Who this team is and where they're going

[The Baby Bull 280]

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.

Painter sat Scott and we got the results. Play hard or sit. Esp JBJ in TW