T. Crean's '15-'16 Talent Pool One Of IU's Best, Ever.

[Naismith 136]

I've fervently followed IU since my freshman year in 1967 - 68.  The fall following my '71 graduation an unknown coach from Army would take over the helm from an ailing Lou Watson.  Watson had brought in John Ritter, Steve Downing and George McGinnis.  Knight would inherit the first two, while McGinnis plead hardship and went to the ABA.  I was able to view a few of Knight's early days practices, as I worked for the Bloomington Paper and resided in the area for a short while.  He, however, gave me the option, one day, while talking to the fellow next to me during one of Knight's chalk talks to either "leave and talk all I wanted to - or stay and shut the hell up."  It took me a bit of time, but I learned to do the later.

 

To my point, as well as strictly my opinion, Knight's most talented (I'm talking "right off the bus" talent) was his 1975 squad - in close contention with his 1981 and 1993 teams.  Knight always won big with talent & size, and yet he often didn't have both.  If he could have kept McGinnis in '73 - another banner.  If he could of held on to Montross for the '93 run, another banner.  If he could have coached the '02 with Kirk Haston remaining - yet, another banner

 

T. Crean's best is simply his 2013 team.   This upcoming season seemingly will place as much raw talent as I've seen in nearly 50 years onto IU's hardwood.  

 

I wish them all and Coach Crean, individually and collectively, the very best.

[WayneFleekHoosier 46,815]

I don't disagree.

1. Yogi - 5 star senior
2. Blackmon - 5 star soph
3. Rojo- 4 star soph
4. Troy - 4 star junior
5. TB - 5 star fresh

Starting 5 is loaded. Bench has depth but the "Talent" isn't incredible.

6. Holt - 3 star soph. Good player
7. Ziesloft - unheralded transfer- 3 point specialist
8. Max - unheralded transfer- better than credited but no standout.
9. Juwan - 4 star fresh. my diamond in the rough candidate. Think he will be very good, if he hustles.
10. Hartman - 3 star. Better than advertised but has athletic deficiencies.
11. OG - 3 star. Athletic. Interesting prospect
12. Priller- 0 star. BUT MSB doesn't care about stars. Would be incredible in 6'9" or taller game of H-O-R-S-E

We may find our bench depth isn't great.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,094]

I've fervently followed IU since my freshman year in 1967 - 68.  The fall following my '71 graduation an unknown coach from Army....

 

Ah, another old fart out there and I thought we were an endangered species.  Great post.

[BGleas 7,880]

Yeah, when you see it laid out like that, the bench is a question mark. The positives of the bench are that I see a bunch of role players that all play hard and should seemingly understand and embrace what's being asked of them. That's not a small point, that's huge for a team to have. Holt, Zeisloft, Hartman and Max are going to play hard and do what's asked of them. We also don't know what Juwan and OG can give as freshmen.

The negative of the bench will be size, athleticism and that while Zeisloft can shoot, Holt can offensive rebound, etc., there's not a true "6th man" that you can rely on to come in and create offense when you need it. Upside is we certainly have plenty of that in the starting group. That's where the argument for starting Holt and going big, with RoJo coming off the bench comes in.

What I like is that I think it will be the best "team atmosphere" that we've seen in a few years, which is invaluable.
 

I don't disagree.

1. Yogi - 5 star senior
2. Blackmon - 5 star soph
3. Rojo- 4 star soph
4. Troy - 4 star junior
5. TB - 5 star fresh

Starting 5 is loaded. Bench has depth but the "Talent" isn't incredible.

6. Holt - 3 star soph. Good player
7. Ziesloft - unheralded transfer- 3 point specialist
8. Max - unheralded transfer- better than credited but no standout.
9. Juwan - 4 star fresh. my diamond in the rough candidate. Think he will be very good, if he hustles.
10. Hartman - 3 star. Better than advertised but has athletic deficiencies.
11. OG - 3 star. Athletic. Interesting prospect
12. Priller- 0 star. BUT MSB doesn't care about stars. Would be incredible in 6'9" or taller game of H-O-R-S-E

We may find our bench depth isn't great.

[FindEndNow 198]

I don't disagree.

1. Yogi - 5 star senior
2. Blackmon - 5 star soph
3. Rojo- 4 star soph
4. Troy - 4 star junior
5. TB - 5 star fresh

Starting 5 is loaded. Bench has depth but the "Talent" isn't incredible.

6. Holt - 3 star soph. Good player
7. Ziesloft - unheralded transfer- 3 point specialist
8. Max - unheralded transfer- better than credited but no standout.
9. Juwan - 4 star fresh. my diamond in the rough candidate. Think he will be very good, if he hustles.
10. Hartman - 3 star. Better than advertised but has athletic deficiencies.
11. OG - 3 star. Athletic. Interesting prospect
12. Priller- 0 star. BUT MSB doesn't care about stars. Would be incredible in 6'9" or taller game of H-O-R-S-E

We may find our bench depth isn't great.

I can't throw foam bricks at my phone. I hate seeing that starting lineup.

[moyemayhem 1,269]

This upcoming season seemingly will place as much raw talent as I've seen in nearly 50 years onto IU's hardwood.  

 

I hope this is hyperbole.  Sure our roster is talented, but compared to the last 50 years of Indiana basketball, I'd call it middling talent.

[Alford Bailey 12,259]

I hope this is hyperbole.  Sure our roster is talented, but compared to the last 50 years of Indiana basketball, I'd call it middling talent.

Talented enough to be successful.

[Alford Bailey 12,259]

I wouldn't say best ever. Those early 90s teams were top to bottom the most talented IMO. But, certainly with 3 5 stars  and 2 4 stars in the starting lineup talent can't be the excuse next year.

[coonhounds 8,693]

I think this could or at least should be most talented if they would play hard on defense and play smart on offense. This could be a great season or another huge dissapointment. We can thank our two former dumb butts for our lack of a solid bench lol

[mdn82 25,461]

2012 was Crean's best team. When you have 2 players that would have carried any team in the NCAA in that season on one team it's hard to top. You add seniors in Hulls and Watford. We don't have that stretch 4. We don't have that consistent bullseye shooter of Hulls. We will be very good offensively but I would be surprised to see this team be more efficient. They surely will not rank in the top 30 defensively like that team. To me this is Crean's 2nd most talented team. Hopefully they go further.

[FindEndNow 198]

2012 was Crean's best team. When you have 2 players that would have carried any team in the NCAA in that season on one team it's hard to top. You add seniors in Hulls and Watford. We don't have that stretch 4. We don't have that consistent bullseye shooter of Hulls. We will be very good offensively but I would be surprised to see this team be more efficient. They surely will not rank in the top 30 defensively like that team. To me this is Crean's 2nd most talented team. Hopefully they go further.

I think the 2013 team he is talking about is the same as the one you are? Maybe. But that 2013 team with Vonleh had WAY better paper talent than the 2012 team with Zeller.

[moyemayhem 1,269]

Come on guys, calling this team our most talented ever is very short sighted...  The '75 team had 8 NBA players, including a #1, #2, #8, and #11 pick.  I wouldn't put this team in our top 10 teams talent-wise.  We are certainly talented enough to have a very good season, and maybe even win the Big Ten, but let's not disrespect our past with over the top statements.

[OliviaPope40 6,299]

We don't have the bench mob.

[FindEndNow 198]

Come on guys, calling this team our most talented ever is very short sighted... The '75 team had 8 NBA players, including a #1, #2, #8, and #11 pick. I wouldn't put this team in our top 10 teams talent-wise. We are certainly talented enough to have a very good season, and maybe even win the Big Ten, but let's not disrespect our past with over the top statements.

Most paper talent Crean has had?

[recker222000 1,010]

This team can win it all.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[FindEndNow 198]

This team can win it all.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

That's good spirit.

[moyemayhem 1,269]

Most paper talent Crean has had?

 

Not from my research...  It may not be perfect, but I looked at 2 ways of rating our team on paper.  The total RSCI score (where the #1 player gets 100 points, and the #100 player gets 1 point) or the total of the average star rating for each player on our roster from Rivals, Scout, and ESPN (data from verbalcommits.com, if the player wasn't rated by any agency they got 0 stars).  Using those two methods, here are our teams scores for the last 4 years: 

 

             RSCI     Stars

12-13     401       47.5

13-14     367       42.8

14-15     352       35.7

15-16     337        34

 

Obviously this doesn't look at the players actual performance at all, just what scouts thought of them coming out of high school.  That said, on paper our team has steadily declined in overall talent the last 4 years.

[FindEndNow 198]

Not from my research... It may not be perfect, but I looked at 2 ways of rating our team on paper. The total RSCI score (where the #1 player gets 100 points, and the #100 player gets 1 point) or the total average star rating for each player on our roster from Rivals, Scout, and ESPN (data from verbalcommits.com, if the player wasn't rated by any agency they got 0 stars). Using those two methods, here are our teams scores for the last 4 years:
RSCI Stars 12-13 401 47.5 13-14 367 42.8 14-15 352 35.7 15-16 337
34

Obviously this doesn't look at the players actual performance at all, just what scouts thought of them coming out of high school. That said, on paper our team has steadily declined in overall talent the last 4 years.

Really? I guess we pretty have nothing but 3 stars coming off the bench.

[KelleyHoosh 2,263]

I think stars are the most useless thing from recruiting services

[WayneFleekHoosier 46,815]

I think stars are the most useless thing from recruiting services

disagree big time. They are right more often than wrong. Exceptions exist, and VO is one of them but look at Zeller, Blackmon, Eric Gordon, Jeffries, Vonleh, etc. The 5 stars are fairly predictable. The 4 stars are less predictable but generally better than 3 stars. Our team represents this truth.