A notebook of all things Indiana following Tom Crean’s lecture

  • 09/23/2010 10:54 pm in

BLOOMINGTON — Mostly because I just can’t get enough of datelines, I thought I’d bring you just a few of the highlights of Tom Crean’s Thursday night lecture to students and fans at the IU Auditorium. Enjoy.

+ Perhaps the headline announcement was that Hoosier Hysteria will take place Oct. 15, so there’s that.

+ Crean said that, according to his players, Verdell Jones is right now perhaps the best player on the team. Pointing out that he himself has not been able to assess the team personally per NCAA rules, Crean has polled his players on any number of topics, and on this one in particular, Jones’ name was the one most continually mentioned.

+ Talking about the coming season, Crean said the three areas in which his team needs to improve the most are rebounding at both ends, defensive intensity and decision making.

+ With Franklin College already on the schedule, Crean told the crowd he expects to add one more exhibition, likely on the Monday before the Hoosiers’ season opener Friday. (So Nov. 8 before the Nov. 12 game against Florida Gulf Coast.)

+ Crean also highlighted three “great fights” every team struggles with: division from within, outside forces and fatigue. “Fatigue might be the greatest of them all,” he said, “because it is so easy to believe that you’ll do better tomorrow.”

+ Crean said he never picks wins and losses or projects a record for his teams. He also declined to name which team he wanted to beat most when questioned by an audience member, saying he didn’t want to give anyone “bulletin-board material.”

+ Asked to share his most embarrassing moment, Crean told of a time in eighth grade when he scored a layup into the wrong basket during a basketball game.

Quotable: “I do know that if you walk into any game, and you don’t think that you’ve found any way to beat that team, you’re a joke.” –Tom Crean, IU basketball coach

Filed to: ,