The Minute After: Iowa

by Ryan Corazza in The Minute After | January 24th, 2010

After some discussion on this after Thursday’s game, we’ve decided to change up the title of this guy. Onwards.

Well that was unexpected.

Coming off a terrific OT win against Minnesota at home a week ago, and the program’s first road Big Ten win under Tom Crean on Thursday at Penn State, IU faced an Iowa team tonight that’s just not all that good. They hadn’t won a Big Ten road game since March of 2008. They entered the contest 7-12, and only 1-5 in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers were favored tonight. And with the tide turning on this season, with the Hoosiers gaining a little bit of swagger and poise — a Big Ten winning streak! — this wasn’t just there for the taking; it was served up on a silver platter.

But instead of playing like they have all Big Ten season at home, these Hoosiers came out flat. Real flat. Central Illinois farmland flat. It was a performance reminiscent of their stinkers at Michigan or Ohio State. At no point did they show any semblance of offensive flow. The two runs they made in each half, where it looked like maybe they were going to sneak back into this one, Iowa came right back to extend the lead. The Hoosiers only had three — three! — assists tonight. They missed all nine of their 3-point attempts, marking the first time the program hasn’t hit a three since 2001. They turned the ball over 16 times. They shot a horrific 35.6 percent from the floor. (Verdell Jones was the lone competent offensive threat tonight. He hit 6-of-12 buckets and had 14 points.)

But the real story of this game was the boards. Iowa snagged 39 to IU’s 23. But 18 of those rebounds for Iowa were offensive. Add in the early points they got with dribble penetration, and it allowed them to completely dominate in the points in the paint department. They outscored IU in paint 34-16, and had 20 second-chance points to IU’s seven. That’s the story of the game right there. And in the second half, the Hawkeyes also added in what they do best: hitting the 3-point shot. They nailed 4-of-7 in the second half, and with the Hoosiers struggling to score, it helped put the game out of reach.

Most troubling is that Iowa didn’t have a particularly great game. The Hawkeyes scored 58 points, and had 21 turnovers. If I had just been given those two numbers having not watched this game, I would have figured the Hoosiers had won it handily.

You have to wonder why IU came out so flat tonight. Perhaps it was the game being pushed backed because of the Colts, and Assembly Hall being empty for its standards at tip-off. It was a point Dan Dakich brought up at halftime: The Hoosiers feed of the energy of the home crowd, and it wasn’t quite there for them in the first half. Perhaps it was just one of those nights. Perhaps the Hawkeyes were just due for a road win, and IU was ripe for the picking after possibly looking past this game.

And perhaps it’s because for all the strides this time has made in the last week or so, the fact remains: they are still young, they are still growing. There’s still work to be done.

Tags: Iowa Hawkeyes

chitowniufan

If only Tony Bennett would have said yes to IU's offer. Oh well....Look at his numbers in the ACC this year:
Bennett has taken a proud Virginia program back to its roots of chest-to-chest defense. His “pack” defense is really just gap protection D, which emphasizes help and the protection of the paint and limiting opponents to one difficult shot. Virginia does not play to high possession totals right now, but will in time. Bennett has also brought ball security to Charlottesville, as the Cavaliers do not turn the ball over. Bennett is the real thing, and Virginia is now competitive under his leadership.

lucy52

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Lucy

http://dataentryjob-s.com

kesims

we have seen this team perform way better this season and execute most all of the things we sucked at against iowa. So these players have been taught how to box out and rebound and they have shown they know how to do these things well is some games so that is not creans fault they did not execute it in the game. they obviously know how to. However, It is possible that he did not prepare them well enough mentally beforehand ...but hes not on the court during the games looking like hes playing 5th grade basketball.

We have all seen this team do these things well at points in the season so we know they have been taught it. We just lack mental toughness and consistency. We need a true leader on and off the court who can show these guys how to do this night in and night out and tthat person hasnt stepped up yet

i agree our offensive sets look horrible but we do not have that much talent to work with. MY hope is that when we do we will have a different type of offense. You are right though, history will tell us crean relies solely on talent to make shots for themselves, but hopefully that will change. It doesnt even look like are guys could handle learning any type of offense right now. As we all saw against I owa, we still havent learned how to box out and get rebounds or how to play man to man on a consistent basis These kids have been taught this stuff long before CTC got ahold of them and they just dont get it yet.

CTC has mentioned on several occasion that right now he is worried about building a solid defensive structure for this team and the offense will come after that. Well this team has not proven that they know how to play good defense and become a hard nosed "defense first" team. I think we can all agree that that is the type of team we want here at indiana. A hard nosed defensive team that goes all out , dives for balls, boxes out and hits the defensive glass, and plays suffocating defense. I applaud crean for his effort in this department. If we get anything out of this year going into next year, I hope it is a solid defensive foundation and mentality that these players can take into next season.

Next year, we will get creek back, we will have a good shooter (sheehey) and finally two players who can play above the rim(sheehey and oladipo). This is when we will start to see what type of offense we will come to expect under CTC. As frustrating and painful as it is to watch to watch our offense, it is even more painful to me watch our horrible defense. Doesnt matter how good are offense is ,...if we cant stop anyone..we cant win games. ANd lets face it...we are not going to any postseason this year and crean is stil building the foundation. He is focusing on the right area DEFENSE. The offense will start to take form this summer

IndyMac

All of you saying that the freshman should be playing better and aren't freshman anymore at this point in the season need to step back and grab some perspective. If you've watched IU this year then you know they've improved since the start of the season. But this team is dominated by freshman and sophomores, with zero experienced upper class men to fall back on. We also lost our most talented player. When you're rebuilding the way IU is right now, there are going to be set backs. Yes it sucks, and no you should be happy about it. To expect IU to just jump to the top of the college basketball world over night is unrealistic.

That being said: Creek, Watford and Hulls all clearly have a lot of talent, and Elston brings a lot of energy to the court. VJ3 keeps improving and is becoming our go-to-guy down the stretch. I know it's a few years away, but I feel like if everyone improves and matures then this team could challenge for the Big Ten title when VJ3 is a senior.

trailrunner

Do not argue like a child. No one believes that IU will challenge for a top conference finish this year. IU got thumped by an inferior team in talent and just as inexperienced on our court. The offensive philosophy is the problem that needs to be adjusted.

JerryCT

I had the chance on 2 occaisions to ask Crean what he thought was going to be our "go to identity" this season. Both times he responded by saying that he did not know and was trying to figure it out.

in the FWIW category I think he intially started with transition offense run by Rivers on the break and early shots in the shot clock . Everybody but TP is pretty good in the open court. This is still there to an extent but lacks Creek as another rebounder and finisher PLUS our defense is not good enough to trigger the transition game often enough. So now we see ourselves going deep into the clock

So the transition game is no longer a " go to " but more of an " opportunity". At this point I think Crean has stuck with this theme too long and now has to develop something else.

Personally i would like to see the following changes:

1) Change to a low stack or something to off ball screen for Watford and shake him loose for a short jumper w TP setting the screen. I think Elston is a good enough shooter for this to work for him as well. No more ball screens from TP at the three pt line . Only off ball screens down low. This might improve our rebounding on the off end as well.

2) Dumes alongside JR if we are still attempting the transition offense in order to trigger it off the defense

3) More of the big lineup less of the 3 guard. After watching the PSU game again you could see we were going to have trouble w Iowa. PSU had only one penetrator in Battle and in that case we can protect Hulls on defense .......but if the opponent has at least 2 penetrators we cannot protect Hulls. I think it is worth a try to exchange height ( Elston ) for Hulls in those cases .

MillaRed

I like the idea Jerry. VIII and Watford hit those medium range jumpers with regularity and we need to do what we can to free them up. Have you noticed almost every time these two hit from 10 feet someone is right in their grill? Where would we be if those two couldn't shoot over people?

It continues to amaze me the posts about how we are young and gonna get there yadda yadda. Everyone here is completely aware of that. The point is we played horribly the other day. We may have well been freshmen in high school. So regardless of our age and experience it brings about a lot of questions. Sheesh.

hansschnier

I'm not saying that the program should pack it in. I'm only trying to argue that shooting for the moon right away is counter-productive. The programs that you're comparing IU with match up well historically, but not in terms of current situation. (Though, if you were a UCLA fan, I doubt you'd be very happy this season.)

I understand the history quite well. I've been following IU in earnest since Bailey's senior year. I was 11 then. Naturally, I wasn't around to experience Knight's glory years. But I know how to read, and I've read voraciously on the history of Indiana basketball.

From '73 to '93 was a hell of a twenty year period for IU. But the team still wasn't in the top 10 every year. I suppose that during those twenty years, there was an IU title contender every 4 years or so. But wouldn't you say that most of that success was attributable to having a Hall of Fame, perhaps greatest ever coach, in his prime? Of course, IU had an excellent tradition under McCracken, and there were some great players along the years, but IU never won "Because it's Indiana."

Excellent coaching and administration are the foundations of tradition, elite status and "Blue Blood" programs. When that excellence is stripped away, as has happened at IU, the results speak for themselves. Tradition, mystique, etc don't win basketball games by themselves.

Sean Hise

Here is a take on this offense issue and really - the manic coaching performance we saw last night.

We saw IU run a resemblance of an offense against Michigan, Illinois, and Penn State. This was not by accident - this was definitely coached. They were running motion and you saw Watford flash out to the high post and guards running off of off the ball screens. This was IU playing possession basketball. On defense you saw us play mostly man and we were definitely challenging shots.

Against Iowa we see IU play dribble drive, high screen and roll, and dump down isolation to both Watford and Pritchard.

Question is why?

I think what why is that Crean wants to be able to play the 'we think we can impose our will' offense and beat a team like Iowa with our playmaking ability and rely on ball pressure to create turnovers. All of the defenses we played - including man - we were way way too extended out on the perimeter. I coach - we call that no man's land. Are we really afraid of this left point guard's driving ability or 30 ft 3's?

I can understand that Rivers is a great on ball defender, but the three turnovers he created were nothing compared what Iowa was able to do playing 5 on 3 all night.

Iowa simply passed the ball into the middle, we collapsed, and then they either kicked it out or reversed the ball to take an open shot. Since we were way to extended, we lost focus on blocking out as we were out of position and they got offensive boards.

Oh wait let's also not forget we changed our variation of way to extended defenses every 2 seconds. Please stop playing 1-3-1.

Last thing was why did Hulls get no PT.

hansschnier

Thanks for your comments. I'm ignorant on a lot the technical aspects of basketball, and after reading what you've written, last night makes a little more sense.

(I'm also very sarcastic at times, but I swear I'm being serious. Keep on posting.)

Illtransplanted HOOsier

Sorry folks I haven't given up hope by no means, but could not sit this one out. I have watched and finished 30 and 40 point beatings over the years. This one I could not finish. I am still optimistic and beleive the coaching staff and players will turn the ship around this year and next. I am not sure what to think about the dribble weave from hash mark to hash mark and hand it off until there is 10-12 seconds left on the shot clock. I would like to see some old footage on
Sloan screen 45 and how the opposing team defended them. If hedging was done as well then, or it was handled better. Screening away from the ball more than ball screens prevent this because your man is always trying to stay with you rather than not have to move much and basically guard two people at once. Just an observation from an old basketball player. No this isn't Jerry Sloan, not quite that old yet.Speaking of toughness Jerry would be a good example. Later

BarnyardHoops

Posted by "superhoops": We were over confident and haven't learned how to handle success yet.

Very understandable...Coming off the amazing high of beating a team with zero conference wins would mess with anyone's head. How could anyone handle such success? I was surprised they've stayed levelheaded since the win over Bryant. I hope we get killed by crappy Illinois...I'd rather we stay super low on our confidence before Purdue comes into Bloomington with their secret tiny needle to burst our giant confidence balloon again. You know the balloon? The one that's inflated with the hot air of 5-star guards, great interior play, three point shooting threats, dominant post player, deep bench...I really don't know how we stay humble. We'll get there...we'll get there.

Luke72

I agree holding the team accountable for their play. Where's the accountability for the coaching staff? Excuses are getting thin. The youth excuse won't work for this one.
Gut check time!!!

MiamiHoosier

Luke,

you hear in every single Crean postgame conference that we are young, they arent and it shouldn't be an excuse. at the same time Crean is the one who is always bringing that up. Are they young yes, was Iowa young? Hell yes, but they outplayed you. I like Crean, but what worries me is that he has never been able to reel in the big fish as far as recruiting goes. At marquette he had Wade, but that was bc his grades were in the tank coming out of HS and no one recruited him. Creek and Watford are gonna be good. However, Crean can only recruit GUARDS that produce. Watford is not a 4, he is a 3, but will be stuck playing the 4 in his system because he doesnt get bigs. As next years class stands our bigs are Bawa, Capo, Elston, Watford and Pritchard, and Watford is a three. I would like to see Crean be more accountable for his own inabilities to get this team better and recruit a big that can dominate. After saying that I realize what he inherited, nothing, but this is Indiana and people should really want to be apart of IU.

Guest

here is my issue. what the heck kind of offense are we running here? IMO all i see is dribble drive offense and when you dont have those type players (see the whole kentucky roster) who can create their own shot then it just does not work. Now in no way am I calling for Creans job or saying that we need Knight or a Knight prodigy. What I am saying is that Knight implemented a motion offense system. Constant motion, constant passing, wearing down the d until they get lazy and we get a good shot. Maryland killed us with the flex and its been successful at UCLA. With the players we have maybe we should go back to fundamental motion offense where there is constant movement and passing, instead of everyone standing around. A perfect example is Hulls. One huge aspect of his game is his passing ability at seeing the floor. But for some reason they just send him to the corner and he sits there. Right now he hasn't been a consistent three point shooter so what is the point? How bout the Princeton offense? Back door cuts, again constant motion. Verdell gets a lot of credit for his mid range game but again he is a guy that can make those nifty passes that he could exploit defenses with on good cuts and set plays. I grew up in Bloomington and motion offense and fundamentals are a staple of true Indiana basketball from the elementary level up. It's not flashy however with the type of players we have I think it would best suit our team. Am i crazy?

aceman07

I'm just recovering from the NAUSEA! I would like for someone to explain to me why JR sat the last 6-8 minutes after keying our two small runs with his excellent defense so Daniel Moore could play, especially since even the Big 10's lousy announcers noticed that his defense triggered our runs? Also, why did Pritchard sit out the last few minutes after looking so aggressive and crashing the boards for a good part of the second half? I watched Iowa grab a big offensive rebound late in the game off a missed free throw while we had Moore, Hulls, Jones 3, Dumes, and Watford (sort of a big) on the floor! Where is Elston, Capo, and Pritchard in that situation? CTC had time to put a big man in because it was a 1-and-1! I leave this game with serious questions and a lot of confusion!

TWiz

Such a tough outing to watch after being pumped up for such a big sports day for the whole state with a great Colts win starting it off. I still have a hard time figuring CTC's motives for what he does during games. It seemed that everytime an individual player started to get things going he was relegated to the bench. We saw that with both Watford and Elston. Way too many minutes for D. Moore towards the last 10 min of second half when we needed scorers on the court. I love Pritch because he plays hard but I believe Elston brings much more talent and scoring ability to the table. You are not going to develop players by having them watch too much from the bench. Does Rivers ever hit any of those shots in practice? If not don't try them in the games!! Not enough playing ABOVE the rim for my taste. With several opportunities down low we should be bringing down the freakin' rim at times. Is there no "hops" with this team. Players 6'8 above should be able to slam down the throats of the rim. Just frustrated I guess.

HoosierSmitty

Good:
- Verdell Jones III continued to be assertive and make some nice mid-range shots. Keep that up..
- Christian Watford hit some tough jumpers and seemed to WANT the ball at times. I liked that.

Bad:
- Rebounding was terrible. I mean block out fellas. Please!
- 3 assists. Yikes! We didn't make many buckets, but only three assists?
- letting them drive the lane with no resistance.
- watching a baby-faced, husky, dude with no neck hit 3s on us.

Unexpected:
- no tenacity, fire, enthusiasm, will to win, etc.
- Tijan Jobe getting minutes again (well at least one)
- getting dominated at home by an "inferior" team. Welcome back to earth.

I still have hope that we can double our win total from last season.

marcusgresham

Hate right now that they renamed the story, because I was all ready with my good/bad/ugly. Good--Verdell Jones is as accomplished with a mid-range game as anyone I can think of. No, I'm not saying he's as good, but others drive all the way or shoot a 3--he has that uncanny knack of knowing when to pull up and he sticks the shot.
Bad--Christian Watford is not a low post player. He may be in a couple of years if he hits the weight room. He is a damn good player, but he's not strong enough to bang down low. Unfortunately, at this point, he's the closest thing IU has to a post player (until Elston puts it all together.)
Ugly--How the hell does a person talented enough to earn a basketball scholarship come up a foot and a half short on a free throw?

marsh21

To all the negative posts, please chill out and dont over analyze this team too much! Geez people their a bunch of freshmen who are not 5 stars! Look at UNC now with the best recruiting class in the nation. They are getting killed in the ACC which is not that great this year. We all know they have the ability but we are not going to get the effort every night this year as these kids are still adjusting. I do expect Rivers to be more of leader however he doesn't have the skills to take over the game offensively.

Sometimes as a team the motivation is not there and this happens to all teams! Sure you need to limit those but they do happen that's why there has been no undefeated teams since IU in 76! That UNC team last which shouldn't have let any team get within 20 points with that talent lost 3 games!

This is not Crean's fault or any one person. We will be fine with continued player development and experience. And to the person who posted his "contact" with information which indicated Roth's leg was broken on purpose should not post here any longer as those comments are not worth discussing.

GO IU !

Ryan_Btown

First of all, it's completely disgusting that we only scored 43 points last night. Second, I'm still amazed at the CTC talk that goes on after a loss? You all keep asking when the "youth and inexperience" excuse gets old and runs out? I would ask, what were your expectations of the season? You didn't expect let downs? And after we lost our best scorer, you expectations didn't change? Let me ask this. You would like us to be Top 10. Me too. Let's look at the Top 10 teams right now. Where do we stack up in size? Let's put talent aside. Did anyone else notice that when we played Kentucky, they looked like a team of thoroughbreads versus our undersized, guard heavy team. The fact is, CTC is concentrated on building up their mentallity of "toughness" because they aren't big enough or strong enough to be physically tougher than most teams we'll play. Should we have beat Iowa? Absolutely. But we're 9-10 with 3 Big 10 wins. We're not very good, but we're getting better. We're mildly talented but inconsistant, which I consider to be better than consistantly bad and occassionally lucky (see last year's team). So before the season we all said we'd beat Iowa. Fine. But before the season many of us probably didn't expect to beat Minnesota, so they cancel out if you ask me. I'm fine with 12 wins this year, which is what I think we'll end up with. And I'm fine with 17 wins next year, which is probably in the realm of possibilities. After next year, if in Tom Crean's 4th season with us, we aren't ready to go to the Dance, then sure, let's discuss it. But right now? Come on.

MillaRed

Can you thumb through the 40 plus comments here and point out where someone asked for Tom Crean's departure from IU?

We have basketball awareness amongst ITH readers and we're just pointing out things that seem fixable. The team looked completely out of sync do you agree? Well, some of that can fall back on the coach. That's all we're saying.

Ryan_Btown

Not saying anyone is calling for his head. Just saying that overall expectations for this team should indicate less criticism given the situation. I refuse to believe Elston isn't playing because he was a Sampson recruit. Think Ebanks wouldn't have played either? I just personally don't think it's fair to criticize some of the tactical decisions at this point. I'm more pointing this post and my last at some of the more radical posts, not necessarily the constructive criticisms.

dabig

I'm not concerned with the record. What does concern me is what appears to be the lack of a coach's hand or "stamp" on these guys. It might be unfair to compare Crean to Knight, but here goes. I closely followed Knight's first years at IU, and he didn't always have the best players. From the beginning, though, Knight's philosophy was evident in every game--tough defense and motion offense. There weren't ongoing defensive lapses (like offensive rebounds) and there weren't many times when the team seemed lost on offense, even when their butts were getting kicked. Nearly every game, though, those things happen with IU these days. Perhaps Knight's style of coaching simply doesn't make sense with today's players; I don't know. I have just expected the team to be showing some more of Crean's coaching "stamp" (whatever that might be) by now. Instead, what I see is a bunch of guys who struggle to understand what they're supposed to be doing. Even a YMCA team would be working better together by now, seems to me. Maybe I just don't know what to look for.

BigRed3588

One important thing to remember is that when Knight began coaching, freshman were not allowed to play varsity. Even if his players weren't all that talented, each one of them had at least one season of college ball under their belts before playing for Knight. That has a lot to do with why, even when they were losing, they didn't look "lost."

I also blame a lot of the problems we're seeing on AAU basketball. People put a lot of emphasis on AAU now because it highlights athletes, but they neglect to realize that AAU is not fundamentally sound basketball. It's a run and gun style of play and things like ball security and rebounding are not stressed. Then, these kids start playing college ball (in my opinion the last pure form of basketball), and it shows that over the previous 4 years they have forgotten how the game is really supposed to be played. Yet, for some reason, our fans expect Crean to be able to fix 4 years of bad habits in 4 or 5 months, and its just not gonna happen.

MillaRed

Yes the Elston due to Sampson thing doesn't make sense to me at all. They are lucky to have him and I find it hard to believe Crean doesn't feel the same.

I think most of us are trying to figure out answers on the court and Elston seems to be a possibility. I love his tenacity. Let's give him a start, 30 minutes of PT and see what happens. I think he can get 10 points and 6 boards a game with good defense.

Also note the uglier the performance, the more "radical" the comments. We're all human Ryan. And venting ITH can be therapeutic!

JerryCT

"will to fight, screening, blockouts, 3 guard lineup " were the themes of Crean's post game comments. I count myself as a big fan of the coach despite my criticisms at times.

IF Problem = Will to fight THEN 1) Play Dumes more , 2) Start him to set the tone, he fought more than anybody last night ( inconsistent results however )

IF Problem = Blockouts THEN 1) play more man Defense IMO but this means less Hulls/Jones playing time , again more Dumes and even Moore since it is very difficult for bigs to block out their man when they are defending an open driving guard, 2) fewer perimeter screens from TP who is then far from the bucket

IF Problem = Screening THEN 1) change the offensive scheme to include off ball screens until every player is proficient. Right now TP is our only screener with any success

IF Problem = 3 Guard Lineup THEN 1) replace Hulls w Capo/Elston, 2) rotate Hulls for Rivers only and Jones for Dumes only

Not trying to be the coach here or exposing my " minimum wage " career just trying to foster some discussion that is toward positive changes vs heavy criticism of coach and players right now. I doubt they need more crap

CreamandCrimson

I agree with most of your post. The only issue I have is that giving Jones less playing time doesn't seem like an option to me. He and Dumes are the only two players with ability or confidence to take and make a jump shot. His defense is a big problem but we can't afford to have him out of the game.

The offense is average at best and without Jones it would be horrific. The zone creates rebounding problems and our man defense would be awful with Jones and Hulls in the game but Jones can't sit on the bench, the offense needs him.

BGleas

Great post Jerry! And, like hansschiner, I appreciate the constructive criticism! It's getting really old logging onto different IU boards and seeing all the Crean bashing after every loss.

A big reason we lost this game was on the boards, and that's on the players who didn't come out with energy and ready to play. Where I criticize Crean is maybe some substitution patterns and I think maybe we should have gone to a press earlier in the game in an effort to force tunrovers and get some easy buckets to spark the offense.

hansschnier

This a nice example of being critical without being stupid and over the top.

I wish I could contribute to the basketball discussion, but I really don't know anything about basketball. I just like to watch.

It does seem unusual, however, that Watford and Elston aren't on the floor together very often. Jerry, I've enjoyed your analysis of what Pritchard brings to the team when he's on the floor. In your opinion, is there a good reason why Elston and Watford aren't played as a forward tandem?

cooper

good post, agree with most all of your points.

I'll add one more to the screening problem. the guy with the ball needs to actually wait for the screen to arrive before he starts to dribble. Half the moving screens called are the result of the guy with the ball.

cooper

Lets just call it what it was, a really pathetic performance from everyone. I'm not going to get too worked up about it until I see what happens the next game.

I'd rather talk about something else and thats how insanely fractured the IU fan base is. Its probably the worst in the country. Reading all the comments on the live blog and on here its really gotten sad. (I'm not talking about questioning how the team plays either, I do that as much as anyone).

Between the people that only want Knight to coach, to those who think IU should have a Knight disciple, to those who want only kids from Indiana on the team, to those who wish we hired a different coach, etc etc.

Its time for some people to put on their big boy pants, get some perspective and realize Knight isn't going to be coming to Assembly Hall anytime soon and he sure as hell isn't coaching the team. I wish IU could have gotten a more proven coach too, but the fact is NOBODY wanted the job. Tony freakin Bennett or whatever his name was didn't even want the job. Crean was the best IU could do, and he may very well become a great coach and he may very well not. The sense of entitlement that IU should be great because they were 25 years ago needs to end.

The tradition of IU doesn't mean anything to anybody but the fans. Recruits can pick from 10 schools with great tradition and more recent success.

As I've said before I went to FSU for grad school so I've seen two great coaches pushed out. As much as half the fans were pissed Bowden got forced out, the fans have still supported the team and Jimbo Fisher and shown a lot more class than a lot of IU fans.

If Crean can't turn it around in a couple years I'll be the 1st to say fire him, but he at least needs a chance. I'll still criticize when I want and when I have questions I'll question but I always support the team.

trailrunner

Crean is here for a long time. He signed a 10 year contract.

marcusgresham

Anyone who thinks Crean should be fired is foolish, at best. He's trying anything he can out there--when you don't have a lot of talent, you can't just stick with one thing. Some things will work some nights and not others. I've seen that 1-3-1 be successful for them, but it wasn't the other night--can't blame him for trying it because nothing else was working, either.
I do agree that I'd try to get Elston in the game a lot more.
As for only getting players from Indiana--that's a ludicrous statement. What I have said in the past, however, is that IU needs to quit losing top-flight in-state talent. By no means should there "only be Indiana kids" on the team, but I'm sick and damned tired of watching the Gregg Odens, Michael Conleys, the Lawrence North guys heading to Louisville, etc, going out of state, especially to Kentucky schools!

MillaRed

By the way Cooper you make a good point regarding who would take the IU coaching job. Something we all quickly forgot perhaps when CTC did his thing.

If he isn't the man for the long haul (and I still believe he is) at least we know the prgoram will be in good shape and more lucrative for a big name coach to follow him.

MillaRed

I don't think anyone wants Crean fired. Fact is we are seeing what we have and at times it is surprisingly dissappointing.

We go to a 1-3-1 again "3-point swish" We go to an extended zone in the second half "3-point swish" The poor guy just can't get a break.

I think most of us feel that making rebound adjustments are a standard practice and that just didn't happen. It was like watching an 15 year old play Nerf Hoop with his 8 year old little brother on the offensive glass.

And none of us can figure out the situation with Elston. Tijan got in there before Derek last night.

BGleas

I think part of the situation with Elston is that we've been killed on the boards the last two games, and in those two games he has exactly ZERO defensive rebounds. For a 6'9" guy that's unacceptable.

In his defense, it's not like it's all his fault, but, he's got to be more active on the defensive glass when he's in there. His #1 thoughts coming into the game should be about rebounding and defense, the rest will take of itself.

cooper

I agree with everything you wrote, and I've voiced my displeasure with all that too. In no way am I saying people should not criticize or question if its productive.

Saying I wish Knight was coaching, we need more players from Indiana, and Crean sucks is not productive, its stupid

chitowniufan

I completely agree with Elston not getting enough PT. CTC will leave Rivers in all day after committing multiple bad plays. Elston gets pulled after playing 2-4 min regardless of what he does. If you look back to the PS game IU wins wins with Rivers on the bench. Rivers is a trainwreck. If CTC is going to start a 2 guard offense, then halve Rivers court time and give it to Elston. There is no reason Elston should be be playing 30 min a game.

ldiu

I gree 100% with you. I think they should try Elston at "big guard". I saw him play it in high school (I know college is more difficult) and he was dominate. Everyone (except TC) agrees that he is being shortchanged with playing time. Either small forward or big guard would be nice. I cannot understand why he, Watford and Pritchard cannot play at the same time for several minutes.

Korey

"Everyone (except TC) agrees that he is being shortchanged with playing time. Either small forward or big guard would be nice. I cannot understand why he, Watford and Pritchard cannot play at the same time for several minutes."

Many people are baffled by this as well. I'm also confused as to why no one has confronted or asked Crean about this.

hansschnier

IU needs more dominate players on their team, IMO.

JerryCT

Offensive Rebounding Analysis:

The typical sequence was Hulls and Jones etc got beaten into the lane ,TP and Capo leave their man to help, bother the shot, shot misses, TP/Capo man makes put back. The offensive rebound situation starts with the weak perimeter D by Hulls and Jones. This is precisely the case for playing Dumas more but last night he made no differerence.

On Moore:

He played becasue his D was 10 times better than Hulls.

On Crean:

Our 1/2 court game here at midseason is still pathetic. Is he trying to force players to adapt to his favorite style or should he adapt to the style the kids can play best ?

hooseyes

IMO, there's two ways Crean can go with his offensive system...
1) He can adjust his offense to his current personnel and maybe squeak out a couple games here and there now, then later (when he has the personnel to run the offense that he really wants) he can change and teach a new offense... But possibly at the risk of losing a few games that shouldn't be lost later on due to learning a new offensive system.
2) He can force these guys to accept that they're going to have to learn his offense and figure out how to make it work, at the expense of games now that should be won (Iowa, Loyola) and hope that down the road, the experience pays off. When we actually have the personnel to run said offense it could pay huge dividends, or it could work out about the same as the other scenario...

Either way its tough to watch at times right now, that's for sure.

ldiu

I was at the game and here is what I observed.

Good: crowd/fans were super.......a little late arriving (as could be expected) but much larger than I thought.

Bad: Agree with several comments about being unprepared and outcoached. Elston hits 2 nice shots to trigger an 11-0 run to get us back in the game and take the lead and he is taken out. Does TC not play him because he was recruited by Sampson? I simply don't understand. His defense is as good or better than any other player.

Ugly: Pritchard's 2 free throws early in the game. 3 assits for the entire game!!! For those of us that watched the motion offense for many years, watching this NONMOTION offense is sickening.
Guards (especially Rivers) dribble, dribble, dribble and then pass and stand.

hansschnier

I have insider program information, and I can confirm that Elston doesn't play much because he was a Sampson recruit. Also, Crean ordered Tijan Jobe to "sweep the leg" on Matt Roth in practice. Why? Sampson recruit.

Frankly, I find this troubling. There's more, but I don't want to get my source in trouble. I've said too much already.

aceman07

Are you freaking serious? Here's what I saw last night and any real basketball fan could see it . . . Derek Elston played well for a short stretch then he totally got lost trying to find his place in a set when Rivers motioned to him twice to get to a spot and he just stood there. You could see the frustration and confusion on his face and he even dropped his head and swung his arms in a "what am I supposed to do" type gesture. CTC sent a sub to the scorers table and immediately after that Elston showed his frustration by setting a very flagrant and stupid moving screen. I'm not saying he should sit for the rest of the game because he forgot a play or set and then got frustrated but that's probably why he isn't getting the playing time he should be getting for his talent level. I watched him play a few times in high school and I think he'll develop into a very good player but he may not be the fastest learner when it comes to sets and defenses. Crean sees that the potential is there and that's why he gets the time he gets.

Anyone who would actually believe that a coach (who has made it to this level) would order a player to injure another player (on an opposing team let alone their own team) is a complete moron! You were either joking, in which case I would apologize for calling you a moron, or you are a MORON!

Uncle Joey

It was obviously a joke.

aceman07

I hope so and if so then I apologize for being so hard on him, but why the last line of the post then about it troubling him and getting his source in trouble?

trailrunner

IU cannot shoot free throws, they do not box out, and they seem not to know what they are doing or where they are supposed to be when they set up a half court offense. These are problems that should be corrected or taught by coaching. In my 4 years of playing high school basketball in Indiana I never saw one of our players throw an air ball during a FT. I have seen that twice now with IU. Good grief! I am just watching the games and trying to be objective. I like coach Crean, but IU had no business losing to Iowa at home. There is no valid excuse. We have better players, they are just as inexperienced, our gym. No excuses tonight. This was coaching in my opinion. I hope I am wrong. Coach, study Wooden and other great coaching philosophies. Sit Dumes or anyone else when they play ball hog. And teach these boys some fundamentals. I still support coach Crean but I am baffled by what I am watching. It is difficult to watch.

hansschnier

I understand your frustration.

However, think about some of the things you've posted.

"This was coaching in my opinion"

Well, you've seen Indiana play better this season. Do you think that Crean "coached" Indiana to play worse against Iowa than Penn State?

Crean: Okay guys, nice couple of wins, seems we're about to turn a corner here, but hey, I think our fans are getting a little complacent. Let's play badly on purpose against Iowa! (clap clap clap)

Does that sound realistic to you? Last night's abject performance seemed to me to be a failure of execution on the part of the players. In other words, they were failing to do things that they've done effectively prior in the season. I suppose you could place some blame for that on the coaching staff. Perhaps was team wasn't prepared well enough. But those of us who weren't in practice leading up to the game wouldn't know that; it's just conjecture.

Brian Evans

its obvious that you know nothing about basketball.
worse, you equate your ignorance and low expectations with being a good IU fan.

hansschnier

Is this the real Brian Evans? You posed for a picture with me when I was a kid. That was a nice gesture. You seem a little grumpy these days.

My friend, there's no such thing as a "good IU fan." I never claimed to know anything about basketball, and I never will. I'm interested though, what points in my comment illustrate my ignorance? I get the feeling that you don't really like what I have to say or how I say it, but you're unsure how to point our your misgivings rationally.

IUBB

- Indiana won the National title with 2 first year Juco players in 1987....and the best coach

- Rick Barnes took Texas to the NCAA's in his first year at Texas with 6 scholarship players

- This recent recruiting class was deep but overrated from a quality standpoint. There were two top 100 guys and no 5 stars. Basically are "elite" recruits would be fill the squad out players at Kentucky, North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas, Syracuse, Texas, Kansas.

- For a complete disaster rebuild, Baylor's situation was probably the worse, someone was murdered

- Michigan won with 5 freshman

lgwalt

Not a whole lot of thinking went into your post.

1. Indiana also had practically everyone back to go with those 2 JUCO players.
2. Those 6 scholarship players at Texas were better, to a man, than what Crean had last year. Also, it was easier to rise in the Big 12.
3. This class was accurately rated. Virtually every pre-season Big 10 ranking had IU in 10th or 11th place.
4. And how did Baylor do in Year 2?
5. Michigan won games with 5 FIVE STAR Freshmen, but finished behind IU's upperclassmen in the Big 10.

IUBB

2.. Crean is in his second year not his first year
3. You are correct Rivals, etc. ratings are based on cumulative stars and not average stars. Crean did well with the the volume part of the equation but as it relates to average stars he did mid level Big Ten work.
4. "This is Indiana"....not Baylor

- Do you really feel we are on are way to being a yearly top 10 with a legit run for the Championship every 4 years?

hansschnier

"Do you really feel like we are on are way to being a yearly top 10 team with a legit run for the Championship every 4 years"?

No. I don't. That's an unrealistic goal, anyway. That doesn't describe Indiana under Knight, who was perhaps the college game's best coach. So, no, I don't expect that. If you do, you should stop following IU basketball. You'll be forever disappointed, and the rest of us will be subjected to your "This is Indiana" nonsene and non-sequitur lists of achievements.

IUBB

Not for Kansas, Duke, Kentucky, NC and UCLA. We used to be in that club, I would like to get back in. Knight in the Final Four:

1973
1976
1981
1987
1991

5 times in 19 years ...or on average of every four years. Add in an Elite 8 in 1975 (via May injury), Elite 8 in 1984 (with upset win over Michael Jordan, Worth and Perkins and team) and Elite 8 in 1992 with Calbert Cheney. We might not get there every year, but do we want to resign or Elite status and become a poor Blue Blood with memories of grander days that expect that caliber of play?

Not sure the students that stormed the floor for the victory over unranked Minnesota understand the history either.

hansschnier

Hey, I replied to your comment, but I screwed up and it posted below.

trailrunner

How long have you followed IU hoops? An unrealistic goal! That is the goal. IU was a program that once was feared and will be again. So was UCLA. It is more difficult now but every year Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, now Kentucky will challenge for titles and be ranked. The greatest coach ever was Wooden. He was a Hoosier born and raised. he would sit quietly on the bench and rarely raise his voice. His squads executed to perfection and played fundamentally sound. When a program becomes established the institution's name will recruit the top players and a coach can screen the non-desirables.

LGwalt

At this point I don't see any reason NOT to think so.

by the way, YOU mentioned Barnes in his FIRST year, and compared him unfavorably to Crean.

and to say "this is Indiana, not Baylor," is not an argument. It is an appeal to emotion.

valpohistory

Be realistic. The team played terrible. Straight terrible and the kids will be the first to tell you that. We have problems. GLARING problems. However, the coaching staff is trying to address them. They've recruited guards because with Dumes leaving and Daniel Moore as our first guard off the bench (because the two guys hurt) they could use some serious depth there. I understand the thought that the team needs to recruit an impact big man, but my thought is that they are trying to recruit a big man, to no avail, or they believe that they can develop the size they have on the roster already and turn them into the big men they need, in that they can rebound and run the floor. Who else is excited about CTC talking about ditching the 3 guard system to start games? It will give us a better chance to see what Elston's got, but also so we really don't have to see D-Moore as the first/2nd guard off the bench. Does it move Hulls or Rivers to the bench? Does moving to more of a 3 big lineup create more opportunities for Bawa to get minutes, or does he keep getting garbage minutes? Does CTC develop Elston, Capo, CW and TP instead? There's a lot to chew on there and I realize all of these replies will be simply speculation, but with out a "The world is falling!" attitude, look at it with perspective and give me your thoughts.

Thanks Fellas!

HoosierSmitty

For the record - yes, that stunk - immensely.

Is there another program out there that can actually be compared to the rebuilding currently going on at Indiana? I like Devan Dumes, I really do, but when a junior college transfer playing for is 3rd program is your senior leader, then you have problems.

I mean I can't imagine that comparing us to anyone in the country is even realistic. This program was gutted and we're going to have plenty of bumps in the road. We got on a nice high after the Minnesota and Penn State victories, but this is Indiana basketball right now. We can lose a game to Iowa. Both teams aren't very good and we played worse. So what? We can lose to anyone. We're capable of let downs. Did anyone believe this wasn't the case?

I am done thinking the sky is falling. Creek will heal. Roth will heal. These guys will keep learning and kids will continue to want to play for Indiana and Tom Crean.

aceman07

Here's a question for the rest of you based on this post . . . didn't Baylor go through something like this a few years ago after the murder scandal? I think they ended up with like 6 players on their team after that and less the next year and it has taken them about 4-5 years to rebuild with a good coach in Drew, right? I'm not positive on the time-line of the exact roster stuff after the scandal but if someone could elaborate that would be great!

Thanks

MillaRed

Smitty, I am a fan of the vast majority of your posts, but how long is "the program was subjected to this, our players are experienced that" excuse gonna last?

This was honestly the worst Hoosier performance I can remember. Worse than anything I saw last year because this team is so much better.

I was embarrassed to be a Hoosier fan tonight. I don't even know where to start. I suppose ITH readers are getting tired of hearing what some think Crean has going on. So I'm not even gonna go there.

HoosierSmitty

By the way, thanks for saying you're a fan of most of my posts. It's not why I post, but everyone likes a compliment - even if we aren't seeing eye to eye on this exact issue.

This site is awesome and there are tons of great posts on a regular basis.

MillaRed

We're on the same page Smitty.

HoosierSmitty

Trust me, I agree that it's tiresome to hear that same old excuse - from the fans and from the coach. It's just the unfortunate truth.

And I grew tired of saying it and hearing it to the point I've been pretty critical of where things are going. BUT, I just don't think anyone should think the sky is falling. That's all I'm trying to say.

It's not like we were THAT GREAT on a yearly basis before the program was sent into the bowels of the Big Ten. I think a lot of fans "misremember" how good the program was even in Knight's final years. We were hanging on to respectability for a long time before Crean came along and he's just trying to pick up the pieces.

I don't have a problem with people being critical. I'm disgusted with the rebounding last night. Letting a team get offensive rebounds like that made me sick. It's middle school junk and we shouldn't see that happen on a college basketball court. Three assists? Are you kidding? It's sad, but hey we lost to Loyola, too. That's just what happens with a team like ours, so I can't be too surprised about it.

Even so, I yelled and kicked and punched the air, the couch, the pillows, (trying to lay off of things that might hurt me back) until I couldn't take it anymore. It was miserable.

I hate admitting that it's going to take longer than we thought to "be back." And who knows what that really means anymore. We have a great tradition, but tradition isn't now.

MillaRed

I think this particular game fell into the, "I never thought I would see an IU team play this badly in my life" category. Regardless of rebuilding etc.

I'm throwing in the fact we pulled off a few good wins, and then sunk down so low. I kept waiting for the guys to make a run but it just got worse.

Rivers jump shot? I hate to beat a dead horse but for an NBA championship coach's son to shoot that badly is remarkable!

hansschnier

There were multiple performances under Davis that were as bad as last night's. None under Sampson that I can think of. And there were some games under Knight that were just as bad: I can't remember specific years, but blowouts versus Kentucky (when they had Derek Anderson) and at Minnesota and Michigan (I believe Maceo Baston was on their team then.)

I understand your dissapointment, but to say that you'd never think you'd see an IU team play this badly in your life suggests that you were in a coma during the Davis years.

I think IU played just as badly at OSU this year, but last night was harder to stomach because the game was winnable at the outset.

MillaRed

The coma comment probably wasn't necessary. But your points are taken.

Still yet, I will stick by my opinion that I do not recall IU looking worse than they did last night. Maybe as bad, but not worse, Davis era or not.

Is there anything more demoralizing than watching a team chuck up a horrible shot and get the offensive rebound? 18 times! For those of you with DVR out there, play it back a few times and watch our bigs stand around and let it happen for 40 minutes.

hansschnier

Thanks for the reply. I suppose when you factor in the opponent, it's up there with the all time IU stinkers.

I had to erase the game from DVR as soon as it was over. I didn't want any other programs to be contaminated.

MillaRed

Agreed. I actually DVR all the games and am so pleased after a victory I may watch it again the next day. I need my IU fix.......

floridahoosier

Touche, millared! I was so embarrassed just sitting in my living room that I was glad that no
one from Florida was with me! I've been watching the Hoosier since I was under ten years old, and I've never seen such a pathetic excuse for basketball! Every year I hear announcers say,
"He's just a freshman", when at this point in time we are more than half way through the season folks! They are not new to the game! They are supposed to be a top ten class not bottom rung. By the way, how many top 150 players did Iowa have when they came in? I bleed cream and crimson, but last night I got sick to my stomach. Thanks for letting me as a guest vent. I feel better already.

HoosierSmitty

FloridaHoosier,

I hope you check back on the site and keep that blood cream and crimson.

Trust me, you have no idea how painful it is for me. I live in Lafayette, Indiana - have for the vast majority of my nearly 30 years (dang I'm getting old).

Since I was a little kid, I've had to hear Purdue this and Purdue that. There are quite a few IU fans here, but overall it is a brutal punishment to live in the hometown that I love. For as fun as it can be (waving my big IU flag across Purdue's campus in 2002 when we beat Duke for example), I never hear the end of it when Purdue is doing well.

Thankfully some Purdue fans have taken mercy on me, and actually feel for the state of the IU program. But oh how some fans love to rub salt in my wounds. Embarrassments like Iowa don't make life any easier. For as far back as my memories go, I've loved nothing more in the sports world than Indiana basketball. I've developed a bit of a thick skin, but it's taxing to grin and bear it.

I have had my mirrors knocked off my car, my car peppered with petty vandalism, and random obscenities and gestures focused my way.

I wouldn't trade it for the world, however.

SteveEyl

It certainly works for longer than a season and a half.

That was a pathetic performance, no doubt. But Smitty is dead right. What's your answer? Fire the coach? That's not what the university needs now. I'm not even sure IU can afford it.

Even if Crean's not the guy (and I don't think anyone can say yet), he might very well be the guy before the guy. This program is in such dissarray right now that even become a mid-level BT team is a huge task.

Besides, Crean wasn't the guy letting Hawkeys waltz down the lane unopposed, or boxing out worse than my 7 year old daughter, or letting that fat kid make those threes.

trailrunner

We all make mistakes, that includes coaches. So you re-evaluate and change. Coach should examine the philosophies of folks like Williams, coach K, Wooden, Self, Jay Wright. If the coach is not responsible for teaching where to be, how to block out, how to shoot a FT, what offense works against a D, how to adjust during the game, defensive position, why have a coach? The coach is usually responsible for the philosophy and performance of the squad. Crean's contract does not permit the luxury of even considering termination. I think coach must adjust his philosophy. He should call his friend Tom Izzo and get another opinion.

SteveEyl

The coach is responsible for the teaching, but not the execution on the day. And the fact that we've seen this team defend and rebound so much better in the past points to a failure in execution, not in teaching.

I think Crean has some things to answer for. I'm getting a little nervous about recruiting for next year, and I have been underwhelmed by his end-of-game inbounds plays. But overall, I don't see any evidence that there is a better coach out there who would have taken the job. His boundless energy and relentlessly positive outlook are probably worth more to the program right now than x and o acumen.
That said, I sure as h*ll hope he's on the phone to every coach he knows to steal their ideas.

trailrunner

The coach certainly is responsible for the execution. That is why they get paid major cash. Practice is where the execution is perfected. Practice is where fundamentals should be taught. Practice is where free throws become second nature. Practice is where blocking out is drilled into their heads. I was always shorter than my man but I rarely was out rebounded because I blocked out. As soon as the ball went up I found my man and put my body between him and the goal. He had to foul or I had the position for the rebound. The offense runs plays over and over against the opponents D. You do not need superior talent to execute plays and fundamentals.

SteveEyl

So how do you explain the difference between, say, the parts of the Michigan game where the team played well and the part where they gagged away the lead. What did Crean say in the huddle that made the players forget how to play?

hansschnier

Heh. Brennan Cougill. I was secretly rooting for him, because he looks a chubbier, inexplicably-much-better-at-basketball version of me.

valpohistory

That is one of the best write-ups I have seen on the season.

Newms

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/team/gonzaga-bulld...
Gonzaga's roster. They may make mental errors, but they play hard - due to stellar coaching!

hansschnier

As valpohistory pointed out below, Gonazaga is a highly-functioning basketball program, and has been for quite some time. It's one thing to be disappointed by yesterday's debacle, and it's something else completely to make pointed comments about "stellar coaching" at other programs.

Perhaps--and I'm serious--you should follow the Colts or another college basketball team for a while. Some sports fans can't handle following a losing program. I agree it's frustrating: each step forward (Pitt, Minnesota and Penn State) seems to be met with a step back. But on the balance, I believe the program is in better shape this year than it was last year. It's inappropriate AT THIS TIME to demand certain results at certain times. A few years down the road we can afford to evaluate individual game results more critically.

I'm sorry to snap on you, but comparing our program to Gonzaga's is not apt. Mark Few has been at Gonzaga for 21 years, starting when he was a grad assistant. He knows the ins and outs of winning at Gonzaga. Crean needs to time figure out the ins and outs of winning at Indiana, but he's also saddled with the responsibility of rebuilding the program's infrastructure. As you know, that's going to take a little more time. So lay off the comparisons. There's a chance that Crean might not be the right person for IU, but it's too early to tell.

valpohistory

Not to be condescending but what point are you trying to make? If it's that they are a good team though they have youth, and you're taking a shot at CTC, they also have an all-american contender in Matt Bouldin that can just score at any time. Plus, they have a solid core of sophomores too that went to the NCAA tourney last year and have already been in the system and know how to win. Mark Few wasn't handed a team with one scholarship player either and asked to COMPLETELY rebuild. The team played flat today, not CTC's fault. All he can do is game-plan and give the kids adjustments.

IU HOOPS

Crean should write a book on how to lose games. He lacks the coaching ability to execute on the offensive end. Just like when Crean was at Marquette---give it time and the rest of you will see. Marquette relied purely on individual talent to score. Our youth is no excuse and not to blame. Crean can't run an offense. Watch the offensive sets after Crean calls a time-out for a play...pathetic. What does Crean bring? Energy and enthusiasm. But enthusiasm doesn't win games.

J_Dub

I have one question now...I just watched Rivers and Watford's post game comments via twitter. Both...and I mean BOTH said..."they wanted it more." Neither acted demoralized, sad, humbled (rivers did slightly)...How do you respond with that answer. I was a student athlete and can remember not talking to anyone after a loss. These guys treat it like a PR opportunity. After watching that...I have no doubt that Iowa wanted this game more. I'm tired of seeing IU players give post game comments...this isn't the NBA.

BGleas

Speaking after a game isn't a "pr opportunity" for these guys. It's a requirement. I've worked for an NBA team in public relations for several years, so I don't know the exact college rules, but some players HAVE to be available to the media, it's not their choice where they're going out and trying to pub themselves.

I'm assuming it's a decision between Crean and the SID on who they select to speak to the media postgame.

hoosierphil45

your wrong. Bruce Weber banned his kids from talking to the press, Crean could do the same. Get your facts straight.

BGleas

As I said, my experience is in professional sports, but still, it's pretty rare that a coach bans all his players from talking to the media. It is customary that some players are available after a game, and it's usually not because of just one loss that players are banned from talking.

My point still stands that it wasn't Rivers and Watford trying get a "pr opportunity", it was part of their obligation after a game.

If you really want to get into discussion on the "facts" of how the media and sports operate, I'm happy to do that. Maybe check out my blog first: www.prinsportsblog.com

ace132

there wasnt much more to say i thought. judging by the fact that we got doubled in the rebound department, iowa definitely wanted it more. i agree though, I want to see some anger out of our players but the way interviews can get blown out of proportions, the simple answer was justified. I would also love to see someone step up as a leader and hold everybody accountable, send a statement. but right now IU is still searching for that guy

J_Dub

That was pretty terrible tonight. I was watching on BTN and couldn't stomach our lack of offensive flow. It was an absolute joke. I don't blame this all on Crean...only half. The other half is directly on the players shoulders. My observations...

- Dumes reverted back to his old ways, and was in WAYYYY to long
- Elston will never develop if he doesn't play. The times i saw him in, he had a mostly positive impact (rebound, layup, and 2 point jumper). He did get lost on defense a few times, BUT LET HIM DEVELOP!!!
-Moore and Hulls in at the same time is a terrible backcourt combo
-VJIII continues to get his
-Pritch...I just don't know anymore. I want him to play well, but he just struggles.
-Hulls didn't know what to do tonight. I saw hesitation on his part...he didn't know if he should run the point or try to score.

Do not take this as an attack on crean...I am just observing what I saw in the game...and most of it was pretty terrible.

Matt_J

Wow, that's just flat pathetic. Maybe it's time to start taking off the rose-colored glasses...

superhoops

Pathetic performance. Out played and out coached. I guess this evens out the win at PSU. Most of us didn't think we could win that one and most of us didn't think we would lose this one. I'd like to chalk it up to youth, but considering Iowa starts 2 freshmen, 2 sophmores and 1 junior like us makes me wonder. They are rebuilding as well. I agree with the announcers who said this win for Iowa started with the end of the MSU game as they gained confidence. I'd argue our loss started with the win at PSU. We were over confident and haven't learned how to handle success yet. It will come, but we're not there yet.

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