The biggest game yet in the Tom Crean Era of Indiana basketball tips off on ESPN2 tonight at 7:30 ET at the center of McCracken Court in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana.
The 4-2 Maryland Terrapins visit the 3-3 Indiana Hoosiers in the 2009 Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
I am as patient a Tom Crean supporter as you will find anywhere. I was able to find the silver lining throughout the bleak blackness of last season. I was disappointed, but not dispirited, by IU’s porous 0-3 performance in Puerto Rico.
But make no mistake about it: I expect the Hoosiers to be very competitive at home tonight.
I’m not yet at the point of saying I expect a victory over a team with an outstanding senior guard like Maryland has in Greivis Vasquez, but I do expect IU to begin showing more poise down the stretch in close games.
And at a minimum, this should be a close game that the Hoosiers have a chance to win in the final 5:00. Anything less, at home, is unacceptable.
I fully expect these young Hoosiers to get run out of a few teams’ gyms this season. Michigan State and Purdue are both probably talented and experienced enough to put this year’s IU team away in the first half. I hope that’s not the case, but I am realistic.
At home, however, there is enough talent and, yes, experience on IU’s roster to be competitive with most teams. I know that IU has a lot of freshman in its rotation, but they also have Verdell Jones, Tom Pritchard, and Devan Dumes, each of whom played major minutes last year. The Hoosiers also have Jeremiah Rivers, who grew up in a basketball family and played two seasons at Georgetown. So IU is not completely devoid of experience.
Maryland is good, but not great. (They are currently receiving two votes in the Coaches’ Poll.) If Indiana gets beaten soundly by Maryland like we did against, say, Ole Miss, it will be extremely disappointing.
I still believe that a .500 record is a reasonable goal for this season, and I’m not expecting Tom Crean to work miracles. I just want to see growth and maturity as we progress through the season. A win over Maryland tonight would be outstanding, and eventually should be the expectation; a competitive, down-to-the-wire game should be the worst case scenario.
I have a lot of faith in Tom Crean and I think freshmen like Maurice Creek, Christian Watford, and Derek Elston are terrific building blocks for the future. Last year, all IU fans were forced to get both eyes firmly on the future. I think that now, in Tom Crean’s second season, it’s fair to keep one eye on the future and one eye on the present.
A solid (dare I say winning?) home performance tonight against a quality ACC opponent will go a long way towards regenerating the initial excitement that Tom Crean built when he took the job last year. I know that IU fans are trying, but 28 losses in 37 games is difficult no matter how much you expected it or can rationalize it.
The Hoosier fan base is one still clinging for anything resembling hope, optimism, and positive direction for the future. Tom Crean has laid a good foundation of all three during his 1+ seasons at the helm. Tonight, he and his team have the opportunity deliver a signature win upon which the next phase of the rebuilding project can be constructed.
Go get ‘em tonight Hoosiers.
My completely biased, unobjective, and wishful thinking prediction: IU 79 | Maryland 77
Revenge for 2002 is ours!
Note: For all the game info you need, visit the Peegs.com Hoosier Gameday page. To see when IU plays next, visit our 2009-10 Indiana mens basketball TV schedule.
About Jerod Morris
