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Tom's buyout is mighty pricey for a few years so those wanting him gone now will need to find a happy place for a while.     The notorious, controversial individual from certain other sites predicted before the season began that he expected IU to win 16-18 games and likely be a bubble or NIT team.  I scoffed at that and I think even he revised his expectations upwards at a certain point but...this season to me was a great unknown.  I wasn't sure how to even assign any expectations to it before I saw the product on the floor.  I've seen enough now to make a few observations of my own:   1)  The offense certainly has not changed, the personnel has changed.  And therein lies the problem, we don't have the personnel to run the same offense.  Last year, we could space the floor due to our perimeter threats and that allowed Victor to dribble penetrate down the middle of the defense.  This season, we aren't able to space the floor in that manner because defenses know they can pack the middle and not honor the three point line.  Therefore, the dribble penetration really isn't there and that is where our offense looks like a hot mess.  If we can't penetrate and we aren't able to get the ball to Noah in the post, this offense is just garbage right now.    2)  I expect a young team to have some struggles with turnovers.  I also expect to see some improvement in that area and so far it simply is not happening.  Plus the fact that our returning PG Yogi Ferrell has very much been a part of our turnover issues.  Which look, overall I like Yogi and I think he has been our best and most consistent player.  I think he is forcing things too much at times due to our larger issues.   3)  The 2012 class has been a disappointment.  Some people were saying that last season and I thought it was ridiculously early to make that assessment.  Well, a year later and I cannot help but share the sentiment.  Outside of Yogi, I have struggled to be impressed.  Hollowell seems worse than last year (I thought as the season progressed last season he started showing signs).  Hanner has improved, but not enough to live up to expectations yet.  Jurkin may as well not be on the team.  Buss, well we know he never made it here.  I know, too late to whine about it but I sure wish we had gotten Gary Harris.    4)  The underachievement of the 2012 class plus + everything we lost from last season (Zeller, Oladipo, Watford, Hulls) has put a lot more pressure on these 2013 kids to produce immediately.  The only one who I feel has been consistently up to that challenge has been Vonleh.  The other kids have had spurts but nothing consistent.  Troy will be a special player imo but he will need more seasoning and growth.  Fischer bailed.  Stanford had a really solid outing today and I think he can be good too but...I wish guys like Troy & Stan would have more of a chance to grow and develop behind upperclassmen.    5)  Our most experienced guy is Will Sheehey and I like the guy but...he is so inconsistent.  He has never made the same jumps as Victor.  He has worked hard and been scrappy and had some moments but end of the day, he still makes me feel like I'm watching a role player, a 6th man who happens to start games.    Bottom line, I certainly have criticisms of Crean.  My main criticism of the current team is that it is NOT well-constructed to execute the type of game that Tom wants to play.  Can he adjust and give this team a better chance to win going forward or will he keep slamming square pegs into round holes?    If we head to the NIT this March, so be it.  I won't enjoy that but I won't lose my mind over it.  My main concern is next season and going forward.  Luke's departure plus the prospect of Noah going pro makes me very nervous about a 2014-15 team that I was ready to pencil in as Crean's next best chance at a Final Four contender.  Can he manage the roster construction in such a way to get us back on track quickly? 

[quote name="BlueDevil2aHoosier" post="27924" timestamp="1388889249"]Not a crean fan lost respect for him when he went off on Meyer last year Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners[/quote] You kidding man? That was the highlight of the year for me. IU was dirt and he was part of the reason it was. Then to go into his home gym and win the first out right B1G championship in his face was awesome. He then ( reportedly) smarts off in the handshake line and Coach tells him what every IU fan wanted to say to everyone involved in that mess. Immature, yup. Should Coach let it go? Absolutely. But it was still pretty cool to me. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Crean probably doesn't deserve to be fired this year, or even next year (if this team underachieves), but NOT because of what he has done for IU. The honeymoon is over. We are relatively successful again and the sanctions are lifted, it is now time to start performing. Crean is a pretty darn good recruiter. Great motivator. Good PR guy for the school. BUT basketball comes down to X's and O's and preparing your players to execute. From what we all have seen, Crean struggles with adapting to what the great coaches of the B1G throw at him (Izzo, Matta, Ryan). Looking to the future, I'm not convinced Crean is the man to take us where we want to go. But I am all for giving him more time, especially with this transition season we have going. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

What could he do if he was recruiting for IU instead of against them? In the Stevens argument though (which is probably a moot point for probably the next 3 years anyway), he took a lot of players that IU probably would never even have looked at, and had more success than would have been reasonable to expect. That's good coaching. 

Everybody take a deep breath and step away from the ledge. 

For me its not just this year, in fact as young as this team is, I really wasn't expecting much and am not that disappointed. Here are my reasons for thinking he is not the long term coaching solution at IU:   1. A lack of structure in the offense, which kills the half court offense.  2. Too dependent on athletes, not enough basketball IQ. 3. Inability to utilize talented bigs as anything more than cleanup crew in the paint. 4. Some of the most perplexing substitution patterns I have ever seen.  5. A unwillingness to exercise a little "pine time". 6. Too much Clappy, not enough ripping some ass. 7. Players just don't seem to learn some basic things (shot fake, entry pass). 8. Wisconsin. Whether you like Bo Ryans style or it puts you to sleep, he's a helluva coach. And the better coach has won every matchup.   I am not on the "Fire Crean Train" at this point. And I think this team will be a lot of fun to watch the next year or two, but I really doubt that banner #6 ever comes under CTC.

    Yeah, after 4 pages of this, what I get is that Btown Banners has its doubters, but nobody wants to see him gone at this point, unless I missed a post somewhere. So I guess the answer to the OP is, nobody here. Not sure it matters, I don't think he goes anywhere for 3-4 years, regardless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BStv8X7bkVw

I really, really miss that guy.

Hoosiers in Pro Ball ‏@ProBallHoosiers @Dsol32 had 19 points and 12 rebounds for @FlorianaBC (Malta) today. #DoubleDouble #iubb

Hoosiers in Pro Ball ‏@ProBallHoosiers @JordanHulls1 had 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists in @EnergaCzarni's (Poland) win today. #iubb

Two points from me on this though. First I think it is highly possible that he will find that much of what worked for him at  Butler just won't work in the pros. And as such he may find a desire to go back to college ball, although it might be at another mid-major. I very well could be wrong, he is a awful smart guy.   Second, at IU he might not have to change his recruiting all that much. In his style of ball he doesn't need the stable of NBA prospects that the Creans and Caliparis need. He would probably have to secure a top notch recruit here or there, but he could probably be successful without stocking up on 4 and 5 stars. Thats all a moot point if he just doesn't want to do it.

The crean concern should start last year. Yes we win the big outright but truly we tried to give that away. Then big tourney was emberassing plus temple in big dance followed by the cuse debacle. Now u have jh instead of improving he does opposite not a good sign<br /><br />Sent from my SCH-I535 using BtownBanners mobile app<br /><br />

It always amazes me more people didn't see the article (or at least give weight to it) Gary Parrish wrote for CBS last summer when Stevens left for Boston. In it he wrote that Stevens made it very clear that he had no interest in recruiting the way you have to at a big time program, and that was part of why he wanted to be in the NBA and not at a major college program. I'm not sure if IU, or any other big time program aside from Duke (let's be honest, Duke is different), would ever be a real option for him. Heck, he may be an NBA lifer regardless of how his time in Boston ends. If NBA GM's are good at one thing it's recycling head coaches who have already failed.   As for Crean, I'm still behind him, but like many, my concerns are growing. I think that one of the marks of a good coach is that he adapts his system to the players he has rather than trying to fit square square pegs into round holes. From a big picture perspective that's probably my biggest issue with Crean.

I thought I had heard at one point IU was his dream coaching job.

Which will be helped if he gets some players who don't have a problem sitting on the bench the first couple of years and then can contribute heavily in their junior and senior years. Going pro after 2 or 3 years, or transferring out after a year or two really hurts the whole team.

Crean said "it's Indiana", one of the top programs of all time.  A certain level of expectations comes along with that.  Bob Knight was a large part of Crean being able to say that, and I will not lower my standards just because Mike Davis was an idiot and Samsung can't run a clean program.  We should have much higher standards than being a "top 30 team pretty consistently" and making the tournament should be considered an absolute minimum.

Which I don't understand. We won the big ten title last year for Christ's sake.   Yeah we lost in the sweet 16...so what. Thats 1 game we happened to lose due to an awful matchup against Syracuse. 

I think all of you that are wanting to fire crean have forgotten what he has done for the hoosiers since his hiring. Tom has brought the hoosiers out of the " dark era" please stop the negative thoughts. If yall are true hosier bball fans then you would know who and what we lost last year and that the young talent that we have will be even better next year... so all i need to say is... GET OFF OF TOM CREANS BACK AND SUPPORT HIM...He is the best coach we have had since Bobby Knight!!! Sent from my SCH-I535 using BtownBanners mobile app

I'm not on the fire Crean bandwagon.  That said he definitely needs to improve as a coach, and I have concerns if he can take us where we should expect to go.  We're at the point of the season where I expect to at least see signs of improvement, and it's just not happening and that's part of Crean's job as coach.

NOT ME Sent from my Venue 8 3830 using BtownBanners mobile app

Yeah, its a rough season, but I don't think that is the whole reason. I would be surprised if Crean ever exceeds what his teams attained in the last two years. I would love to see someone who can actually coach basketball, compete for titles, and has smart, solid teams, even if we never send another kid to the pros.