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Quinn did play but as he got past his sophomore year he saw basketball was a more likely path for him and he gave up football.

I think he is too important to the football team at this point. An injury would really hurt them and they do not need any additional hurdles. He has also been playing football and going all out for several months. There is a reason the football team has an offseason and that is to let the body heal and get ready for next season.

I think we need a stellar year this year. An overachieving year like Cody's freshman year. I think we need our top 7 players back next year and we have to add a starting center that is real threat. I think he has to have some recruiting momentum back again Lastly, He really needs a run of 5+ years where we compete for the BT every year (top 3 works for me). A tall order but had the 2012 class lived up to rankings we would likely be in the middle of such a run now.

That ship sailed. I cannot see Izzo taking the job at a school that fired one of his guys.

Well we might know. I think we learn if he is not the right coach but if he rights the ship just enough to extend his stay that does not necessarily mean his the right guy long turn. Would love to see something definitive on the positive side beyond just making the tourney but that seems a long shot. So I think we either learn his not the right guy or we extend this uncertainty another year.

I agree. He would be the first call I make.

I am not sure Stevens is a home run hire but his 2 FF, and 2 championship games is equal to Creans 1 FF?

Latham is big but does he really fit the Crean fast pace? The fella that went to NC State was tall and long but we did not think he could fit in the offense. Would Latham fit any better?

Holt did not focus on deflections and instead just grabbed the ball. He has to understand the value of a deflection.

Those two years were good. On the right track. But the really good coaches don't have two bad years like we had last year and where we are predicted this year. Is this that hard to see?

I would argue that our youth the last two seasons shows things do not always work out.

You do not have to give all those things but start with winning and the so the other things most of the time and you are OK. If you do not win you better do all the others very well and sell us on the idea that wins are coming

It is a fair question. Even with the mess at IU Crean built a championship level team in 5 years. If there is a next Crean will leave a program in much better shape. This the new guy would probably have the expectation to field a top level team in perhaps 3 or 4 years. But even if it takes him five years what hurts Crean more though is not necc getting further than the sweet sixteen in 13 but where we are today both on and off the court. The fan base wants a banner for sure but we absolutely do NOT want to suck. Avoid sucking and you will probably be OK.

No it is a natural drift. Your post was spot on the mark. Best post of the day.

No doubt Crean did a great job on the rebuild. He lost all that momentum though and found ourselves in another 20 year (low) position with our big ten finish last year. I am not a Crean hater really. I honestly thought we could finish top 4 in the conference before watching us play the last three games. I am disappointed that we are likely in for another lower tier finish in the BT. The two recruits we have for next year look to be fine kids and could contribute in few years but are not likely immediate help. We need immediate help. Crean has been great on kids and class/grades. Until the last year the kids seemed to be trouble free. Given that the only thing we can brag about now, and likely for the next year or so, is our APR score is not enough. This is a big time program where you have to be very good at a lot of things

I might have missed it. In those 20 years he has one FF and three sweet sixteens? He won conference championships twice.

Not saying I want Alford but don't you think he would recruit well in Indiana. ALL Indiana HS coaches know the names of Alford the player and his Dad the coach. IF he felt he could recruit better here and be close to family that would be a big draw.

You said. "he's an AAU hype/athlete. He can't play the game" You have had a little over a year to evaluate him and you have decided this. Yet when folks who criticize Crean who has coached for 15 years and has a pretty long track record you are quick to defend. It is OK to support Crean to the end if you want to but I think you ought to demonstrate you same loyalty to the players. The players he recruited and who after all are just learning to be young men.

Fair enough. Still we have given Crean 6 years and many are willing to give him this year to prove himself but you have given up on Troy in a little more than a year.

True but the Davis and Sampson hires we conducted poorly. Do those properly and you likely get better results. The Crean hire was limited because the team wanted someone who had been to a FF. That seems like a good idea but it may have limited some up and comers.

So no one wanted Troy? This was known to everyone? I am not sure I am following you. You have been defending Crean today but then you make a comment about how inept he is yourself.

When was the last time a non five star big was a factor at Indiana. Two 6'8" guys which when reading their bios suggest a small forward and a power forward. It would be good to have now but I do not see much from them that suggest immediate help. I am all for developing players but Crean has no evidence he can develop a non five star center to be more than a role player. Since we have no 5 star prospects next year there is no evidence from Creans history here that we will be able to manage the middle.

I do not know. The point is there are too many people afraid of the change convinced we will have to take someone terrible and be bad for 5 years after the change. There were people interested the last few times. So we do not like (Cal and Rick) and some we would like - Izzo.

Izzo would likely not come now but he was very interested before. Kravitz alluded to this for years but recently stated that he still has emails from Izzo to Kravitz asking for his help in landing the IU job. Yeah Kravitz is not my favorite sports guy but I believe this. Izzo only backed off because Crean was a contender/finalist at that point. Don't think Izzo will come this time either but there are people out there with high pedigrees who are very interested.

I do not really want Shaka but I do not think he is long for VCU. Every time he flirts with another school he agrees to stay in exchange for some new perk. To his credit a lot of the perks have been pay for assistants and facilities. I was in Richmond this summer when he was a candidate somewhere and the sport radio talk were getting mixed reviews. A lot of the fans were tiring of this on his part and the passion to keep him is less than before. Sport radio talk is not equiv to fact and logic but it is representative of some portion of the fan base which is representative of the board who annually keeps working to keep him happy.