Rayl

  Wait what? The sophomores were a top 10 recruiting class with three guys in the top 100. The freshmen were also a top 10 recruting class with four guys in the top 100.   Everyone who follows recruting closely certainly though Crean was bring a lot of talent in. Were they all wrong? If so, how much of that is on Crean for misjudging the level of talent he was bringing in?   I'm not exactly sure what you are saying. I think we have plenty of talent. Developing them, getting them ready to contribute at a high level right away, and figuring out how to use the talent to the best of its abilities seem like much bigger issues to me.

  You might be right. I don't know. I suppose it depends on how bad you think Crean is. If you think he is terrible, then certainly he could be replaced by someone who is at least not terrible. But, if you think he is good, just not good enough, then maybe there isn't anyone available who would be guaranteed to be better.   The problem is though, how long do you have to wait for someone to prove that he is the next great college basketball coach? And, once someone has already distinguished himself as that guy, is he going to want to come to IU? Will the NBA being sniffing around him or another big school?   Instead of waiting for the next great coach to emerge, it might be better to try to identify him before everyone else knows he's great. A lot of great coaches have emerged from almost nowhere. Coach K? One NIT berth at Army and losing records the last two seasons before being hired by Duke. Boeheim, Izzo and Williams were all longtime assistants.   There are probably a couple of great coaches out there we could get. We just need Fred Glass to identify them. It's very doubtful that a move is going to be made after this season. However, it is time for Glass to have his ear to the ground listening to what basketball insiders are saying about some of the lesser known young coaches and assistants.

  How patient do we need to be? How many years do we wait to fire Crean before we aren't firing coaches left and right?   At the conclusion of this season, Tom Crean will have coached more games and as many years at Indiana as any coach who is not in the Hall of Fame. We've been just as patient with Crean as we were with Lou Watson and Mike Davis. They both won conference chanmpionships too.   Now, obviously, Dean, McCracken and Knight did not enter the Hall of Fame in six years. (Although, they were all more successful than Crean in their first six years.)   The question is does anyone think Tom Crean will be in the Hall of Fame someday? I think most college basketball fans not affiliated with IU would find that laughable, but perhaps some IU fans still think it's possible. If it is a realistic possibility, then OK, be more patient.   However, if we have already concluded that Tom Crean is not going to be a Hall of Fame coach, then what are we waiting for? I think six years is enough to evaluate his overall coaching ability. I find him lacking in that regard. Our history suggests that we have been as patient with him as it is reasonable to expect. We might have to wait for financial reasons, but for basketball reasons the sooner we replace Crean, the sooner we have a chance to find a coach who is up to the standards set by our former great coaches.

We took the wrong turn at Albuquerque.

Wow. So this is where people went to. Sign me up on the fire Tom Crean train. Sure, he might deserve more time based on last year, but I don't see things improving to the point where we are always a contender. No reason to prolong the misery. Get rid of him and try the next guy.