot of gold helped create.

Owners of sports franchises are fascinating people in that some make the same mistakes over and over ensuring their failure while others exercise restraint and execute a plan that apparently works just as consistently.

Fans who are wondering why teams like the Cardinals always seem to win while the Cubs, Angels, and New York Knicks always lose don’t have to dig very deep to find their answer.

You can now add the Mariners to that list.

After Mike Wells ESPN.com Piece, I’m a Fan of Indianapolis Colts Running Back Trent Richardson

by Kent Sterling

Trent Richardson might not be getting to the holes the way fans would like, but his behavior and words exceed all expectations.

Indianapolis Colts running back Trent Richardson did what men do yesterday. He took responsibility for his lackluster performance in his quotes to Mike Wells in an espn.com post.

Adversity reveals character, and Colts running back Trent Richardson showed some.

In “Hoosiers,” Myra Fleener’s mom tells Norman Dale, “The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s ass everyday, but you ain’t seen a ray of light since you got here.” She would say the same to Richardson since the September 18th trade that brought him here from Cleveland for a first round pick.

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

Richardson was an anomaly in the 2012 NFL Draft – a running back taken third overall. These days, running backs are a dime a dozen, and when an unheralded fifth round rookie like the St. Louis Rams Zac Stacy out of Vanderbilt can put together outstanding performances, why draft a back third?

It’s easy to point at others to explain poor performance. The Colts offensive line hasn’t been rock solid this season, and offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton hasn’t schemed to get Richardson the ball in space, so he could have listened to his friends and family as they have privately squawked about the unfairness of his situation.

What he did in talking to Wells was accept responsibility. That’s what adults do.

Pacers play-by-play voice Mark Boyle said yesterday to Joe Staysniak and I on 1070 the Fan that the maturity level of professional athletes is equal to a pampered 15-year old. Richardson showed better stuff than that in talking to Wells about his demotion, “It was kind of like this is a place in your life where you have to learn and really see the offense and how things flow. I learned about myself Sunday, how humbling it was. I have to step up. I have to make sure I’m doing my job.”

The Colts have been very smart in signing, drafting, and trading for men will will accept responsibility for the roles they play in the team’s successes and failures.

As the Colts sit on the brink of salting away the AFC South, credit needs to be given to someone or something. As fans continue to sweat over the less than aesthetically pleasing style of play since Reggie Wayne’s injury, something good must be happening because Indy is 3-2 since the hall of famer fell.

Fans are willing to throw a lot of blame around, but at 8-4, praise must be also be assigned. I’m choosing to credit the culture of respect for teammates and coaches as the reason for some of this success.

The last five games could all have easily been losses. During that 3-2 stretch, the Colts have been outscored by 45 points. That’s nothing new as last season the Colts became the first team in NFL history to be outscored by 30 while posting an 11-5 record, but it’s still wacky math that has allowed the Colts to be the third seed in the AFC after 12 weeks.

Richardson embodied that culture yesterday in baring his soul to Wells, who has long been a reporter able to get interview subjects to speak honestly. All the character in the world won’t compel a body more quickly to a hole, but it will help teammates feel a sense of community in the locker room as they look a newcomer like Richardson in the eye.

Tickets to Chef JJ’s Pop-Up Restaurant events make a great gift for the hard to shop for. Click here to learn more.

The Colts may go to the Super Bowl or flame out in the first round of the playoffs, but it appears that the Colts will each look in the mirror to try to find the answer to unlock their potential.

That’s all fans have a right to ask.

Thank God the NBA’s Red Card System for Fan Abuse Wasn’t Used at Wrigley Field 20 years Ago

by Kent Sterling

There is a story on probasketballtalk.com outlining a system of red cards used at NBA arenas to try to curb excessive haranguing of players, coaches, game officials, and other spectators.

If this system had been in place at Wrigley Field from 1987-1993 when I frequented 20-30 games per season, I would have earned enough of the cards to wallpaper my den. Yelling at Gary Carter as he tried and failed to reach 300 career home runs became an obsession for several games, and my frustration over the Cubs mediocrity bubbled over frequently.

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

Yelling at anyone and everyone (except Andre Dawson, Greg Maddux, and Ryne Sandberg) was par for the course.

I was always a loudmouth at Wrigley, but when friend Len Totlan threw out the first pitch at a game I attended, I decided to experiment to see at what volume I needed to yell in order for Len to hear me. Surprisingly, with a nearly full house, he reported that from the mound he could hear every word I yelled from 35 rows up.

Knowing my words were not being wasted on the drunken rubes who paid top dollar for their seats was all the motivation I needed to share every bit of cleverly worded disdain I could muster.

I was never thrown out of the park as I was as quick and to the point as I was angry, and when I was done I never betrayed that I was the guy yelling inane and non-profane invective at Lenny Dykstra and Chris Sabo. Sometimes, I would implicate others with a sideways glance as ushers scanned the crowd.

As for the NBA red cards, I’m not sure whether they will serve as the incentives they are intended to represent. Nearly everyone I know under the age of 60 will see these red cards as collectors items – a sign that they pushed their fun right up to the limit.

Consequences cause behavioral change, not collectors items that fans can hang in their cubicles with pride.

There is a great story about a fan who attended a game with former WIBC morning man Jeff Pigeon who picked on Magic Johnson throughout a game. Magic became fed up with the abuse, stared at Pidge and yelled, “You want to meet me outside after the game m*****-*****r?” Pidge didn’t know whether to laugh, crap, or go blind, as he hadn’t said a word.

That episode represents a serious disincentive, and served its purpose as a corrective measure that got the result it was designed for. The last thing Pidge and his friend wanted was to meet up with an angry Magic. They left quietly.

If NBA Commissioner David Stern wanted to curb fan abuse, he could have taken care of the problem nine years ago. Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson stormed into the stands and clocked several fans when one of them threw a cocktail at Artest as he laid on the scorer’s table. Instead of suspending many Pacers for their role in the ensuing brawl, he could have said, “That’s what they deserved. You don’t want to get hit by an enormous professional athlete, behave yourself.”

The red card system would be completely unnecessary.

No Charges Against Famous Jameis Winston; Should He Win the Heisman Trophy?

by Kent Sterling

It took a year to fully investigate the allegations against Jameis Winston. Heisman voters will have to decide whether to vote for him will take less time.

People in the media are fond of invoking the phrase “Innocent until proven guilty” in describing the reason they support Jameis Winston’s Heisman candidacy.

That burden of evaluating evidence and rendering a decision is for a jury to use in a court of law, not Heisman voters deciding for whom to vote as the best college football player in America. Heisman voters only need to vote their conscience, and they can use whatever criteria they like to decide whether they believe Winston or Winston’s accuser.

Willie Meggs is the state attorney whose office made the determination to not file charges said, “We evaluated the evidence, and we have a standard that we are required to go by of we should not file a case or charge someone with a crime – any crime – unless we can be assured in our minds that we have a reasonable likelihood of a conviction, and in this case we just didn’t feel like that we would have a – with all of the facts as they rolled out – that we would be able to obtain a conviction.”

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

What Meggs did not say, and what prosecutors almost never say, is that he believes Winston to be innocent. The belief is that given the evidence, it would be difficult to convince a jury of his guilt.

Jameis Winston and his accuser are the only people who know what happened on December 7, 2012, and a trial would never change that. The verdict would only represent the collective opinion the jury formed based upon the evidence as it was presented. Innocent people go to jail, and the guilty walk. The system is imperfect, and linking a lack of indictment with innocence is absurd.

I would leave Winston off my ballot because voting for a man who committed sexual assault would haunt me, and it’s impossible to know whether Winston is innocent. Do I know for a fact that Winston’s accuser told the truth? No. Do I believe that he committed a crime? I am unsure. What I do know is something was rotten in the initial investigation. The police did not act as zealous advocates for the accuser, and because of that I would abstain completely from the process.

In the absence of knowing the truth, I err on the side of never allowing a person suspected of being a rapist a place of honor. The unfairness that might represent is outweighed by the compassion for a victim who has seen her life completely disrupted by her decision to report the incident – whatever that incident might have been.

My tendency is to believe the story of the person who told the more difficult truth, and in this case that position is claimed by the accuser. The accused, Winston, refused to talk to investigators. That decision makes every bit of legal sense. No competant attorney would allow a client to talk when prosecutors haven’t got the evidence needed to bring charges in a he said/she said investigation.

Winston’s reward for telling the truth is a Heisman Trophy. The accuser is now a former Florida State student whose life is in turmoil. She stood to gain nothing, and lost everything. The path her life was taking has been forever altered. It could be that her claims were spurious, and that the sex was consensual. We didn’t know yesterday, and we won’t know tomorrow.

The decision to not charge Winston should not be confused with exonerating him. It changes nothing, and to suggest the decision equates to a proof of innocence reveals a lapse of knowledge in how the legal system operates, and what guilty and not guilty mean.

Whether Winston should win the Heisman is a matter for the conscience of each voter to determine, just as it was yesterday. Today’s announcement is meaningful only in that the state attorney decided a case before a jury couldn’t be won, not in whether a vote for Winston is morally justified.

[polldaddy poll=7621984]

ESPN Gameday Information for Saturday’s Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis

by Kent Sterling

Will Lee Corso don the Sparty headgear or Brutus? You can cheer from the pit as you find out.

Will Lee Corso don the Sparty headgear or Brutus? You can cheer from the pit as America finds out.

All college football fans love ESPN College Football Gameday, and this Saturday it comes to Pan Am Plaza in downtown Indianapolis prior to the Big Ten Championship Game.

This is Gameday’s first trip to Indy, so if you have a particularly clever sign idea, now is your chance to get it on TV.

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

Some of the best signs are simple statements of fact, so clever is sometimes wasted.

Direct from ESPN – here is some information you will find helpful if you plan on attending:

Fans can enter the “pit” beginning at 7 a.m. Fans are only allowed to bring a sign in that area. No bags, backpacks, etc. are allowed in the “pit” area. Once the pit is filled, fans can fill in around the ESPN College GameDay set on Pan Am Plaza.

Dear Media Members –

Greetings and welcome to the final regular-season show of ESPN College GameDay Built by The Home Depot. The three-hour show of news and analysis will air live from Pan Am Plaza in Indianapolis on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 9 a.m. ET, in advance of the Big Ten Championship between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 10 Michigan State.

College GameDay visits the Big Ten Championship for the first time, but marks the eighth conference championship game GameDay has attended (five SEC, two Big 12). Corso is 4-3 in conference championship headgear picks, winning his last three.

Hosted by Chris Fowler, GameDay features analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack with reporting by Samantha Ponder, Tom Rinaldi, Scott Van Pelt and Gene Wojciechowski.

Mike Tomlin and Jason Kidd Embarrass Crooks with Their Costly Antics

by Kent Sterling

Mike Tomlin moves into and out of the path of Jacoby Jones – a choice that cost him $100K.

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd are embarrassments to the world of the corrupt and amoral.

Tomlin wandered across the sidelines on to the field of play into the path of Baltimore Ravens kick returner Jacoby Jones, whose route to the end zone was altered. A tackler caught Jones soon after he narrowly avoided contact with Tomlin.

With the Nets behind and out of timeouts late in a game last week, Kidd asked a Nets player to run into him so that a soda he was carrying would be knocked to the floor, causing a stoppage in play that would allow them a last second shot. Just prior to the spillage that benefitted the Nets cause, cameras caught Kidd telling a player, “Hit me!”

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

Tomlin claimed to have been excitedly watching the play on the Jumbotron with his back to the play, but was betrayed by a wide grin shortly after doing his part to help his special teams coverage.

For the love of Richard Nixon, doesn’t anyone know how to be a crook anymore? You keep your circle of conspirators tight, never acknowledge your deceit, and scream “LAWSUIT!” as soon as anyone implies wrongdoing.

Kidd committed his crime in full view of cameras, and was fined $50,000. Tomlin giggled like a high school junior who just swiped a pad of hall passes, and was hit with a bill for $100,000. Both accepted their punishments without complaint.

During my formative years, I engaged in more than a few activities that involved a little duplicity, and once as a ninth grader was accused of practicing “covert behavior”. My parents took offense because if my behavior had truly been covert, the teacher would never have known what I had done. They were sticklers for language, if not chaste behavior.

Finally, I realized that I was incapable of the dishonesty necessary to get away with anything. I like a good story more than I loathe getting pinched, so I stopped trying to game the system.

There is nothing wrong with telling the truth – or showing it – unless you also have a little larceny in your heart. Kidd and Tomlin compete hard, really hard, but if they aren’t willing to sell an alternate version of events that exonerates them, they are going to find the thickness of their wallets diminished.

Click here to claim Dr. Mike O’Neil as your personal dentist – your teeth deserve the best! That’s Dr. Mike O’Neil.

Life is always about compromise. Honest crooks get caught, and dishonest saints are anachronistic and likely psychotic. If you want to flout the rules, learn to sell your lie. If you are committed to living a decent life where fairness is indulged, why would you lie to anyone?

Kidd and Tomlin failed in the first rule of behavior governance, and that is to be who you are at all times. If they are scofflaws, own it. If they are honest citizens, own that. Trying to walk on the median gets pedestrians killed, and embracing both evil and good gets coaches and players fined exorbitant amounts of cash.

If Kidd and Tomlin are looking for a role model in the world they clearly suck at living in, the guy running things for the New England Patriots is a great guy to start with. For an advanced course, the people down in Big Blue Nation know a guy who coaches at Rupp Arena who’s been doing it right for 20 years.

Indiana Basketball – 12 Hours After Second Half Collapse Against Syracuse, Where Are the Hoosiers?

by Kent Sterling

Tom Crean couldn’t point the way to victory last night, but that doesn’t mean the program isn’t on the right path.

We have seen the 2013-2014 Indiana Hoosiers play against bad teams, and now we have seen them play against a very good team. Based upon those performances, the Hoosiers have a lot of room to grow during coach Tom Crean’s sixth season.

There are a couple of positive things Indiana fans can count on from Tom Crean and his staff – excellent recruiting and a successful strength and conditioning plan for players to become physically able to compete at the highest level.

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

Unfortunately, there is some negative too. It doesn’t look like the players develop an intellectual understanding of the game. There are glimpses of really smart basketball, but the unnecessary turnovers and fouls occur with far too much frequency, and it isn’t just the freshmen making errors.

Will Sheehey picked up a bad first foul early in last night’s game where he bodied a cutter in a way that the referee couldn’t ignore, and then his third foul was a pointless hand check. Sheehey is a senior, and should know better at this point. As a leader, he needs to set an example.

Last night, I kept yelling a John Woodenism at the TV – “Be quick, but don’t hurry.” The Hoosiers seemed committed to doing the opposite. They hurried, but weren’t very quick.

Against a 2-3 zone, the ball needs to move quickly so the defense is worked into a lack of balance. Catching and evaluating allows the defense to recover its balance. Indiana was resolute in catching and evaluating against Syracuse.

In Indiana and Crean’s defense, Syracuse executes the basketball version of what Navy does to college football defenses. They are a lone wolf of playing a 2-3 zone exclusively with that level of athleticism. Preparing for them is tough. As a result, getting the players to act reflexively rather than thinking through every decision is most difficult.

Conversely, they rushed into their transition offense, and that gave an advantage to the Orange as well.

Tickets to Chef JJ’s Pop-Up Restaurant events make a great gift for the hard to shop for. Click here to learn more.

Dan Dakich made a great point during the game that someone needs to play behind the zone, meaning staying closer to the baseline than the defender in the middle of the 2-3. That forces correct spacing, and opens the high post. Indiana did that very sporadically. Noah Vonleh appeared to be most comfortable finding the middle guy and posting him halfway up the lane.

Beating fourth ranked Syracuse on their own floor would have been a massive upset, and the Hoosiers hung in for 22 1/2 minutes. The 33-33 score at that point was as good as it got for IU, as the Orange outscored the Hoosiers 36-19 from that point until it was time to board the plane home.

Obviously, Indiana had trouble last night, which was expected, but what does it mean for the rest of this season and beyond?

The pieces for Indiana appear to be talented and athletic, but my complaint with teams coached by Crean is that they don’t always interlock effectively. Given the lack of experience on the roster, it’s early to expect seamless execution and maybe unfair to expect better than what the Hoosiers have shown during the previous five years, but I can’t help but feel there is a piece missing that will continue to cost Indiana chances to win.

It’s hard to bitch and moan about the season IU enjoyed last year – the first standalone Big Ten Championship in 20 years was a hell of an accomplishment. A flameout in the Sweet Sixteen happens to everyone. Mike Krzyzewski is a hell of a coach, but in 2012 he lost a first round game to Lehigh – a 15 seed. No one in Durham thinks ill of Coach K.

One thing that irks me about Crean’s reputation as a coach is the media’s relentless use of the phrase “master of Xs and Os” to describe him. That can mean any number of things, and only one of them is positive – that he can diagram any offensive or defensive scheme ever used. What it also means is that terms like “master of getting the most out of his players” have not been chosen by experts to describe him.

Indiana is going to look great on some nights, and not so great others. The Big Ten isn’t quite the murderer’s row it was last year, so there is a solid chance for Indiana to finish the conference season as high as fourth.

With the #2 and #4 picks in the 2013 NBA Draft coming from IU, Crean and his staff have shown an ability to develop players to a very profitable level. It’s not like Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller were thought to be #1 picks coming out of high school. That is going to have a very positive effect on recruiting, and as old coaches say, “It’s not about the Xs and the Os, but the Jimmies and the Joes.”

If the master of the Xs and the Os earns the services of the best Jimmies and Joes, Indiana fans will have every reason to expect championships, right?

Will Kevin Wilson Succeed? Why Do the Cubs Suck? Will IU Win a 6th Championship Under Crean? Can Colts Win a Playoff Game? & Other Imponderables

by Kent Sterling

All day long, questions pop into my head, Facebook message center, Twitter feed, and email box. Answers swirl in my head at such speed that they can only be answered by short bursts in this post.

Q: Will Indiana University’s basketball program hang a sixth National Championship banner with Tom Crean as the coach? (M. Henke – Chesterton, MO)

A: Hoosier fans better hope so because Crean isn’t going anywhere as long as Fred Glass is the athletic director. Glass respects Crean a great deal, and given the luck needed to win the six straight games necessary to be the last team standing at the end of an NCAA Tournament, the lack of a banner isn’t grounds for dismissal no matter how long the drought.

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

There are factions of Hoosier fans pining for Brad Stevens once his reign in Boston comes to an end, but they aren’t thinking clearly. Whether you love Crean or not, he will call Bloomington home until he decides not to.

The irony is that the only way he rolls out is if a better offer comes along – similar to the Celtics job that wooed Stevens to Boston – but if the results of his work at IU are so good it causes the employers at whatever his dream job is to make a big offer, no one will then want him to leave.

I can see Indiana going to several Final Fours given the level at which Crean recruits, but college basketball is too mercurial to guarantee a championship in any year or era.

Q: Will the Indiana Pacers win the franchise’s first NBA Championship this June? (T. Hammond – Grand Haven, MI)

A: Given their 16-2 record, I wouldn’t bet against them, but LeBron James is still the boss of the NBA and the Pacers victory train will have to roll over the top of him to earn that banner.

The Funny thing about winning is that teams need to learn how to win in order to win more. The core of the Miami Heat have won the last two championships, so they don’t need faith in their ability to win – or some goofy writer to confer hope upon them. They know they can win because they have.

The Pacers, from ownership to the front office to coaches to players to bellboys, are hoping they have what it takes.

In the end, it will probably come down to the health of the Pacers and Heat to determine who comes out of the Eastern Conference. LeBron is talking publicly about a back ailment and the Pacers are younger, so they have the actuarial advantage for continued wellness.

It would be the smart thing to say the Pacers will advance to the NBA Finals, but will get beat there because this roster has never been there. But my intellect is trumped by my belief in this group. There is a bond among them I think will carrying them a step beyond where smart folks will predict their road will end.

Q: Can Kevin Wilson and Darrell Hazell succeed at Indiana and Purdue? (B. Kidell – Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

A: Depends on your definition of success. If it’s bowl eligibility, they will both regularly reach that level. If success is entering the elite of the Big Ten, there might be an outlier season or two, but Indiana’s place in the Big Ten East is going to make a trip to the Big Ten Championship game as unlikely as Lloyd Christmas marrying Mary Swanson. The Hoosiers will compete with Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers. No patsies there. Fortunately, Wilson knows that excellence comes one step at a time, and measuring the 2014 Hoosiers against Ohio State’s program is lunacy.

Purdue has an easier road in the Big Ten West, but the Boilermakers are a long way from worrying about strength of schedule in any way other than how they will effect SOS for the other programs.

Wilson is two years ahead of Hazell in his rebuilding, as evidenced in last Saturday’s Bucket Game. Indiana and Purdue will continue to get better until they reach the level to which both coaches are capable of leading their programs.

Q: Why do the Cubs suck? (T. Voss – Hessville, IN)

A: I believe the question as you have asked it was meant to elicit a response about the historical mediocrity associated with the Chicago National League Ball Club. They haven’t won a World Series since 1908, so there must be something in the delicious Lake Michigan water, right?

I am going to choose to answer the question differently, as in why will the Cubs suck in 2014 and 2015, and given their self-induced misery why do the Cubs continue to charge fans Sak’s Fifth Avenue prices for TJ Maxx baseball?

Minus a massive infusion of cash for free agents who can play, the Cubs are stuck with a farm system supposedly chock full of talent that is two years away. That means holding on to talent that will become expensive in 2014 or 2015 is wasteful, hence the upcoming deal to send Jeff Samardzija to someone for three prospects.

Trades of anyone of value for youth will continue because there is no meaningful downside for not trading them. Other than the saps paying the third highest average ticket prices (in 2013), who gives a damn whether the Cubs win 67 or 81 games? Until the loyal to a massive fault Cubs fans start voting with their asses and wallets, the wait for the kiddie corps will continue.

Q: Can the Indianapolis Colts win a playoff game? (P. Nagle – Monrovia, IN)

A: Hell yes, they can. Will they? Who knows. The Colts are 8-4 with the only win against the Seahawks, and wins against Denver and San Francisco. They can win games. Over the last five games that Colts fans lament as a portend of doom, they are 3-2. A win against Cincinnati this Sunday, and the Colts will lock up the AFC South. That will give them home field, and likely no worse than the #3 seed.

The Colts are a better team with Reggie Wayne than without, but as long as Andrew luck is drawing breath, the Colts won’t be overlooked by anyone.