Old Friend

RIght.  But when I wrote what I did about Purdue, they were playing well.  I didn't have a crystal ball handy to let me know they'd pee down their leg at Illinois yesterday.  When Indiana lost to UNLV, they looked absolutely awful.   So when someone writes "Yeah...how'd Purdue do today?" what's the point?  When I wrote it, they were exceptional.  Goes both ways.   Crean has a 17 year resume for people to look at.  One game against Ohio State at home doesn't change anything.   Just means we looked great for 40 minutes.  I would love to believe yesterday was the point at which Crean's career turns around and he becomes a consistent winner and that becomes the norm.   Everyone can decide for himself whether or not that's what happened.

Yeah....oops.

He never rested, he always coached us to the very end regardless of the score. Why do I post pictures of Bob Knight? I want to do my part to help keep the nostalgia alive. People will never understand the impact this man had on his players, the city of Bloomington, and Indiana basketball. I'll always pay homage until the day I die. Indiana basketball, "was just different"!   This is why we need kids and coaches who understand where they are.   Knight ain't coming back.  But he set the bar.

Same as Indiana did against UNLV.  Who just lost to Wyoming and is now 9-5.

To be clear, and I'm sorry of this didn't come across, I was posting that specifically and solely because of Guyton's quote that "Indiana Basketball.....was just different."   And I believe it should be.  Which is why I think we need to have a high bar, recruit kids who get it, demand our coach understands, and we win consistently with those people. Really, the point of that had nothing to do with Knight.

If facts bother you, ignore me.   I don't watch sports for contentment within one game.  I see flaws that sometimes get masked by other things, and I still see problems that will be exposed down the road, limiting what this team can accomplish.   Like I said, if that bothers you, ignore me.   I said I loved the effort and loved that we pounded them on the glass.  Does that mean Yogi still didn't take a bunch of bad shots and turn it over 3 times?   Does that mean we didn't shoot a low % from the FT line?

This game was won on the boards and on the defensive end.  Flat out hustled them.   And made just enough shots to get OSU out of the game.   A 50-31 advantage on the glass says it all.  17 offensive rebounds, 12 of which directly led to baskets says more.  Yes, Indiana made a few shots, but still shot just 46% from the floor.  Good...not outstanding.  We still take too many quick shots and rely on the three pointer (took 30) too much.  We still had 12 turnovers, many unforced.  We allowed an opponent to score 29 against us.  We still missed a ton of free throws (67% not good enough, and I don't think we took enough).   Our flaws still ail us, but the effort today was so much better, I don't know that numbers really matter.  

That's a huge indictment of Crean.   Regardless, they're a much better team when they focus on the defensive end; and they're a better team without Blackmon.  I hope all get better because of these revelations.

Credit where credit is due.  That's the best I've seen Indiana play in 15 years.  Good for Crean, good for the kids.

How many players were arrested while Knight was the coach?  (I know the answer is more than zero, but the point is a ratio) How many legal issues per capita since?  How many former Knight players have been arrested since he was coach?  (Todd Jadlow!  I know not everyone's perfect, and Knight was certainly not)    Apples and oranges.   You don't have to agree with me and I know you see things differently than I do.   You don't have to keep chasing me.  The simple truth is we have not hired a coach who understands where he is since Knight was fired, and the cultural decay of the program has resulted.  Bassett was smoking pot in the locker room while he was here.  His arrest was predictable.  He's a bad seed.  Knight generally did not recruit bad seeds.  Some....Jim Roberson and as it happens, Leary among a few others.  But Leary was in his late 30's when he had his problems.  Basset had problems while he was at IU.  He simply bottomed out later.   Indiana's coaches have generally not done their homework on kids for 16 years.  The pattern is obvious to me, and I'm fine if it's not to you.  We've had coaches who assemble groups of players rather than build teams.  We've had coaches who focus on players who need the ball and we've been devoid of kids who will do the dirty work or will work to make others better.   We've lost the culture of "we over me."  And we've recruited WAY too many knuckleheads.  Killingsworth was a knuckelhead.  So was DeAndre Thomas.  So was Jamarcus Ellis.  They didn't have big legal issues as far as I know, but that doesn't make them any less toxic.     I'm not asking anyone to agree with me, but I'm sick and tired of Indiana's players being in the news for the wrong reasons all while we have a team mired in mediocrity with players from all over the place.  That is not "Indiana," or at least any "Indiana" I grew up loving.

That's just the problem. Emmit Holt?  Nice enough kid.  He is not "Indiana."  Stanford Robinson.  Ugh.  Peter Jurkin.  Jeremy Hollowell.  Marco Killingsworth.  Armon Basset.  Joey Shaw.  Xavier Keeling.  Deandre Thomas.  Jamarcus Ellis.  Max Hoelzel.  Jeremiah April.  Jessean Gray-Ashley.  Ben Allen.  Bawa Muniru.  Guy-Marc Michele. Hanner Perea.  The list goes on and on.  Those kids are not "Indiana."  And we need to stop the pattern of recruiting kids who don't understand.   We need to teach the fans who think wearing the uniform is all that matters here and that any kid who puts on the jersey is automatically "in."  It's not.  He's not.   Players were smoking pot in the locker room when Sampson was let go.  Kids for the last two years have been getting arrested at an alarming rate.  We're losing our DNA, and it sucks.  Basset was just one in a long line, but he's part of the pattern.   I'm not about to relent and go with the crowd that says Indiana is no longer special.  It IS.  But the coach has to teach, administer, live, and demand that culture.  I don't know if Green or any of the incoming freshmen know why Indiana's special.  I think Gelon gets it, based on some of what he said, but I've never met the kid.  I don't know for sure.   But the pattern has to stop.     The funny thing?   You know who I think DOES get it?  Priller.

The pattern.  They've missed on every hire for 16 years and haven't recovered from hiring Mike Davis or bowing down to Herbert and Jesse Jackson in hiring Sampson.  The pattern of failure in recruiting and coaching hires is now approaching a fifth of a century, and it's time to turn it around.   Bassett was just another fool brought in here by another coach.  The current coach has recruited his share of fools, too.

And people complained when Dakich kicked him out.   Good, God.  Indiana needs to get this trash turned around and quickly.  Time to spend money on a coach who does his homework and can raise expectations to the level they were under Knight.  No...I don't want Knight back, but I do want his barometer back.   I miss Indiana Basketball.  Badly.

I'll take some of that.   If he's here in 2018, I'll be beyond shocked.  The man has never won anything.   That cannot happen at Indiana.  Iowa, Michigan State, Maryland, and Purdue are all better than Indiana, so we're at best 5th in the Big Ten if we played a complete schedule in the man's 8th season.  Not good enough.  He has the excuse of a Blackmon injury, but people are smarter than that.  Indiana has two even decent wins this season, and the only good team we played beat us easily by 20.  We lost to two mediocre teams, and struggle at both ends of the floor.  That can't last 3 more seasons, and if it can, I'll have given up by then.  Crean is at best mediocre...he was fine digging Indiana out, but he's plateaued.  It doesn't take a genius to see that....or even a competent AD.   If the University doesn't care enough about the program to make a very necessary change, I'm not sure why any of us would support it.  I'm in.  

Wow.  Education for a lot of people...including me to some degree.  DD is very, very good.  I know a lot of people don't like him, but he's right far more than he's wrong, and he does a great show.  The man gets it.

Yeah....pretty much this.   When's the last time you can remember Wisconsin having a total of 6 assists?     We had 18 turnovers and 13 assists.  Bad.  But we out-rebounded them by 5, shoy 7% better than they did from the floor, blocked 3 more shots, and were PERFECT 10-10 from the FT line.  Didn't get there enough, and had just 2 with 6:00 to go; but closed really well.  We're not a great team, and that was not a pretty win...but I like 3-0, even if I think our offense looks just Godawful.  The defense was much better, and other than Yogi trying (again) to do too much, I thought we were pretty efficient when we didn't turn the ball over.   18 turnovers is abysmal in a game with a pace than slow.  Work to do, but we're better defensively when Blackmon's out.  I know we'll miss his points, but that defense was a far better showing.

I don't know how much more obvious that can be.   But honestly?  Crean needs to go, too.  Watching this, there's no question.  There is no offensive goal.  They're not trying to do anything in particular with any consistency.  There's no system.  Turnovers are just....part of the game, even though we're losing specifically because of them.  This is a sad version of basketball to be playing in front of one of the best teams ever.  That group would ALL move better than the group on the floor.

Macro - best wishes to JBJ.  Here's hoping they find a minor tear and can simply repair his meniscus.  (I heard 10 minutes ago that's still an option)    Sucks for the kid.  I hope he recovers quickly, and comes back stronger.   Micro - it offers Crean an excuse.  Which also sucks.  "But Mr. Glass, we lost 15 points a game!"  "I know, but he can't guard anybody.  Aren't you in some ways better off without him?"   "No.  He's a warrior."

Here's the problem.  Tom Crean doesn't coach in such a way that maximizes his rosters.  He allows kids to showcase themselves, which is great for a player with aspirations of the NBA, but awful for a college basketball team.   Cases in point :  Yogi Ferrell has been allowed to take as many bad shots as he wants and turn the ball over as many times as he wants in order to put up whatever numbers he has.  True, Yogi's got a ton of assists, too, but he will graduate from Indiana as the all time leader in turnovers.  Many unforced, and many because he's being showy...with that stupid "freak move."     Troy Williams has been allowed to turn the ball over while being a primary ball handler more than any "4" in the country.     We don't really game plan to exploit weaknesses or accentuate positives.  We just do what we do and hope we make enough shots to win.  Doesn't matter how much SEAL training you do or how nice your sand pit is.  You have to have plans against good teams, and they can't all be the same.  You have to execute.  Playing OG more minutes at Williams' expense is not how Crean does things.  It might be helpful, and might lead to more wins, but it's never going to happen.  Bielfelt needs more minutes, too.  I'd play a lot more of he and Bryant together.  I'd play Johnson at the 1 more often, and allow Yogi to play some 2, but also play Johnson, Blackmon, and Zeisloft with Bryant/Hartman and Bielfelt/OG.  Taking two very selfish players off the floor.      But that's not Crean.  He wants to tell kids he sends players to the NBA, and it seems Crean won't sacrifice that statement for the sake of putting a smart team on the floor.   We've never run shooters off screens because I don't think Crean recruits kids who are truly interested in screening or doing things to get team mates open.  He has a roster full of kids who want their own numbers.   Save Hartman, I don't even think we have kids willing to do "little things" that help teams win.     The reasons Crean never wins big are in plain sight.  Here's hoping Glass sees them, too.

This is exactly it.  He doesn't adjust.  He doesn't game plan differently for different teams or styles.  He doesn't recruit kids with high basketball IQ.  He doesn't seem to mind turnovers or bad shots.  And his teams win when they make shots, lose when they don't.   A trained monkey could coach that way.     What I want is a coach who understands how to take advantage of what other teams don't do well and take away what they DO do well.  I want to see a brilliant game plan executed so Indiana wins games against good teams.  I want to see a priority placed on transition defense and pride in playing efficient smart basketball.   "Everything Crean wants" is frequently not good enough against good teams because he seemingly doesn't know how to plan or change what his team does.  They've played the same way for 8 years.  Whether they have the right roster or not.   

Liked the intensity.  We played with more purpose in the 2nd half.  Still no reason to trail Nebraska at halftime, and I think we tend to play down sometimes.  Too many unforced turnovers, and free throws are still a huge problem.   Progress and more positive than negative; but still a very imperfect team that will have a hard time beating teams that take away transition.

Question for the sake of discussion.  Based solely on his resume and what you've seen of his teams at Indiana, what makes you believe he can "turn this around?"   I think I know what you're trying to say here, which is supportive of the man but not the coach.  However, as admirable as that is, any "man" deserves support, but this coach - in my opinion - does not, and he has shown nothing in his career - again, in my opinion - which tells me he can succeed at a level Indiana fans expect; and he's a very poor "coach," meaning he doesn't make changes which allow Indiana the best chance for success against any given team.

You could very well be right, but The Big Ten is not very good and our schedule is really easy comparatively.  We could win 13 or we could win 9 or 10.  Neither would surprise me.   For the sake of the discussion..   Rutgers is 1 at Nebraska Wisconsin at home Illinois at home Northwestern at home Minnesota at home at Penn State Nebraska at home at illinois   Those are the ones I'd say we "should" win.That's 9.  We may be able to get 4 more.  Maybe. Or not.   

And this is the problem with our program.  This is fine at Kentucky.  That's who Kentucky is.  It is not fine at Indiana.  Not our culture, not our history, not our DNA.  We have a coach who enables this and allows 23 turnovers in a game against a bad team because he wants the players to showcase themselves.  We need our soul back....

Interesting, indeed.   The reality?  I have - and I'm sure I'm not alone - reached the point of absolute apathy.  I don't care if Indiana wins or loses because either is okay with me right now.   I watch this team play, and I don't enjoy it.  I don't enjoy zero strategy.  Zero game plan.  Zero "anything different than any other time Indiana plays."   I don't enjoy listening to our coach try to sell.....whoever that we just beat a good team.  I don't enjoy his passive-aggressive defending of himself the way he has for 8 years.  He doesn't coach.  He installs a style, and it's good enough most of the time against bad teams, and not good enough most of the time against quality teams.   Been that way the entirety of his tenure at Indiana except when he had two top 5 NBA draft picks and several experienced role players on the roster.  Kind of like....Marquette.  (Okay, they only had one top 5, but also two additional NBA guys in the starting lineup)  Groundhog Day includes a repeat of a tenure at another university!!   I don't enjoy watching Yogi Ferrell - a senior - take bad shot after bad shot and play like turnovers AND bad shots don't matter.  A senior had 6 turnovers against the worst team in the Big Ten.  Our starting back court had 11.  When Ryan Burton has more points in a game than Thomas Bryant and Robert Johnson combined...that's a problem.  A sign of very bad things and a team disengaged.     We still absolutely suck at the free throw line.  65% ain't gonna' cut it.   Troy Williams had more turnovers than field goal attempts.  (7 to 6) And played 29 minutes with basically 3 other starters out of the game or not engaged in the game.  Whu...?  Why!?!  He was 2-5 from the FT line.  This is a kid who thinks he's a lottery pick?  He COULD be...which is really sad.  Where's the fight, Troy?  Where's the "I'm carrying this team" mentality.  7 turnovers in 29 minutes??  My God...   The worst part?  Our Big Ten schedule is so soft, we're STILL going to win 13 games and STILL going to make this coach look good.     Groundhog Day.  Yes, indeed.  Groundhog Day.  Nothing changes.  We win if we make shots, lose if we don't, and make bad teams look decent because we can't guard.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  This is what you get when you have a coach who's not a good x and o guy.  Who's not a game planner.  Who doesn't make adjustments.  Who never makes any real changes other than switching defenses every now and then.  (or sometimes too often)   This is not Groundhog Day.  This is what Indiana Basketball looks like.  We don't have a roster full of smart players.  We have a few, but mostly kids with athletic ability, some ball skills, and no real basketball IQ.  I was impressed with Morgan.  He knows where to be.  He seems to understand positioning.  He loses focus, but I think he gets it.  Bielfelt gets it.  Burton does.  But Williams?  No clue.  Yogi? No clue.   Bryant?  Out of position today more often than he was IN position.     Thank God (I guess) that team missed 10 layups.  We're 1-0 in the Big Ten.  I'm supposed to be happy, right?  I'm afraid Groundhog Day is here to stay as long as we have a coach who isn't a strategist.  When the system works, it works.  When it doesn't...it doesn't.  That was true in 2009 and it's true now.  Happy February 2nd.