Tom Crean talks in-depth about Indiana’s 2013-2014 roster

  • 10/03/2013 1:48 pm in

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Wednesday night, Indiana coach Tom Crean gave his annual “State of the Hoosier Nation” address to an assembled crowd of about 500 people at the IU Auditorium.

During the speech, he spoke in depth about this season’s roster, and selected thoughts about each player are gathered below:

Will Sheehey

“Will Sheehey has had an up-and-down offseason because he has had a couple different injuries. He’s still coming back, but he had his first full practice yesterday. He’s still trying to come back from a groin injury and put himself in position. Today was a Will Sheehey level practice. The leadership was strong. He was very active. Will Sheehey is one of the most gifted, smartest players that I’ve ever been around in my entire life. Will Sheehey is the kind of person that he understands what it takes. He understands how to win. He understands what’s going on on the floor. He’s a tremendous teacher for somebody that’s his age of helping his teammates.”

Evan Gordon

“He’s got to come in here and he’s got to see his game go to another level. He’s got to see his game rise on both sides of the court — offensively and defensively — and see that leadership rise. He’s got to get out of whatever comfort zone has been acceptable for him — because he works hard, now — and step above and beyond that. He’s got to bring a pitbull, junkyard dog mentality daily. He’s got to take people with him. And that’s one of the biggest things that will show: is he going to have that kind of year? Here’s a guy that’s a great young man. He works hard, comes from a great family, spends a lot of time at the game. But he can do more.”

Taylor Wayer and Jeff Howard

“Two guys who have put a lot of time and effort into this program. Two guys that haven’t seen a lot of minutes. Two guys that are great young men, are very strong academically, come from the state of Indiana. Now is their time to really be counted on as leaders, as well. Not just hard-nosed practice players, not just guys that do the right thing in practice, but guys that will compete to another level.”

Austin Etherington

“What we need Austin to do is make jump shots. We need Austin to hold his ground defensively. We need Austin to get out and get out on that break and be a guy that can space the court. And we need Austin to play with tremendous toughness. And if Austin can do those kind of things for us, he’s going to have a chance to contribute on this team. He’s got a lot of people nipping at his heels.”

Hanner Mosquera-Perea

“Hanner Perea, over the last two weeks, has shown more improvement. But also yesterday, and one day last week, had practices where you didn’t know he was out there. And that’s the thing about Hanner right now: the consistency, the consistency. He’s getting better as a competitor, he really cares, he wants to be better. He’s got to develop a consistency. He won two different scrimmage situations today with big time, big time rebound-tip type plays. And those are the kind of things he can do. Hanner has got tremendous athleticism.”

Jeremy Hollowell

“There’s nobody that’s scored more points in our first five practices than Jeremy Hollowell. But he’s not one of the leading percentage guys. He’s not one of the leading rebounders. He’s not one of the leading deflection guys. We need him to have a consistency that’s constant in our practices. And again, five days of stats is not a big deal. It’s the level of what he’s capable of: that’s what the big deal is. We need Jeremy to continue to put himself in a spot where he’s not quiet. Where he understands that he’s going to absolutely be — it’s going to be counted upon, demanded upon — that he’s going to be a paramount defensive player for us.”

Yogi Ferrell

“The No. 1 thing with Yogi was will he be demanding enough of himself and of his teammates to keep taking steps, because Yogi has got tremendous gifts. He’s got great speed. His shot is definitely getting better all the time. … Yogi has got a chance, because of his ability on the defensive end, his ability with the ball and his ability to shoot and find people, to be really, really good. Will that leadership be demanded enough of his teammates day in and day out? That will be the crux of it.”

Peter Jurkin

“He has never been in a situation where he has just been absolutely able just to lay it out there, health-wise. He’s getting closer to it. He’s going through a tough thing at home right now with his father, who he has not seen in years. He’s so sick, he’s going to be spending some time going back there fairly soon as soon as everything gets worked out paperwork-wise for him. But there’s a guy we’re really hoping can come in and make some shots, block some shots and space the floor.”

Troy Williams

“Troy Williams has been out since last week and Luke Fischer has been out since the end of last week. We miss them. All of the sudden, I’ve noticed every day that we don’t have Troy Williams’ energy in there. And that’s rare when you miss a freshman like that. Troy Williams has got a rare level of energy. He’s got athleticism that’s gonna just blow your mind. We won’t get to see that on Friday night, unfortunately.”

Luke Fischer

“He knows what it takes. He knows how to score. He’s not afraid. He comes in there and battles. He got hurt going for a rebound: a freak accident. He’ll miss a few more weeks. But there’s a guy that can go with both shoulders, go with both hands. He’s developing his jump shot, he can rebound, he’s smart, he’s got toughness. And we’re gonna need him. We’re gonna need him.”

Noah Vonleh

“This kid, he’s got some natural leadership in him that’s only going to continue to grow and take off. And if he learns to be as demanding on others as he is on himself, look out. I mean, it is hard to believe that this young guy has been 18 for only a month. He loves to be in the gym. He epitomizes right now where we stand on being a 365-day-a-year type guy.”

Stanford Robinson

“Stanford Robinson is a very unique, unorthodox type of player because he can do a lot of different things. He can handle the ball. He is as good of a downhill player that we have right now, outside of Yogi, when it comes to playing the game, going straight by and straight downhill. Now, we’re trying to help him get his fundamentals. We’re trying to help him get both hands where they need to be, trying to help his jump shot as consistent as it needs to be.”

Devin Davis

“He’s got a toughness level that he doesn’t even know he has yet. He sometimes fights the conditioning and sometimes fights the fatigue part of it. He gets totally offended when I bring that up; I’ve already found the thing that drives him a little bit. But that kid gets to the basket. He gets to the basket. And he can make things happen around that basket. He can finish. He’s got a chance to get on that court right now because of his rebounding and because of his defense.”

Collin Hartman

“Collin Hartman we need to make shots. We need him to be a ball-mover, a body-mover; a guy that can space and knock down shots. And he’s still getting his body. He’s getting stronger. He’s trying to get to the endurance level that he has to have. At this point right now, we’re trying to fix certain things in his jump shot so that he’s down low so that he’s not arching his back.”

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