Five Prime

"SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, EVERYBODY!" LMFAO ft Tom Crean

Kentucky looking to go 30-0 tonight. Meanwhile we're playing walk-ons and football players.

Bracey Wright Cody Zeller Cody Zeller Tom Coverdale and AJ Guyton Tom Coverdale Jared Jefferies AJ Guyton George Leach Tom Coverdale Mike Davis Tom Crean Bob Knight Dan Dakich Kelvin Sampson All off the top of my head, probably got the coaches right but probably not many of the player records.

In addition to having smart players, as mentioned, I think you have to have hard nosed guys who "buy in" to the defensive side. We are much too soft imo to run an effective full court D. We would give up easy bucket after easy bucket. On the flip side against teams like Purdue (who got easy bucket after easy bucket anyway) any turnovers created may outweigh any potential risk.

Good read. I'm not sure it does much to change my perspective, but some good points are made. I think its interesting that Dakich and Greenburg were praising Crean, maybe not too unexpected considering neither one was as successful as Crean within the same profession.

Fair enough. I'm sure glad he ended up in Bloomington.

Sure it helps. But I still feel winning takes care of all the PR stuff. Also, I'm not sure I want my coach involved with promoting ideas to boosters. Leave that to the AD or other administrators.

I understand everything starts with recruiting which is greatly influenced by handlers and money passed through them, at least for blue chips. I also understand you can't be stuck in the middle ground, as we seem to be. Either ante up and flirt with the dealer, or build teams with experienced senior and junior leadership.

Sorry, I'll contribute. 1) recruiting 2) developing talent 3) preparation/game to game adjustments/in game coaching 4) academics 5) everything else Last) PR, I don't care how a coach handles the media. If you win, everyone will shut up anyway.

Opinions by fans are largely formed by the product they see on the floor. Whatever ego stroking goes on behind closed doors and "off the record" does not matter to me. The first two years aside, Crean-coached IU teams average between 6th and 7th in the Big ten standings. Crean-led IU teams average less than one NCAA tournament win per year. Our best finish in the Big ten tournament is what, a semifinal loss? Larry Brown can say whatever he wants about Crean. Maybe Crean has a master plan and he's building towards greatness here at IU. Maybe I'm too slow to see it. I want more consistency from our program. It seems we're always chasing our tail under Crean.

These are politically correct statements written by future opposing coaches and talking heads...from 2008. Blurbs like these are written about every high profile coaching change. Someone could probably find similar musings about the Kelvin Sampson hire.

So Crean gets the 4 star kid that "no one really wants"? I don't know. I feel this is another spin to fit this particular argument. And if nobody wanted him it implies Crean gets the "leftovers", which I'm sure isn't the case because Crean is a recruiting wizard. I don't have the time to post on this forum much, but I read here and there. It seems obvious to me that you have some vested interest in Crean's regime. I'm not sure why and don't really care as I prefer message boards to be anonymous. You are quick to refute arguments, sometimes logically but usually sarcastically or tangentially, that do not align with your agenda. You rarely agree with anyone or have constructive conversation.

I think the first game of each weekend would be the toughest for this IU team. Teams that have time to prepare well would have a much easier time taking advantage of some of IU's intrinsic deficiencies whereas a team with 24-48 hrs to prepare would have a difficult time. IUs offense doesn't care who they play. The defensive matchups are the problem. I am also cautiously optimistic about this team's chances in the tournament. Many talk about our defense being poor, which I obviously agree with, but our shooting, guard play, and ft shooting are at an elite level even for tourney teams. We can hang with anyone when our offense is sharp.

Sheehey is a complimentary player with a high basketball IQ.  He understands Crean's offense and when he was playing with guys last year that also understood it, he looked like another cog in the wheel.  He knew where to be and knew he could trust his teammates to be in the correct places as well.  His passes, shots, and drives were more in rhythm with the offense because he knew his teammates and his teammates knew him.     Fast forward to this year.  Now Sheehey is expected to elevate his game and be a scorer and leader for this young team.  However, now he is on the court with 3-4 other guys that don't know the offense very well and don't have very high bball IQs.  So now he looks like he makes errant passes, dribbles into trouble, shoots more than he should, and generally isn't as effective.  I believe much of this is due to both trusting his teammates too much at times (e.g. thinking they should be making a cut or running a lane on a fast break when they don't) and subsequently not trusting his teammates enough at other times (e.g. forcing the action and getting out of his comfort areas as a player.)   The alternative hypothesis, of course, is he's just partying too much.