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IU Hoosier41

Indiana's Schedule Difficulty

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Many fans have questioned Coach Crean's scheduling this season. The majority of fans weren't happy with the cupcake games in the preseason. While I agreed at first, I no longer do.

After hearing Nick Saban, Alabama Football head coach, talk about scheduling it all makes sense. The SEC is so strong in football, that he knows his team will be tested. In fact, the goal of non conference is to play younger guys and get a winning attitude for the gauntlet that is conference play.

Now look at Indiana. The Big Ten is the toughest conference by far. Indiana's schedule is brutal, probably the hardest of any team. Indiana plays all the top programs twice. Now take a look at Indiana's last 12 games of the season. 66.67% of those games are against current Top 25 teams! 8 games against Top 25 teams is brutal for any team's SEASON, let alone 12 game span!

Coach Crean knows what he is doing, and that is to build a winning team and a winning culture. A weaker preseason allows Indiana to build wins and remain in the Top 5.

Has anyone else rethought the scheduling?

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It's especially a good call with the addition of new talent in the mix. Good call for Crean to test which player combinations work best in a lower pressure situation before B1G starts.

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Many fans have questioned Coach Crean's scheduling this season. The majority of fans weren't happy with the cupcake games in the preseason. While I agreed at first, I no longer do.After hearing Nick Saban, Alabama Football head coach, talk about scheduling it all makes sense. The SEC is so strong in football, that he knows his team will be tested. In fact, the goal of non conference is to play younger guys and get a winning attitude for the gauntlet that is conference play.Now look at Indiana. The Big Ten is the toughest conference by far. Indiana's schedule is brutal, probably the hardest of any team. Indiana plays all the top programs twice. Now take a look at Indiana's last 12 games of the season. 66.67% of those games are against current Top 25 teams! 8 games against Top 25 teams is brutal for any team's SEASON.Coach Crean knows what he is doing, and that is to build a winning team and a winning culture. A weaker preseason allows Indiana to build wins and remain in the Top 5.Has anyone else rethought the scheduling?

Well said, I have to admit I didn't understand the cupcakes at first, but it does make perfect sense...install a winning attitude to prepare for banner #6!

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Very smart by Crean's part. With 4 new freshman and 3 contributing with playing time, you want to build confidence and test lineups. Although the games are never competitive, it gets the team excited for harder challenges. I also believe it makes the team hungry to go out and prove they can beat top tier teams like Minnesota.

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I hadn't thought about it like this and now that you point it out I completely agree. Even in the non-conference games we had contest     but we also needed those other games to work in all of the talent we have. It really would've helped if Perea and Jurkin had not gotten the shaft from the NCAA. Perea could possibly be used to college ball and would probably be helping IU a ton more than he is now. 

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Many fans have questioned Coach Crean's scheduling this season. The majority of fans weren't happy with the cupcake games in the preseason. While I agreed at first, I no longer do.

After hearing Nick Saban, Alabama Football head coach, talk about scheduling it all makes sense. The SEC is so strong in football, that he knows his team will be tested. In fact, the goal of non conference is to play younger guys and get a winning attitude for the gauntlet that is conference play.

Now look at Indiana. The Big Ten is the toughest conference by far. Indiana's schedule is brutal, probably the hardest of any team. Indiana plays all the top programs twice. Now take a look at Indiana's last 12 games of the season. 66.67% of those games are against current Top 25 teams! 8 games against Top 25 teams is brutal for any team's SEASON, let alone 12 game span!

Coach Crean knows what he is doing, and that is to build a winning team and a winning culture. A weaker preseason allows Indiana to build wins and remain in the Top 5.

Has anyone else rethought the scheduling?

 

If we ended up going 8-4 or 9-3 in those last 12, i'd be very happy.. 

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First half of the Big Ten season I believe Indiana should go unbeaten and that will be crucial because the second half is brutal. There are some games on the road during the second half of season Indiana needs to pull off if they want to position themselves for a Big Ten Championship. First task is win the Big Ten, second task win Big Ten tourney, and then march their way to Atlanta!

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IU plays as many ranked teams during that stretch than Duke plays the entire season. I agree with Saban, as long as IU has 2 or 3 games against top opponents so they can learn to play from behind and close out games.

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