MadAboutIndiana

What did Dakich have to say about IU? Bennett meh

It won't be the same without 11.

FTR, I know my opinion is a bad one. Lol

Just based on his past recruiting behavior plus comments his family have made, plus things one hears being in Indy. No question it is the IU brand. Combined with his track record (just as Crean does) and it makes for a good sell. It just seems to me that the current staff explores all options and connections which leaves us with talent we otherwise might have replaced with just another kid from IN, IL, OH, etc. Crean's recruiting at the end of his Marquette tenure was fairly impressive. He hasn't really broken thru at IU to get anyone of note until Thomas Bryant. Vonleh would count for that, I suppose. But still. Let me be clear--I have no doubt Stevens would very easily recruit to IU. I just don't know that we'd see IU battling it out for the very best players.

What leads you to believe this? The high major meat market does not appeal to BS...

Good point. The recruiting game and the 365 aspect of it is what will keep BS out of the college game IMO

Whatever you say! Only 7 coaches in the modern era have won multiple Big Ten championships. Crean is now one. Talent is what it takes to win in today's CBB climate

But would he recruit a higher caliber of player? I think he would try to recruit the same caliber of player to IU. He would never recruit a Robert Johnson or Troy Williams or Christian Watford because it takes extra effort to do that. It seems to me that he's never enjoyed recruiting, which is why I don't see why every IU fan is obsessed with him as coach.

You can't win in high major with the players he recruited at Butler. It's annoying that people try to assert otherwise. Tom Crean's recruiting is the sole reason why IU has two recent Big Ten titles.

Brad Stevens never would have *gotten* Victor Oladipo...

Zero?

Have hated it since the Recker game. Then the Verdell Jones injury... That was really a sad one

Isn't it obvious?^ IU would be undefeated. For the foreseeable future

Read a tweet that said IU will likely finish with the 5th toughest schedule among the last 20 champions (since 2002, I believe) Relative to the B1G, believe IU will end up with around the 9th toughest schedule out of 14...

Wow! What a game. Overcame so much!

If you want to voice concern, stop giving them money. Booing accomplishes what?

Sheehey, Gordon, Stan, Hanner... I disagree that that is talent. That season was just horrible. It's all good! I've said my piece. Let's take it outright tonight! edit: one would think having a Yogi and a Vonleh would be enough to get to the tourney. I can respect that POV. It just never worked. Making baskets definitely makes a difference and as BC said, just didn't have it. Not consistently. Chemistry was awful on that team. Now is that on Crean? Yes. Should it be? Dunno... Kind of had an old guard (Sheehey, Etherington, Howard, etc) vs. entitled younger players. That was one of his higher rated defenses, however. Funny how that goes up during the year we have zero offense other than Yogi playing Trey Burke's role

Oh boy

I am not at all condoning a big dip next year! To clear that up. But in 13-14, it was easy to see coming. The program is at a different place now... Like I said, I haven't seen it this healthy in 20 years. Have to finish this season with a run, and follow it up next year. Then IU is really close to being back. People always say Crean is better at home as if that isn't the case for literally every single coach in history. He struggles on the road against good teams, as if he's the only coach in the country who does. It's great that we all expect so much, but hell! Enjoy this team. Feel like so many are trying to figure out if we are any good and the season is about over... Lol

The elite schools didn't hit reset on their program in 2008! It's pretty obvious what happened. We lost the 2009 class, plus Victor and Cody all at once. The ones who built the foundation. That's a monumental loss when it occurs all at one time. Our returners being Yogi, Sheehey, Etherington, and Hollowell. What talent are you talking about!?! Not exactly Anthony Davis and MKG... Our freshmen (Troy and Collin's class) did not pan out. That happens. We can scream from the mountaintop about Zak Irvin, Demetrius Jackson, or whoever. But that's revisionist history at work. I still believe IU should have squeaked into the tourney that year, but the chemistry was a joke and they didn't. So what. I can live with that considering you can't plan for Luke leaving, Hollowell selling dope, Etherington being a bust, etc. Coaches are not fortune tellers. Alas, for the most part, Crean does a good job of seeing the future. Ok, we got beat by Duke. We aren't even close to the same team. That game means zilch. So we had one bad half of ball the last 2 months.... So what?! That's the unrealistic bar I'm speaking to.

I have zero problem if Crean turns out to not be the guy. But as you said, many ignore every single good thing he does. That's a problem. It's amazing the extent some will go to avoid the fact that he's doing well. I just find it interesting that so many are so 100% sure that he can't do it, simply because he hasn't done it yet. He's had, what, two real chances to win it all here with this year being his third. The idea that "he couldn't do it with Zeller so he'll never do it" is what I find so infuriating. It makes our fan base look dumb. That's a really odd way of looking at things. I don't understand the paranoia.

I'm definitely not arguing that he's one of the best coaches around. But he is as good as we're going to get, if not better. Other than the 7-10 legends like Self, Izzo, Cal, Coach K, etc... Crean is in the group waiting behind those guys to retire. My stance is simply that Indiana should hang on to him and see if he doesn't take off in the next few years. If you can get Donavon, do it. But it'd be epically dumb to toast Crean for a coach of similar caliber. He's laid a terrific foundation.

It makes IU look like a hillbilly school, for one.

I'm talking about the ones who boo coach and players at the home games. You know the ones.

Well, we are about to find out these next few seasons... I contend that Indiana fans have extremely unrealistic expectations for a program that was dormant not too long ago. His track record is pretty clear. He builds programs. It's not like he took over a powerhouse Marquette program, and in one cycle he had them in the Final Four. One cycle at Indiana, and he builds the best team in the country. And now here he is with another conference champion. I know it's an absolute travesty if Indiana ends any year without the national title--but the guy is clearly setting IU up for that kind of success. I mean, it's apparent. This is the first year the program has been healthy since the mid 90s. There is depth to overcome injury, there is class balance, major talent, and major recruits on the way. If just one of Cody/Victor had stayed, we are talking about 3 top 10 teams in 4 years. That dip was unavoidable especially when Vonleh turned out to be a disinterested bust. That isn't due to "coaching." There are things that happen in CBB that our fans will blame on Crean, but when it happens at another program they suddenly look past it. You can't look at the first 3 years. Look at his five year resume and tell me he doesn't have the ability to build a title winning team. It's asinine to ignore what he's done just because they were beaten in the S16 in the past. Nothing will ever be good enough, and eventually we will push Tom out in favor of some coach who will appeal to the sensibilities of the pasty banner-head fans. Then we will really see what we had.