MAJOR MIND DUMP by Chris

Man, the Hoosiers are having a tough go of it. As bad as this is, I’m not down on these guys or the coach.

Here we are, missing two major pieces of the recruiting class, full of freshmen who look like their starting to tire mentally/physically, and its hard to see the light.

Look at the message boards. Holy crap do people like to pile on when things are tough. The posters on these sites are F’d up. They take it out on 18-22 year old men who are trying to represent Indiana Basketball.

So many people complaining that we don’t have motion offense.

Why don’t we move?

Why don’t we have inside-outside game?

Where’s the Defense?

Looks like HOF coaches don’t grow on trees, huh?

Well, I go back to my season long premise that Tom Crean is the right guy. I think I feel for this guy more now than ever.

I don’t think people, and even journalists, truly appreciate what he has to do to build this program.

Gut an entire class of players.

Recruit, extremely late in the recruiting calendar, to field a team.

Recruit, extremely late in the recruiting calendar, with NCAA sanctions that limit scholarships, athlete visits, number of scouts/recruiters, official visits, etc.

Negative Press.

10 or more years of damaged recruiting pipeline from Knight’s final years to Mike Davis’s failures In-State.

Excellent competition in the conference at all levels: Play, coaching, recruiting, fan frenzy on the road.

The weight of Indiana tradition.

Prospective Players don’t look at Indiana like 30 year old and older FANS do. I think the idea of players “dreaming” of playing at a particular school is vastly overblown by the imagination of fans. I think players are smart consumers when it comes to their college choices. I think there is so much variety for them to consider. Frankly, Indiana Basketball has been ailing at selling itself for over 10 years. This decay started at the tail end of the Knight years, and falls on the various Presidents, AD’s and coaches who have been in charge over that span. It all crashed and burned with the Greenspan/Hebert/Sampson era.

This whole business of recruiting is not going to rebuild quickly. The ENTIRE enterprise was scrapped and then we have Crean operating under sanctions…how many players really want to attach themselves to such bad press? Why would they? We didn’t just lose 1 recruiting season. We lost several, at least 2-3 classes and perhaps as many as 10 b/c Davis sucked at building a pipeline.

“Yeah, but Crean has had two seasons and I don’t see the kids getting better! The coach sucks. Bobby Knight would have done better.” – He might have won a couple more games, but don’t kid yourself, these players don’t match up with ANY of Knight’s teams when it comes to basketball talent and skill. Its not like there were coaches lining up to leave their multi-million dollar positions at other schools to take on the rubble of Indiana Basketball. No, no, no, the Calipari’s of the world were waiting for easier places to land, like UK, where there is decent starting talent, tradition, and no sanctions. Remind me, who the F@ck was hammering at the Sample Gates saying “let me put my career on the line at a school that’s on probation.” Calipari? Pitino? Matta? Few? Huggins? Alford? Sean Miller? Billy Donovan? Nobody but a couple Knight disciples like Wittmann (zero collegiate coaching experience), and Dakich, who earns respect for stepping in and cleaning house like a true Hoosier, but isn’t the guy you want as the face of the program.

People say that all Crean does is clap and stomp on the sideline. What the hell is he supposed to do over there? What does Rick Pitino do on the sideline? Scratch his nuts? C’mon!

Where is the offense?

The offense and defense is running like crap because the players are:

1. Still learning it.

2. Not skilled enough to actually execute it.

3. Freshmen who are not physically built enough for the Big Ten (they almost all start this way).

4. Not at a talent level that makes this system, which is run all over in Top 25 programs, effective.

5. We lack size. (Why don’t we have it? Probably missed some of them b/c of recruiting pipeline destruction/sanctions (noted above). I can’t imagine the TC isn’t looking for big men. If he’s not, then that would be stupid.

“Look at Bo Ryan!” – Yes, lets look at Bo Ryan’s roster side by side with Tom Crean’s. Top to bottom, clearly better players at all age groups (FR – SR). I think Ryan is great, but he’s got his guys and it’s a stable program that he took over from Dick Bennett. Bo’s not coaching the Sisters of St. Mary’s.

Brucie Webber – Huge Front line and tough as nails guard.

Painter: We all know.

Matta: Possible national player of the year on the roster. Hmmm, look at their record with and without Evan Turner. Injuries do matter.

Izzo: See OSU. Great guard. Look at B4 and After losing Lucas.

Carmody: Seems like this team has been together for 10 years, but it always seems that way with them. True team and LIGHTS OUT shooters who fit a system. Key words, players are selected for the system and they know their roles.

Tom Crean DESERVES the benefit of the doubt and a heck of a lot more time AND understanding in what he’s doing. It’s more complicated than finding 5 guys to run the picket fence. The Indiana Media has failed to present the Hoosiers with any kind of perspective. Its not a bunch of excuses, its the situation on the ground.

Good news: We have the right coach. We have injured players coming back. We have updated facilities. Probation will end. We will get the talent and this offense will resemble the same thing you see at Uconn, Duke, UNC, Kansas, MSU, etc….