Indiana coach Tom Crean spoke on the record today about Eli Holman’s transfer to Detroit and instead of speaking in clichés, Crean got right down to the point. (Did I mention I love Crean already?)

Here’s what he told Chris Korman of the H-T/Hoosier Scoop:

Question: Can you say what prompted the outburst? Do you know?

Crean: I don’t know. I would say not getting the answer that he probably would have liked. It was about taking some time to go through this, but, I’ve seen now, this was totally part of an orchestration. It just was. I don’t have a lot of respect for that. I like Eli and I wish him well. I really do. In the short time we were with him, I liked him. But I don’t have a lot of respect for the way that it turned out.

Question: Did you put any conditions on Eli’s release?

Crean: No, not really. But it’s all sort of starting to play out, isn’t it?

It’s not often you hear a coach speak on the record like this, but I’m actually glad Crean stood up and put his feelings out there. And I must agree with his comment that called the transfer orchestrated. It’s certainly no coincidence that Holman ended up at Detroit. If Ray McCallum actually thought he was doing Eli a favor by bringing him to Detroit, he’s more worried about his immediate success in his new job than he is concerned for the kid. You can sense a bit of frustration in Crean’s comments and that likely comes from the fact that Holman gave the impression he wanted to stay at IU and then called a meeting out of nowhere to tell him he was leaving. Then just a few days later, he finds out he’s going to play for McCallum. I think we can all put the pieces together here.

Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press is reporting that our old friend Eli Holman is heading to Detroit to play for former Indiana assistant coach Ray McCallum:

Eli Holman confirmed his enrollment at UDM in a text message Tuesday to his high school coach, Robert Collins. “He’s an NBA player,” said Collins, the former coach at Richmond, Calif. “I think he can do a lot of good there.”

Nothing against the big man from Richmond, but I really wouldn’t call him an NBA player at this point. Potentially? Perhaps. But he’s got a long way to go before the NBA would even enter the discussion. And Detroit isn’t exactly a hotbed for producing players for the next level, either. Good luck Eli, we hardly knew ye.

Update: Detroit has issued a press release with some quotes from Eli and McCallum. Holman is the second former Hoosier to land with McCallum in the past couple of weeks as Xavier Keeling will also be a Titan. Here’s a couple of quotes:

Ray McCallum: “I’m really happy that Eli made the decision to come to UDM. I think me having been at Indiana and recruiting him was a big reason why he went there and he had a great opportunity there. But when you’re involved in a young man’s life for two years, you obviously build a relationship that he cared about and respected and he wanted it to continue. With his size, he’s an athletic player who can finish around the basket, he can block shots, he rebounds, he has good hands, he’s a good runner. I think the next phase for him is to continue to grow as a player in our practices. I’m glad he’s here with us.”

Eli Holman: “I want to thank the University of Indiana for the time that I spent there. I was treated fairly by all the people connected to the University. But, at this time, I think that it is in the best interest for me and my family to transfer to the University of Detroit Mercy. I wish the University of Indiana the best of luck. Coach Mac is a big reason why I’m here. He recruited me out of high school, and he’s been like a father figure to me. I think he’ll make an impact on the University. He’s going to put some more (championship) banners up in the arena and he’s going to get us to the NCAA Tournament. I want to help him do that. I found out right away there are some great people on this campus. I’m very comfortable with my choice.”

Note to Eli (because it obviously didn’t resonate in the year he spent in Bloomington), it’s Indiana University. That is all.

With Ray Sr. headed to Detroit, Ray McCallum Jr.’s days at Bloomington North appear to be numbered and the buzz is that his destination will be Detroit Country Day to finish out his high school career.

McCallum Jr. is currently playing AAU with Indiana Elite along with 2009 commitment Bobby Capobianco as well as Stephan Van Treese, D.J. Byrd (Purdue), Mason Plumlee (Duke) and Colt Ryan.

If Detroit Country Day sounds familiar, it’s because the school also produced Shane Battier and Chris Webber.

Ray McCallum, who spend the past two seasons as an assistant at Indiana, is taking over the reigns at Detroit. He’ll fill the void left by Perry Watson, who recently retired:

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Titans hired Ray McCallum to be their basketball coach.

McCallum was introduced Friday at a news conference after beating out candidates such as Michigan assistant Mike Jackson, who had experience as a Detroit player and coach.

The 47-year-old McCallum was Ball State’s head coach from 1993-2000 — going 126-76 with two NCAA tournament bids — then led Houston for four seasons and helped the Cougars play in the postseason in 2002 for the first time in nine years.

This is a big blow to IU’s chances of landing 2010 point guard Ray McCallum Jr. who is one of the top 30 players nationally in his class. Ray Jr. played for Bloomington North the last two seasons and was behind the IU bench at almost every game this past season. As far as Ray Sr. goes, he’s a class act and should do well at Detroit.

Now that I’ve had a couple of hours to digest the debacle earlier this afternoon at Penn State, I’ve collected my thoughts on the game, the direction of this team and the program.

E will weigh-in with more in The Morning After, but this was a game the Hoosiers needed for NCAA seeding purposes as well as confidence. Five games in, it is clear that the Dan Dakich era is not going well. A lot of people are commenting that Ray McCallum should have been the choice to replace Sampson, but that move wasn’t made because IU didn’t want to chance having McCallum’s name show up later in any NCAA allegations.

Dakich suspended Jamarcus Ellis for today’s game in a move that many are interpreting as the coach trying to “get control” of the team. Ellis was somewhat of a loose cannon in the Northwestern game and just hasn’t been disciplined since Sampson left the program. It’ll be interesting to see how he responds to the suspension and if he’s in uniform on Friday. IU is certainly a better team with Ellis, but if he’s a detriment to the team, it’s hard to justify keeping him around. No one, after all, is bigger than the program.

This team still has a chance to salvage the season, but to be perfectly honest, how can we expect this to end well? The energy and enthusiasm on the court has plummeted since Sampson departed. This is clearly a different team. The intensity on defense is sporadic at best and there is no sign of a structured offense being executed. Perhaps more concerning is the body language of the players during timeouts. Even Adam Ahlfeld has lost some pep in his step. The “us against the world” attitude that many of us expected to kick in has yet to materialize. Most of the players look like they’re ready for the nightmare to be over.

Looking to the future, it is clear that Indiana needs to make a home run hire this time around. Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson both set the program back and another mistake would be catastrophic. Out of respect to the team, we’ve done our best to keep the coaching talk to a minimum. We’ll get into it full bore once the season ends and when speculation merits discussion.

For now, I’m interested in hearing how you feel about where this team is headed. Do you have any optimism that this team can make a run? Or is a first round loss in the NCAA Tournament on the horizon? Thoughts in the comments, por favor.