TrueHoosier62

I think you're right.

Yes, she was. I'll never forget that day as long as I live. If you're old enough to remember the show, this lady was the spitting image of "Maude", including her attire.

I'm still optimistic about the football team. I will again predict that we'll end up in a bowl game this year. Hell, eventually, I have to be right...

This year's basketball team has probably done more to generate IU football fans than anything Wilson and Co. have done the past few years. :biggrin:

Not once have I ever exposed myself at an IU game. :lol:

If the players are so thin skinned that they're emotionally shattered upon hearing boos, OR vulgar obscenities, then they're got bigger problems than shoddy play on the court. Ditto for any coach who can't take the heat. Have we really gotten to a point in our society where negative messages and pronouncements must be censored or eliminated; the person fired or banned because those on the other side of an argument are so insecure in their person, so sensitive in their mind that they cannot deal with criticism or fiery debate? I find the same problem in the workplace and in forums like this one. Debate is stifled or stunted when someone, towards whom the offensive post was not even intended, takes exception to it's wording. I worked for a company years ago where we each took up residence in those lovely little things called "cubicles". There was a woman who's cubicle wasn't within 15 feet of mine, but she overheard a private conversation I was having with my wife. I was eventually called in to the office, then HR, because I'd used the word "babe" in a sentence. Over the phone. With my wife! I didn't get written up, but was told to refrain from such language, as "Winifred thought it belittling of women". People really need to grow up, grow a pair, and only worry about opinions when they happen to be the actual recipient of such criticism. Just my opinion.

Nope. Not because I don't think those players are very nice players, but because I've not seen enough of Tom's fingerprints on their development to think it would have make that much of a difference. At some point, Tom's ability to coach and develop talent has to be considered apart from that which one might reasonably expect from private practice and physical development. Best example that comes to mind was years ago, under Lou Henson at Illinois. He'd annually get some of the best talent out of the Chicago school system, and they'd often times, stay there four years, (this was before the advent of the "one and done" player). Four years later, those kids, many of which were burger boys, would be bigger, more physically imposing, and to a degree, fundamentally sound. Still, their overall game never achieved the level of success that everyone projected for them. Henson was legendary for taking four and five star players, and doing very little to develop them talents. I'm afraid Crean is cut out of the same mold, in this regard.

So will his tenure....  :D

I was gonna ask Joani if Tom ever "dribbled off her Bobbi Brooks, but I was afraid of where it might go. Assuming her response would have been something along the lines of "Tommy is good at many things, but dribbling isn't one of them", I, being the smartass I am, would likely have said, "Yeah, I know, we've watched his teams".

The problem I have with this situation is that it perpetuates the illusion/lie that all we need are big men in order for IU to be dominate again. While "yes", getting bigger in the post would be helpful, it assumes that Crean can coach big men or that his basketball philosophy, (I've yet to figure out what the hell that is), is conducive to developing big men or meshing their talents to his game plan. Neither Zeller, nor Vonleh stayed around long enough for us to see what four years of getting coached by Crean would do for their overall game. I thought Zeller was good, not great, and one can debate how much of his development was directly attributable to Crean or his own practice time and weight room work. Vonleh on the other hand, was athletic enough, but raw, and was gone after a year. I just think we're fooling ourselves if we think more talent, or bigger men will compensate for poor coaching and development.

A very well written, articulate and inspiring message, Doc, one that under normal circumstances would and should make the Hoosier faithful march in lockstep to AH. However, these are neither normal times nor circumstances.  Those 17,000+ pairs of eyes you refer to can easily see, and have seen for the past seven years, a program that isn't developing at an appreciable rate, and in any appreciable way. Defense, arguably the easiest and quickest aspect of the game to develop and instill, is nowhere to be found. Mental toughness has gone for a walk. Even on offense, our game is limited to what we can achieve from beyond the arc.  These are not casual observations by novices, but by people who've been exposed to and have witnessed great basketball through the years. They know greatness when the see it, quality basketball when the see it, great coaching when they see it, great defense, teamwork and discipline when the see it, and I'm telling you Doc, they don't see any of that here; not now, and not seven years ago. Not at the most embryonic stage do we see it. At some point, after years of watching sub par basketball, IU fans are charged with reminding those in positions of power, that this in unacceptable, intolerable, and mostly, sad. We are not Purdue, where mediocrity reigns supreme, or Illinois, where 20 win seasons are cause for parades. We are Indiana. Because we're Indiana, we're charged with holding people accountable when we feel and see things have gone irreparably wrong with our beloved basketball program. If those in charge of making the necessary corrections to the program are hesitant or disinclined to do so, the damn-it, we will incline them! We'll be willing to use whatever means available to us. Attendance at games, while noble and important, is secondary, when the program is headed in the wrong direction. And it is going in the wrong direction, and everyone including the AD knows it. Whether we convey our message through walk outs, letters, emails, or indifference to the games themselves, the message needs to be heard loud and clear. We won't tolerate mediocrity at IU!

The only thing that would have made this news better would have been if the school had been Kentucky or Purdue.

I can paraphrase:   Dakich: "Well, there are rumors swirling today that coach Tom Crean is negotiating an exit from Indiana University, and that Brad Stevens will assume the position, erm.....be approached about taking over as head coach at Indiana University. Now I've been in contact with coach Crean, and AD Fred Glass, Joani Crean, Jim Harbaugh, John Harbaugh, and Marth the Mop Lady, and they all assure me that there is nothing whatsoever to this rumor. In fact Joani said that she's planning on buying more crimson colored Bobbi Brook slacks this afternoon, and that speaks volumes in my mind".

Watch that salty language Mdn.  :biggrin:

I'm afraid I don't get all the acronyms these days, though Wtf comes in quite handy. lol

Alright, smart alec. Both. Shake my head. SMH.

I'm a bit slow. What does "SMH" mean?

I'm trying to change and be more positive, not so derogatory, just fit in. My days of causing waves are over.

Indeed, the only thing worse would be for fans to show up wearing black and gold sweatshirts.

Rivers of tears are streaming down my cheeks just now, no seriously, absolute rivers, over the possible demise of one of the greatest coaches our hallowed University has ever known; Coach Tom Crean. How can we be so cruel as to show him the curb after he snatched us from the ashes of disaster, brushed off our candy striped pants, and put us back on the road to glory? His devotion to our school, and all the good that it stands for is worthy of enshrinement in to the IU Hall of Fame, (we do have one don't we?). But I digress. Tom Crean is brilliant, and a coach to be revered. We should be thanking our lucky stars, and quite possibly Marquette University, that we have him here to lead us down the paths of righteousness and the road to NCAA glory. God save Tom Crean.

I really like Crean. I mean, he's been so misunderstood, and unjustly vilified for all the ills at Indiana. He can't be blamed for the indiscretions of youth, the game plans devised by opposing coaches, defections by malcontent players, shoddy defense, the lackadaisical approach to games by the players, or just plain bad luck.  Truthfully, he has been a beacon of hope, a ray of sunshine to our lives since his arrival, and I for one would be devastated if he left, completely beyond consolation. Tom Crean has been a brilliant coach and tactician, and it's just so unfair to see all of this vitriol raining down on a good and honest man.

While I think Brad Stevens would make a terrific coach here at IU, I there are a lot of good coaches out there that could do a great job at IU, and I'm not discounting former players or assistant coaches under RMK. Ultimately, we have to get back to playing IU basketball. Well, what is that? Under Knight, it was fundamentally air tight, stifling defense, and a constant motion offense, using screens and picks. I don't know if that would still play or not, (I personally think it would), but whatever it is, we have to get there. Right now, I can't think of a single part of Crean's basketball philosophy that makes it stand out above the rest. Defense is practically non-existent. The offense, geared towards three point shots, is basically one on one street ball, using set plays and great athletes. Worst of all is the noticeable lack of strategy, intensity, drive, commitment and ability to make adjustments during the game. Say what you will about coach Knight, but he knew how to take apart the best of the best, and make them look silly on any given afternoon. His teams could be outsized, out muscled and slower than the opponent, yet he'd still have a plan to compensate for those shortcomings. We all knew it, and we all believed that we could still pull out a win against the other blue bloods, (and more often than not, we did). Whomever is brought in after Crean, needn't be Knight II, but he does need to possess many of the qualities I just described. Perhaps IU will never again be the home of the motion offense or the air tight defense; I don't know. Whatever it is, we damn sure had better show the other teams that we do it better than anyone else, it's IU basketball, and it wins championships.

Hmmmm. Seeing the "F" bomb in print on here, to say nothing of the "derogatory comments", makes me wonder how I got a warning for dropping the word "boob" in a post, (and not even in the anatomical sense)? Simply amazing...

I'm still not sure what all the warm fuzzy feelings are for Fred Glass? He picked Wilson, and whilst I like coach Wilson, his teams have been disappointing, and to my knowledge, the attendance at footballs games is about what it has always been. Who knows if the football team will make it to a bowl game this year or any year, in the foreseeable future? Crean may have picked up the pieces after the Sampson debacle, but really, what Crean has accomplished hasn't been all that different from what numerous other coaches could have done, given the fact that "It's Indiana". That's not a diss to Crean, but in my opinion there's a fair amount of reality to it. He built a nice looking home out of the ashes from the last one, but now we're noticing that the wiring is pretty shoddy, the plumbing barely works, and the back half of the house is caving in.The people who were so happy to move in, in the beginning, have now moved out and moved on, and the only tenants willing to move in are those who've either not seen the house up close, or those who're still convinced that Crean was a good carpenter.

Admittedly, I was reaching for the razor blades this morning, and was perfectly prepared to slit my wrists, when it occurred to me that perhaps Fred was right, and perhaps what Fred said, mattered. I mean really, why slit one's wrists over such an incompetent boob as Tom Crean and his merry little band of defenseless midgets? Fred's right. We should all just take a deep breath, and find some other pursuit whilst he diddles around with the program. Fred knows what he's doing, about as much as Stevie Wonder does with a Light Brite set.