Sorry, I’m a little late on posting this. We got some time (and I got deservedly mocked for asking a question that got so jumbled up in my brain that I didn’t understand) with Tom Crean today.
The first, and possibly most important, topic we touched on was Guy-Marc Michel. Full audio of Crean’s comments is embedded below, but I wanted to pull out Crean’s comments on Michel, because he was, I thought, honest and firm in his opinions:
“It’s disappointing to say the very least, so, No.1 first and foremost, we want to make sure that Guy has a chance, has a future, and he’s gonna stay with us and basically be a student assistant for us. Then our plan from there will be to help him to become a professional. We would like him to get his degree, certainly. He’s doing an excellent job in school. We’re just continuing to go through the planning stages for him.
But I have trouble seeing any wisdom in the decision. I really do. I have great respect for how we handled it at Indiana. I have great respect for the council we got legally to work with it. It’s an unfortunate situation. It’s just extremely disappointing that there wasn’t any leniency given at all given the situation based on the circumstances. But, you go back to what’s at the top of this, and how do we help him have a better future.
OK, here is an attempt to further smooth out the questions surrounding the Guy-Marc Michel ruling, announced tonight. We’ll start with the timeline.
That’s A Wrap: Guy-Marc Michel
Welcome to “That’s A Wrap,” our attempt to make some sense of the 2010-11 season. Sit back. Relax. Grab some popcorn. Get your read on. Today: Guy-Marc Michel.
Final Stats: Did not play.
When Indiana recruited a 7-foot center from Martinique by way of North Idaho College, a fair bit of skepticism passed through the fanbase. The Hoosiers had just said goodbye to Tijan Jobe, and would soon part ways with Bawa Muniru, two project centers with impressive physiques and, in the end, relatively little impact.
But everyone around the program insisted: Guy-Marc Michel was different.
From the time he signed through the beginning of practice, players and coaches insisted Michel would be an integral part of the rotation. Tom Crean said when he talked to his players in the summer about their top-eight rotation, Michel’s name always popped up.
And then we got to see Michel in action, first at Hoosier Hysteria and then at Night of the Living Red, we sort of saw what his teammates saw: A deceptively athletic, physical center who had gelled with his teammates and moved well off the ball, in addition to providing an obvious presence in the post offensively and, especially, defensively.
Taking a second look at Michel, it wasn’t hard to see him bothering Ralph Sampson or Dallas Lauderdale.
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