Who this team is and where they're going

[Uwe Robb 1,072]

I don't care about records and preseason rankings. Everyone has seen this team play.

 

This team playing the way they are now is not making it past the 2nd round of the tournament.

 

The question is....Is that where everyone wanted to be in year 7 when we signed a coach to a top 10 contract?

[GloryDays 5,913]

So let's say Yogi, JBJ, and Troy all come back. Do you maintain your stance on recruiting? I get concerns about recruiting for next year, but if we don't have any big loses, doesn't that quell some of the issues?

 Unless April turns into Patrick Ewing over the summer I see the same issues as now.Undersized and unable to defend at the rim.

While Morgan looks to be a good prospect he's really not a post .

  Yogi's got one year left and we have recruited another wing instead of a lead guard.If we get one in 16 he'll have to learn on the job instead of under a seniors tutelage.We needed a Big and a point in this class.

 Recruiting has definitely taken a turn south.

[Alford Bailey 12,356]

Are we taking what we can get vs getting what we want in recruiting again??

[KelleyHoosh 2,263]

Unless April turns into Patrick Ewing over the summer I see the same issues as now.Undersized and unable to defend at the rim.
While Morgan looks to be a good prospect he's really not a post .
Yogi's got one year left and we have recruited another wing instead of a lead guard.If we get one in 16 he'll have to learn on the job instead of under a seniors tutelage.We needed a Big and a point in this class.
Recruiting has definitely taken a turn south.

From the way Crean has spoken about it in the past I think he plans on using Rob Johnson as the full time point after yogi is gone.

Overall though I agree, not a lot of sense in our recent recruiting

[WayneFleekHoosier 47,982]

Are we taking what we can get vs getting what we want in recruiting again??

absolutely. We've swung and missed so many times. Even Illinois is out recruiting us as of late. Many schools. It's sad, because it was Crean's biggest appeal to me.

[Alford Bailey 12,356]

As Woodson1980 pointed out we needed a big and a point in 2015. No rocket science here. We landed 2 wings not in the top 100. Decent wings are a dime a dozen and we should get at least a top 50 fifty guy at that position IMO. Disappointing. We are trying to put square pegs in a round hole. That usually doesn't work well.

[Alford Bailey 12,356]

Starting to remind me of the final Mike Davis years. Davis had his run at a title then went down hill from there. Recruiting tanked. Crean had a title contender in 2013 and now recruiting is trending down.

[87ashtonhoosier 150]

If Glass has a problem firing Crean? Then somebody needs to tell him he's gone also!

Don't anyone put firing Fred Glass out of the realm of possibilities for the next couple of years. His job, as well as others in athletics rely on the continued support of the BIG bucks donors in Varsity Club. If you're not tuned in to coaching switches in other sports, you're missing the start of things.

[Alford Bailey 12,356]

Don't anyone put firing Fred Glass out of the realm of possibilities for the next couple of years. His job, as well as others in athletics rely on the continued support of the BIG bucks donors in Varsity Club. If you're not tuned in to coaching switches in other sports, you're missing the start of things.

I personally know a husband/wife who are doctors who are big donors and want Crean gone. I think they'd like to send Glass packing too.

[HoosierTrav 7,743]

I have literally never said I didn't take issue with our 9-10th in the B1G ranking. I personally pegged us 6-7. Still not ok with that. Before tonight, we were tied for first and then in third after the OSU loss. We will probably finish in the top 5, and possible the top 3.

I posted a while ago saying we all want to win the championship and nothing else matters. That's still true. I just want to enjoy each season in the process. I get zero enjoyment out of jumping off the cliff after a loss like this.

Not sure we have the chance to finish top 3 unless we right the ship immediately. I think the blueprint to beating us has been laid out. Thad Matta exposed us and Purdue played with the exact same principles O$U did. Matt Painter hit the nail on the head when he said our success is directly tied to the success of Troy Williams. Truer words havent been spoken this season. Sag off of Troy, hound JB and make him defend, let Yogi get off, pound the paint, get to the stripe, Attack our transition D, and whatever you do.... DONT PLAY ZONE. Follow this and you blow IU out of the building. We shot lights out against O$U and got blown out. We have to shoot over 50% from 3 to win any games. That's too much to ask these kids to do on a per game basis. We are getting UM, Wisky, Maryland, and Northwestern at very bad times. These teams are playing very well and some of the bottom feeders are long due. We are very susceptible to any and everyone in the B1G due to our ineptitude on defense.this is by far the worst sans NCAA sanctions IU defense I've ever seen. Yogi called us soft. I feel bad for him. He belongs to a winning program. He's this generations AJ Guyton.

[MikeRoberts 6,921]

EVERYONE on this board would have taken a 5-3 record and 4th place in the B1G at the beginning of the season.

which says a lot for where this program is at in year 7. Not good

[87ashtonhoosier 150]

I personally know a husband/wife who are doctors who are big donors and want Crean gone. I think they'd like to send Glass packing too.

Change will come, not Crean, too expensive and not totally incompetent. When other IU athletic teams experience coaching changes, whether head coaches or assistants, something is brewing. Where there is smoke there is fire. Some of IUs non-major sports are underperforming and Glass is feeling the heat. Too much money being spent on facilities and recruiting trips to get weak results from some of them. When non-major sports recruit in Hawaii for a week, Puerto Rico for a week, etc..., they had better land some athletes and not just run up a tab. I know for a fact that this is the case, and it's not well received!

[hoosha61 386]

read my other posts. I'm not worried about the future. Let's worry about now. Success now creates success in the future.

Great point!

[Uwe Robb 1,072]

I don't post as much anymore because of the knee jerk outrage, but man... Didn't think it would be this bad.

Some blame Crean for our program falling from top 25 status. Are you kidding? Indiana was nothing close to a top 25 program. Not even close. Not talking about the roster. Indiana did one thing that mattered in the lifetime of the college players today. 94-08 produced one run. One. And we want to talk about what Crean has done to the program? It's pretty obvious. He's lifted it.

Depends on what you define lifting the program as? He has taken us to our first Sweet 16 in that period that you mention, but he also did this with 2 of the top 4 picks in the NBA draft. I believe the expectations for this team were much higher.

 

Also in said time period Coach Knight, Coach Davis, Coach What's his name & Coach Dakich only missed the tournament 1/13 years. Crean has missed the tournament 3/6 years he has coached. Lots of people will try to give Crean a pass for his first 2 or 3 years he coached, but the numbers are what they are. Fan base has only been in the tournament 50% of the man's tenure. He will undoubtedly catch some criticism.

 

Another thing to point out is that Crean led his Marquette team to a Final Four with D Wade. After this he missed tournament 2/5 years and his best showing was a 2nd round exit. Just something to think about when considering his history.

[zacharyiu97 28]

Projections have us at 22-9  (12-6) at the end of the year, and with a rotation of the same likeness next season with the addition of Morgan and a healthy Davis. Take that and a year of experience were totally falling apart guys. 

[zacharyiu97 28]

The question about the point guard is obvious. Robert Johnson is a great player that can handle the point guard role. Why do you think  yogi Ferrell floats out as a wing player unless he trusts Robert?

[HoosierCoop 3,889]

 Unless April turns into Patrick Ewing over the summer I see the same issues as now.Undersized and unable to defend at the rim.

While Morgan looks to be a good prospect he's really not a post .

  Yogi's got one year left and we have recruited another wing instead of a lead guard.If we get one in 16 he'll have to learn on the job instead of under a seniors tutelage.We needed a Big and a point in this class.

 Recruiting has definitely taken a turn south.

I think (...and i hate to say this) just saw him commit to O$U.

[JSHoosier 19,852]

Depends on what you define lifting the program as? He has taken us to our first Sweet 16 in that period that you mention, but he also did this with 2 of the top 4 picks in the NBA draft. I believe the expectations for this team were much higher.

 

Also in said time period Coach Knight, Coach Davis, Coach What's his name & Coach Dakich only missed the tournament 1/13 years. Crean has missed the tournament 3/6 years he has coached. Lots of people will try to give Crean a pass for his first 2 or 3 years he coached, but the numbers are what they are. Fan base has only been in the tournament 50% of the man's tenure. He will undoubtedly catch some criticism.

 

Another thing to point out is that Crean led his Marquette team to a Final Four with D Wade. After this he missed tournament 2/5 years and his best showing was a 2nd round exit. Just something to think about when considering his history.

In his 9 years at Marquette he missed the tournament 4 out of 9 times, and finished no worse than 3rd in his conference a total of 3 times.  It's a good thing we locked him up, Duke would've been knocking on his door....just as soon as Coach K retired and the AD booked himself a one way ticket to the looney bin.

 

Sure that's a better than before he got there, but it's still wildly mediocre.

[jonz44 805]

In his 9 years at Marquette he missed the tournament 4 out of 9 times, and finished no worse than 3rd in his conference a total of 3 times. It's a good thing we locked him up, Duke would've been knocking on his door....just as soon as Coach K retired and the AD booked himself a one way ticket to the looney bin.

Sure that's a better than before he got there, but it's still wildly mediocre.

I firmly believe that we as fans will get what we settle for. If we are willing to accept the current state of things that's all it's ever gonna be. If enough people really get vocal things will change.

[Rayl 527]

I firmly believe that we as fans will get what we settle for. If we are willing to accept the current state of things that's all it's ever gonna be. If enough people really get vocal things will change.

Agreed. But, it goes deeper. A coach gets what he settles for. We can talk about Crean's in-game coaching, lack of adjustments and recruiting misses. However, the biggest systemic problem that I see with Crean is he settles for what his players are willing to offer.

After every loss we get the same story. The players didn't do this or that. They didn't play hard. So and so doesn't put the work in. Yet, what do we see the very next game? The same players get the same amount of playing time. There are no consequences under Crean. When a coach does that, the players have no fear and no incentive to work harder.

Even Bruce Weber gets this. He benched his best player earlier this season because the guy had a bad attitude and didn't try on defense. Then, he sat his senior center for not living up to expectations. It worked and while they aren't a great team, they at least play hard and do what the coach wants them to do.

Blackmon Jr is a great scorer. How much playing time does he get if Bill Self were his coach? Not much. You have to play hard on both ends of the court, if you want to play for a great coach. If you don't, there's a seat at the end of the bench until you change your mind. Great coaches aren't afraid to play backups or even walk ons if that's what it takes to get the message through to the stars. Things normally don't have to get that far though, because players who play for great coaches know what will happen if they don't do what they are supposed to do.

Or to go ahead and go there, what would Coach Knight do with players who don't do what they are supposed to or who don't play hard? Choking jokes aside, we all know the answer to that.

This is the biggest problem with Crean's excuse-making. He could do something about it. Until he does, he's never going to be an elite coach and we won't have a shot at being an elite program with him at the helm.