If he turns into Thabeet (With an actual basketball background), he could be nasty.

I've had this discussion many times on ITH, but I would like to see this program in the UNC, Duke, Kansas etc. discussion, so basically competing for Final Fours every year. Doesn't mean you're in it every year, but you're in the discussion. The schools you listed in your point B are not consistent year-in and year-out Final Four contenders, and I think that's difference in recruiting the 5-star guys.

IMO, the key is to recruit and select the “right” stud players. They're out there, as we've seen with Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush, Ben Gordon and Okafor. Crean's job now is to try and get those guys to IU. I think he can do it.

I am not arguing against 5 star players however or that you cannot tell the difference as a senior in HS between a top 25 kid and a 100 to 200 kid or that NCAA champs have not had such players. I urge readers to consider however :

A) that alot of teams with 5 star HS players donot win the championship ( ie Duke, UL, UCONN, Arizona, UNC, UCLA, Texas ….) no player comes with a guarantee and

B) that alot of teams w/o 5 star players often succeed ( ie Fla, West Va, Xavier , MSU, Wisc, ILL, Pitt,BC,Villanova in the past ) into the final 4 and

C) That it is too early to evaluate TC 's career in general let alone his success at IU on recruiting, W's, X's, graduation rates

For skeptics that want to wait and see……….I am fine w that

We are building evidence however that he is succeeding in:

1) fan rapport
2) recruiting in Indiana ( gosh we even have HS kids from other states trying to go to HS in Btwn )
3) recruiting in NYC, BALT and in general we are competitive
4) bringing in kids that donot embarass us as fans ( like Jim Calhoun, Sampson )

I for one would rather lose a competitive Championship than be chronically embarrassed by our players like the direction we seemed to be headed with the previous regime