1. Alex Smith is not a bust.

Most anyone who follows professional football can come up with a list of players taken with one of the top 3 overall picks in the NFL Draft who fell well short of expectations: Ryan Leaf (1998), Tim Couch (1999), Akili Smith (1999), David Carr (2002), Joey Harrington (2002), JaMarcus Russell (2007). Some of these players disappeared after a few seasons, others were given more chances than they probably deserved. None was able to overcome early struggles and become a franchise quarterback.

Prior to this season Alex Smith, the number 1 pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, appeared to be just another Tim Couch or David Carr. In his first 6 years in the league, he twice lost his starting job, threw for a total of 51 touchdowns and 53 interceptions, and only once played an entire 16-game season. During that span Smith’s San Francisco 49ers never had a winning season, topping out at 8-8 in 2009.

But new 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh gave Smith a vote of confidence prior to the season, and Smith responded.

This year he started all 16 games, threw for a respectable 3,144 yards and only 5 interceptions, and led the 49ers to a 13-3 record. Saturday afternoon Smith proved that neither he nor the 49ers were a fluke. In the final 3 minutes of one of the great Playoff games in NFL history, Smith ran for one touchdown and threw for another, giving the 49ers a 36-32 win over the New Orleans Saints. The 49ers will host the NFC Championship Game next week, something they haven’t done in 17 years.

2. Vernon Davis is America’s new favorite athlete.

As great as Alex Smith was, we may well remember Saturday’s epic clash between the 49ers and Saints as “The Vernon Davis Game.” In a game full of great moments, none was greater than Davis sobbing as he jogged off the field after catching the game-winning touchdown pass. When Harbaugh embraced his teary tight end on the sideline, the pair melted the hearts of even the most cynical and callous football fans.

It was only a matter of time before America fell in love with Vernon Davis.

How can you not like this guy? Photo from Getty Images.

3. Tom Crean should have taken his wife’s name.

Less than 24 hours after Jim Harbaugh’s 49ers beat the Saints to advance to the NFL Championship Game, John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens held off the Houston Texans to advance to the AFC Championship Game. While the Harbaugh brothers had a great weekend, their sister Joani’s husband, Tom Crean, didn’t.

Thursday night Crean’s Indiana Hoosiers lost at home to Minnesota. Sunday, they lost to Ohio State in Columbus in a game that was never competitive. In 3 weeks Crean may very well be heading north on Highway 37 for a Harbaugh family reunion in Indianapolis. He’ll want to have things turned around by then.

4. Aaron Hernandez can run the ball too.

Everyone knows about the Patriots’ record-shattering tight end Rob Gronkowski. But New England’s other starting tight end, Aaron Hernandez, is just as dangerous. Saturday against the Broncos Hernandez added a new dimension to the New England offense by rushing for 61 yards on 5 carries. Prior to Saturday Hernandez had only 8 carries in 33 NFL games and had never rushed for more than 18 yards in a single game.

I imagine that every defensive coordinator who watched Hernandez run for 43 yards on the fourth play from scrimmage on Saturday felt the way the Rebel Alliance felt when they realized that the second Death Star was operational or the way that Harry Potter felt when he realized that Voldemort had figured out how to fly. Of course, things didn’t end well for either the second Death Star or Voldemort. So don’t be surprised if Alex Smith goes Lando Calrissian on the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

5. Missouri Valley cannibalism could cost the conference an NCAA Tournament bid.

As recently as 3 weeks ago, bracketologists were penciling in 3 or even 4 Missouri Valley Conference teams on their mock brackets. Creighton, Wichita State, Northern Iowa, and Indiana State entered conference play with impressive tournament resumes. And Missouri State had an outside chance of playing its way in. Creighton and Wichita State are still in good shape, but conference play hasn’t been kind to their MVC brethren.

Indiana State is 2-5 in the Valley and only narrowly escaped a home loss to Evansville. Missouri State and Northern Iowa are both 4-3 and both have suffered home losses to Evansville. Matters got much worse for Northern Iowa on Sunday when the Panthers handed Bradley its first conference win.

The good news for the Valley is that the conference still has 2 teams with strong at-large resumes and 8 teams have a legitimate shot of winning Arch Madness (the aforementioned 5 teams plus Drake, Illinois State, and Evansville). If someone other than Creighton or Wichita State can nab the league’s automatic bid, the MVC can still get 3 teams in the dance.

Denver Holmes and my Evansville Purple Aces have bracket-busting road wins over Northern Iowa and Missouri State. Photo by Valerie Mosley.

6. All hope is not lost in Green Bay.

This probably won’t be much consolation for the 104,057 residents of Green Bay, Wisconsin who are mourning the Packers’ loss last night to the New York Giants, but the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball team is still undefeated. The Phoenix beat Detroit this weekend to improve to 15-0. With Texas Tech’s back-to-back losses this week to Oklahoma and Kansas State, the Phoenix are now one of only three undefeated teams in women’s basketball. (Baylor and Maryland are the others.) Green Bay should have no trouble running the table in a weak Horizon League. And unlike the Murray State men’s team, the Phoenix won’t have to worry about an ESPN BracketBuster game.

It will be interesting to see what the NCAA Selection Committee does with Green Bay. Despite scheduling several major conference teams, the Phoenix have only one quality win, a November 26 overtime win against Georgia Tech.

7. The Pacers have the most balanced team in the NBA.

The Indiana Pacers won 3 games in 4 days last week, including victories over the Hawks and Celtics, to improve to 9-3, tied for second-best in the East and third-best in the NBA. Seven Pacers—Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough, Paul George, Darren Collison, David West, and George Hill—currently average double figures in scoring. In Wednesday’s win over Atlanta, no Pacer played more than 27 minutes; 10 players played more than 14. The lack of a go-to guy could hurt Indiana in the Playoffs. But given the team’s recent history, Pacers fans should be grateful for a winning regular season and a roster that should be attractive to free agents.

8. Chicago’s Donald Young is off to a good start in the Australian Open.

Since this is a website by and for sports fans with ties to the Midwest, it’s worth mention that one of our own advanced to the second round of the Australian Open. 22-year-old Chicago native Donald Young defeated Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk in 5 sets on Sunday. He’ll face Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko later this week.

After beating two seeded players to advance to the 4th round of last year’s U.S. Open, Young has risen to #42 in the ATP world rankings, fifth among Americans.

9. No one calls a buzzer beater like the play-by-play guy for the Lindsey Wilson Sports Network.

Lindsey Wilson College is a small, United Methodist-affiliated NAIA school in Columbia, Kentucky. Saturday the Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders beat their conference rival Georgetown College (KY) Tigers when senior guard Chase Spreen hit a 68-foot shot as time expired. Here’s the call from the Lindsey Wilson Sports Network:

I couldn’t find the name of the Lindsey Wilson play-by-play guy. If you know his name, please leave it in the comments so that he can get credit for his fine work.

However, I would caution anyone against looking at such stats after just a couple games, because with such a small sample size, the numbers are ultimately dependent on who teams have played.

And if you read too much into them, you can draw some erroneous conclusions.

Case in point, Jerod forwarded me some early Big Ten numbers that he had received, which basically compared the efficiency margin of each team.  As it turns out, IU’s margin is actually negative, meaning they are giving up more points than they are scoring on a per possession basis.  Here’s the full picture through Wednesday night’s games:

A few noteworthy points about the Hoosiers:

• They have played two of the league’s top three teams (Michigan State and Ohio State) in terms of adjusted offensive efficiency on KenPom.com.  The Hoosiers, themselves, are the top-rated team in the league.
• The 1.21 points per possession allowed against Michigan State was by far their highest total of the season.  The previous high was 1.04 ppp against Kentucky, which makes the MSU game look like a bit of an anomaly in that regard.
• They held the Buckeyes to an even 1.00 ppp, which was OSU’s second lowest output of the season.
• The Spartans and Buckeyes are also two of the league’s top three teams in adjusted defensive efficiency as well.  The Hoosiers scored 0.98 ppp against MSU, which is virtually the same number put up by North Carolina and Duke.  IU is also one of just four teams to score over 0.97 ppp against OSU with 1.06.

So come back in off the ledge IU fans, I really don’t see a reason for concern here.  Had they played even one of their games against a mid-tier team in the conference, these numbers would likely look drastically different.

Here’s a few other quick observations about the teams at the top of the list:

• Ohio State held Northwestern to 0.79 ppp and Nebraska to 0.61 ppp, which coupled with their stellar 1.28 ppp against the Wildcats led to their sizable overall margin.  Northwestern is unbelievably poor in terms of defensive efficiency…or defense in general.
• The bulk of Michigan’s margin came against Penn State, where they scored 1.18 ppp and held the Nittany Lions to just 0.88 ppp.  They also benefitted from playing a Mbakwe-less Minnesota team that has struggled in conference play so far.  Overall, Michigan’s defensive efficiency hasn’t been great this year, ranking 90th in Pomeroy’s adjusted efficiency ratings.
• The Spartans have allowed just two opponents to score more than 0.99 ppp this year and have held all three of their conference foes below that mark.  Their defense is 100% legit.  On offense, Sparty was held to 0.97 ppp against Wisconsin and was right on their average with 1.11 ppp against Nebraska.
• Purdue has been consistently solid in terms of their offensive efficiency.  On defense, they allowed Iowa to put up 1.09 ppp but held Illinois to 0.91 ppp in their other game.  The Illini offense ranks outside of the Top 100 in adjusted efficiency, so that isn’t particularly shocking.  The Boilers should improve on their margin thanks to a game against Penn State tonight.

As I mentioned above, these stats can be very telling but only once you have a large enough sample size.  For now, they make for good conversation, but beware of drawing firm conclusions at this point.

 **********

Follow me on Twitter (@andybottoms) for more thoughts on college hoops, and check out the latest edition of the Bottoms Line podcast.

Immediately after, the Assembly Call crew will be here to provide instant analysis and a forum for fan reaction. So before you go out to ring in the new year, join us for one last (and hopefully victorious) Assembly Call before 2012 begins.

IU-Ohio State Game Info

• Date: Saturday, December, 31st
• Tip Time: 7:00 ET
• TV: ESPN2
• Announcers: Dave O’Brien and Dan Dakich (!!!)
• Point Spread: Ohio State -4
• Over Under: 139
• Other Gameday Info: Peegs.com
• KenPom: InstaGamePrep (subscriber only)
• First Postgame Show: The Assembly Call
• Second Postgame Show: Crimson Cast

IU-Ohio State Quick Preview

Simply put, we are going to learn a lot about our Hoosiers in this game. Coming off the first loss of the season, with one of the best teams in America invading the Assembly Hall, we will find out what kind of resolve and mental toughness, as well as talent, this year’s Hoosiers posses.

On that note, I was encouraged by these quotes from Verdell Jones, as tweeted just a few minutes ago by DustinDopirak:

We have the confidence to know that we can play with anybody.

We definitely got an edge. We’re hungrier more than ever. We really want to prove that the non-conference wasn’t a fluke.

If the team’s energy and focus match Verdell’s words we’ll be just fine. Now, let’s hope the team’s energy and focus does indeed match Verdell’s words.

As for Will Sheehey, there is no new news to report. Tom Crean continues to, smartly, play it close to the vest. Why give Ohio State any information to prepare with? Sheehey remains day-to-day, via Dopirak and InsideTheHall.

If you’re interested, here is Tom Crean’s press conference previewing the Ohio State game:

Saturday is a very big game for three people in particular.

First, it’s a huge game for Crean. This year’s Hoosiers have been riding high, higher than any of us expected. The Michigan State game was the first setback of the season, and in addition to poor performances from the next two people I’m about to discuss, I thought Crean made several strategic errors as well. He needs to bounce back with better judgment against Ohio State.

Second, it’s clearly a big game for Cody Zeller.

After breezing through the non-conference schedule (relatively speaking) and picking up multiple Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards, Zeller was exposed a bit by Michigan State as not quite being ready for the physical play of Big Ten basketball. It gets no easier against Ohio State. In fact, it gets much tougher.

Jared Sullinger is one of the best post players in the last 20-25 years of Big Ten basketball, and he was dominant as a freshman. If Zeller wants to prove he is an impact freshman anywhere close to Sullinger’s level, he needs to show it against Sullinger.

Third, Jordan Hulls needs to bounce back. No one will get upset at Hulls for having an off shooting night. It happens to even the best shooters, as Hulls proved against Michigan State. Missed shots can be forgiven, but poor decision-making in the halfcourt from your junior point guard cannot. I thought Hulls made a number of poor decisions directing the Hoosiers offense against Michigan State, and that can’t happen if we want to beat Ohio State. As for the shooting, we’re back at home. Hulls will shoot just fine.

Please don’t take me calling these three guys out as negatives. I think all three will step up to the challenge against Ohio State, and I foresee Indiana competing very well. I expect to win this game. I won’t be devastated if we don’t, considering the competition, but I will be very disappointed if we aren’t competitive for 40 minutes. That is what this team is capable of, and we should expect nothing less.

Let’s go Hoosiers. It feels damn good to have confidence again that we can defend The Hall against anyone. Now let’s do it.

IU-Ohio State Postgame Show

As soon as the final buzzer sounds, The Assembly Call begins. Listen here live on New Year’s Eve:

Call-in number: (858) 365-5571

Use this number to call in and provide your thoughts on-air or to listen on your phone.

(MOBILE USERS: CLICK HERE.)

IU-Ohio State Chat

Tonight, the 15th ranked Hoosiers travel to their own personal house of horrors, The Breslin Center, to face 17th ranked Michigan State. It is the first Big Ten game for both teams.

Indiana enters the game an unblemished 12-0 while Michigan State is 11-2, having reeled off 11 straight victories after starting 0-2 with losses to North Carolina and Duke.

As always, we will be hosting The Assembly Call IU Postgame Show, which starts as soon as the final buzzer sounds.

The Toms, Izzo and Crean (Photo credit: Kevin Fowler, LansingStateJournal.com)

IU-Michigan State Game Info

• Date: Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
• Tip Time: 7:30 ET (6:30 CT)
• TV: BTN
• Announcers: TBD (according to Peegs’ Gameday page)
• Point Spread: Michigan State -5
• Over-Under: 140
• Postgame Show: The Assembly Call

Indiana is one of three Big Ten teams currently in the top 6 of Ken Pomeroy’s rankings. Michigan State is 14th. Kenpom’s projections for the game have Indiana losing 71-69 with a 43% chance of coming away victorious.

If the Hoosiers are able to find a way to win, it would be their first win in the Breslin Center since Calbert Cheaney was wearing #40. Tonight, he’ll be on the bench watching Cody Zeller wear #40.

Indiana Injuries

Of course the biggest storyline for Indiana is injuries. Coming out of the Hoosiers’ win over UMBC, there were question marks about Will Sheehey, Derek Elston, and Verdell Jones.

Elston should be fine to play, but he will be forced to wear a protective mask due to the nose surgery he had to undergo after taking a stray elbow from Victor Oladipo.

As best I can tell, the latest update on Sheehey and Jones is this from Tom Crean’s recent press conference (via Inside The Hall):

On the team’s health:

“There is really nothing new to report. Will and Verdell stayed back and got some extra treatment before heading out for Christmas and they continue to get better.”

So that’s that. We’ll just have to see who suits up tonight at 6:30.

If I were to guess, I’d say Verdell plays and Sheehey doesn’t, but I am basing that on nothing more than watching Sheehey on the sidelines last week and the lack of any catastrophic news regarding Jones’ injury. I hope they both play, but more importantly I hope they come back 100%, whenever that is.

I know that we all want to get off to a good start in the Big Ten season, and it will be tough to do against Michigan State, Ohio State, and Michigan even at full strength; but even if we go 1-2 or 0-3, it’s not the end of the world. This is a good, mentally tough team that – I think – can overcome a slow Big Ten start and still get to 10, 11, or even more wins. There is no reason to sacrifice the long-term to rush guys back who aren’t fully healed.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go. The nonconference schedule was great, and far more enjoyable than I ever could have imagined, but now it’s time for conference play. The Hoosiers have only won eight games in conference play under Tom Crean, even regressing last year from four wins to three; 12-0 against non-Big Ten teams is nice, but the real season starts now. Hopefully it gets off on the right foot tonight.

IU-Michigan State Postgame Show

As soon as the final buzzer sounds, the postgame show begins. Feel free to listen right here:

Call-in number: (858) 365-5571

Use this number to call in and provide your thoughts on-air or to listen on your phone.

(MOBILE USERS: CLICK HERE.)

IU-Michigan State Chat

Our postgame chat will start late in the 2nd half and continue on throughout the postgame show. We may or may not have a moderator tonight, but feel free to talk amongst yourselves, and the hosts will pop in from time to time to see what the hot topics are.

When Christian Watford’s three pointer swished through tonight with 0:00 on the clock and Indiana ahead by one point on the scoreboard, that is what I felt.

Happiness.

Image credit: Joe Eke via @TomCrean

You may be thinking: Brojangles, you watched the IU game by yourself, in your apartment, alternately jumping around screaming like a madman and taking notes in prep for the postgame show. If that gives you happiness, then your life is kind of lame.

How wrong you are.

Because understand this: the euphoria I felt tonight when that shot when through and I realized that yes, we had indeed beaten the #1 team – and more than than, #1 ranked Kentucky – had nothing to do with me. I couldn’t have cared less that I got to hop around my apartment for two hours like a fool enjoying watching some kids in white jersey score more basketball points than some kids in blue jerseys.

But I was happy as hell for some of the other people who go to.

I was happy for my brother, who has never quite been able to share my obsessive love for Indiana basketball simply because he hasn’t had the first hand experiences that I have. Now he has one that I don’t, watching this game in the student section and storming the floor when CWat’s shot went through. I talked to him tonight after the game as we was in his dorm room, about to head out to Mother Bears and then to Kirkwood. He was ecstatic. He had felt it. As he said, he now got to experience beating the #1 team his junior year in college just like I did. In subtle ways, this win will bring us closer. Think that’s crazy? Maybe. But then, you don’t know IU basketball.

I was happy for the old school fans. Guys like @ChronicHoosier and gals like @TaxMegan; folks who I know, like me, have lived and died, figuratively speaking, with this team over the past three years, and really the past decade. I talked to both on the phone tonight, and I could sense a difference type of fully satisfied joy that wins over NC State or even Butler just can’t bring. I’m happy for them, and by proxy every other longtime IU fan who bleeds Cream and Crimson and who can properly put this victory into context.

I was happy for the IU students. So happy. Like my brother, they didn’t know what Indiana basketball truly was…until tonight. Many of the old timers (relatively speaking) like me had grown a bit frustrated with the students in the weeks leading up to this game. This week, IU’s basketball-loving student body rose to the occasion. This quite from John Calipari after the game says it all:

“Indiana and this crowd made us play the way we played. It’s not like we were awful. I’m proud of my team.”

Indiana won tonight by one point. One single point. Do I think the fans who filled Assembly Hall with Hurryin’ Hoosier spirit contributed to that one point difference? You bet I do; and I’m right. And I am just so glad that these students are out there right now, as I type this, creating joyful memories with their classmates that they’ll remember forever, like I do thinking back to the night we beat Duke in the Sweet 16.

I’m happy for Tom Crean. What this man has done to bring the pride and winning back to Bloomington is monumental. Monumental. He was the perfect man for the job when we took it, and he is proving to be the perfect man for the job now that we’ve grown from a team of two walkons three years ago to a team that is undefeated and will be back in the top 25 next week. I could write a whole article on Tom Crean. He is the leader of this movement. Most people just didn’t expect things to move quite so much this year.

And just watch Crean’s face after Watford’s shot goes in. It’s like he wanted this win so badly that when it came true he had no clue how to react.

Update: Reading Dana O’Neil’s article about the IU victory, I came across this quote, which shows that Tom Crean and I share exactly the same feeling right now:

“This is one of the most shared moments, maybe the most shared moment I’ve ever been a part of,” Crean said. “You want to share it with so many people.”

Yes indeed Coach.

And last but certainly not least, I’m happy for the players. And I save them for last only because I want to highlight them the most.

I’m happy for Christian Watford, for emerging as a mature, tough, physical leader who takes and makes big shots when his team needs them.

I’m happy for Verdell Jones, who induced a number of “Damnit Verdells” tonight, but who ultimately ended the game on the highest of highs by unselfishly dishing the final assist on one of the greatest single shots in Hoosier history.

I’m happy for Tom Pritchard, who started as a freshman and now is just a role player. But damn if he doesn’t fill his role well. He scraps, he claws, and he helps to lead this team with toughness, attitude, and maturity.

I’m happy for Jordan Hulls, who has been doubted his whole life because he’s too small and too slow, but who stepped up in key moments tonight to make winning plays. He made some bad decisions, yes; but he also made winning plays – clutch 3s, hustle rebounds, steals – which is why he is this team’s leader.

I’m happy for Cody Zeller, whose commitment to IU despite all of the losing set this victory, and the many that will come after it, in motion. Somehow, this guy has been better than the hype. The only thing holding him back is that his teammates don’t know how to use him.

I’m happy for Sheeladipo – Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey – who came in unheralded, but who may just end up graduating as the most influential two-man recruiting class in IU history. These guys are sophomores? They need to button up their shot selection a bit, but not if it comes at the expense of their energy and confidence. When you’re passing out plaudits for Indiana’s 9-0 start, don’t overlook these two. They are our swagger and our athleticism, and even with Zeller and the experience of Watford, Hulls, and Jones, we’re only 7-2 or 6-3 without them.

I’m happy for Daniel Moore. Do you realize Daniel Moore – Daniel Moore – played key minutes in a victory over Kentucky? He did. And he didn’t look out of place doing it. He was solid. Like Tom Pritchard, he leads this team with energy and attitude, and that’s why he is not out of place being in the rotation for a 9-0 team about to be ranked for the first time since 2008.

I’m happy for Maurice Creek. Of course I’m devastated that he couldn’t play in this game, and I’d give him my knees if I could (seriously), but I’m glad that he got to experience this win as a team leader. Included in that one point difference, to some degree, is the character and toughness of Mo Creek that his teammates have absorbed by osmosis. You won’t convince me otherwise.

I’m happy for Derek Elston. He didn’t play tonight, but he’s seen the tough times. And I’m sure he’ll enjoy the good times like tonight.

Update: And of course I’m happy for Matt Roth! How could I forget Matt Roth? Goodness gracious, if any IU player ever reminds of myself as a high school basketball player, it’s Roth. He’s a testament to humbly fulfilling a supporting role and doing it spectacularly despite injury and adversity.

And yes, even though Remy Abell and Austin Etherington are new, and have only experienced winning as Hoosiers, I’m happy for them too. They are part of the “new IU” that is going to be used to winning and success, and that’s terrific.

And I’m happy for Yogi Ferrell, and Jeremy Hollowell, and Ron Patterson, and Hanner Perea-Moquera, and Peter Jurkin, because now #themovement doesn’t have the pressure of rebuilding IU basketball. That happened the last three years (perhaps more than we realized) and is taking a giant leap this year. Now #themovement is just about taking it to the next level. What will that level be? Who knows. This year’s team obviously has a much higher ceiling than anyone thought.

I’m also happy for Don Fischer and Chuck Crabb and Tim Garl, and everyone else who has been around for the ups and downs, and who tonight is basking in the glow of a major up.

This was a signature win in the history of Indiana basketball. That’s not hyperbole to say. In the grand scheme of the 2011-12 season, it doesn’t mean much more than a great resume builder for the NCAA Tournament…but for those who consider themselves a part of this program, even if only very peripherally, as I do, it’s easy to understand why this win is so much more than that.

This win was just…joyful. It was wonderful.

And like I said at the beginning of this post, it just made me feel happy…for all of the reasons that I enumerated above. For my brother, for the fans, for Coach Crean, for the players…99.9% of the joy I feel right now is because I know what they’re feeling. And that makes me happy. And that is why I still bother with sports. For these moments.

As for that .1% that I didn’t account for above…I’ll admit, that’s for me. In that moment right after Christian Watford’s three went through, I spent 5-10 seconds jumping around my apartment, scaring the shit out of my dog, and high fiving my wall. This happened. Video of it would surely be hilarious, ridiculous, and perhaps even somewhat pathetic. But in those 5-10 seconds, I was immersed in pure personal joy because my team won.

My team won. Our team won.

What a night to be a Hoosier.

Coach Crean, the players, and the fans who willed us on all night long: thank you…though not for me, as I have other memories like this. Thank you for giving my brother, yourselves, and new IU fans a memory like this so now we can all relate. We all have one. We all know what Indiana basketball feels like.

Is Indiana basketball is back? Not yet. Not totally.

Indiana basketball will be “back” when Big Ten titles are the standard and competing for national championships is the expectation. We took one giant leap closer to that tonight, but we still have a ways to go.

But in terms of energy, spirit, and that unbridled Cream and Crimson hysteria…yes, Indiana basketball is definitely back. This is what tonight signified.

This is why I’m a sports fan.

**********

Join me after IU basketball game on The Assembly Call. For now, relive tonight’s: http://assemblycall.com.

Also, please forgive any typos. Cloud 9 doesn’t have spellcheck.

Butler (3-2), the two-time national runners-up, heads south to play Indiana (5-0) in a game that Crean desperately needs to win against the coach that some in the Hoosier fan base think should have his job.

Here is the basic info for tonight’s game:

Butler Bulldogs at Indiana Hoosiers Game Info

• Butler-Indiana Time: 7:00 ET
• Butler-Indiana TV: BTN
• Butler-Indiana Location: The Assembly Hall in Bloomington, IN
• Butler-Indiana Announcers: Chris Denari and Jim Jackson (I know…boo, no Gus)
• Butler-Indiana Point Spread: Indiana -11.5
• Butler-Indiana Over-Under: 133
• The Assembly Call: Butler-Indiana Postgame Show
• Twitter Follows: @AssemblyCall, @ChronicHoosier, @InsideTheHall, @ZachOsterman, @Peegs, @ButlerMBB, @ButlerBB

Butler v Indiana Preview

We all know that neither of these two teams looks like much the versions we’ve seen the previous two seasons.

IU and Butler Past and Present

Butler’s deep tournament runs were led by NBA draft picks Gordon Hayward, Shelvin Mack, and Matt Howard. Even the greatest college basketball coaches – and Brad Stevens certainly qualifies for that description right now – need talented players to beat good teams, and Stevens had that in those three guys.

But Hayward, Mack, and Howard are all gone, leaving Stevens with a quintet of players in Andrew Smith, Ronald Nored, Chase Stigall, Crishawn Hopkins, and Khyle Marshall who all have significant NCAA Tournament experience but not the individual, game-changing abilities of the three departed stars.

Indiana is coming off of a 3-win Big Ten season that was further evidence of just how far the program has fallen over the last decade. Still, because of Crean’s dogged efforts on the recruiting trail (especially the addition of highly regarded Cody Zeller), and the improvement expected from young players who have gotten significant playing time early in their careers, a big jump was expected out of IU this season. Through five games it certainly appears that such a jump is possible, as the undefeated Hoosiers are currently the 21st-ranked team by kenpom.

IU-Butler: What To Expect

We do have a way to somewhat gauge what to expect tonight because of the two teams’ common opponents early in the season. Inside the Hall provided a nice breakdown of this yesterday.

Indiana has beaten Evansville, Chattanooga, Savannah State, and Gardner-Webb by a combined 98 points. Butler lost to Evansville and then beat the other three schools by a far more modest 28 combined points. Based on this, plus the fact that the game is at the Assembly Hall and not Hinkle, the Hoosiers seem like the prohibitive favorites; and with an 11.5 point spread, they are the prohibitive favorites.

But I’m nervous. Very nervous. And I’m not about to take the Bulldogs lightly, nor should any other IU fans.

Despite the Bulldogs’ offensive inefficiency early in the season, they remain a very good defensive team. Smith will be the first real test for Zeller, and Nored will make whoever he matches up against – perhaps Oladipo – work like crazy to get open. Plus, Butler is a good rebounding team, which has been the Hoosiers’ one weakness early in the season. If IU can’t keep Smith and Marshall off the boards, Butler is going to get second chance points and keep the Hoosiers from doing the same.

And, of course, there is the not-so-subtle elephant in the room: coaching.

The Ascent of Stevens

If you asked 100 basketball fans right now what coach they would want coaching their team if they had a week to prepare for a big basketball game, I think a significant percentage would say Stevens. That’s what happens when you lead tiny, unheralded Butler to two straight NCAA Championship games, knocking off big dog after big dog along the way. I do not think Crean would get even one vote (although if it was a recruiting-related question, Crean would surely get some love).

Indiana hasn’t played since its demolition of Gardner-Webb last Monday, and Butler last played on Wednesday. So both coaches will have had ample time to prepare their teams for tonight’s meeting.

This is one of the reasons I am greatly anticipating, and very nervous about, tonight’s game.

As Chronic Hoosier told us during the Gardner-Webb postgame show (you can listen here), this is a game Crean circled on the schedule as one he knew he had to win. According to Chronic, the final release of the Hoosiers’ schedule was even delayed a bit as Crean shuffled some things to ensure he’d have ample time to get the Hoosiers ready to play against Stevens and the new darlings of the Hoosier State.

It’s a not-so-secret secret that Stevens grew up a Hoosier fan, and that the Indiana job is probably the one job he’d leave Butler to take. It’s also a not-so-secret secret that many Hoosier fans would drive to Indianapolis to pick him up right now and hold the introductory press conference immediately. I am not among those in the latter group, but that doesn’t mean the thought of Stevens as IU’s coach at some point in the future isn’t intriguing.

First though, I think Crean has earned the right to see his rebuilding project through. Considering the early strides this year and the tremendous recruiting class coming in next year, I continue to support him 100%.

Pressure on Crean

That said, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going into this game very curious to see how Crean’s squad stacks up against a team that clearly has less overall talent but that we know will be well-coached and that has a history of playing up to its competition.

This is a game Indiana should win.

Man for man, the Hoosiers have more talented players than the Bulldogs, and it’s shown in their performances against common opponents. But basketball games are won on the floor, not on paper, and Butler has won a lot of games it hasn’t been “supposed” to win over the past couple years in large part because they’ve been the better prepared team; and I’m not about to disrespect Stevens and the Bulldogs by assuming the Hoosiers should just roll over them tonight.

I anticipate Butler playing well. All five of its starters have played significant minutes on national runner-up teams. They’ve earned respect. Their coach has definitely earned respect. They won’t be intimidated by IU’s hot start or the venue. This program has won far bigger games over the last two years than this one.

But I also think Indiana will play well. Crean is undoubtedly putting a lot into this game, no doubt understanding its importance in the ever-shifting pecking order of basketball in the Hoosier State. For that reason, I will be very concerned if the Hoosiers come out and don’t play well.

There are certain games every year that a coach needs to be able to get his guys up for, to play at their peak. It’s early in the season, but this is one of them. Crean knows it. The fans know it. Surely the IU and Butler players know it. And though he’d never talk about it publicly, somewhere deep in the recesses of his consciousness that could only be reached with a double dose of truth serum, Stevens knows it.

Big Game in Bloomington

No, neither team is ranked.

No, neither team is expected to be a major player come NCAA Tournament time.

But tonight’s IU-Butler tilt is still a big game in the grand scheme of college basketball, especially in its heartland of Indiana.

Despite 8 Big Ten wins in three years, Tom Crean’s seat has stayed relatively cool, for now, because of everything else he’s done to turn the program back onto the right track. Unfortunately for Crean, his dogged but slow rebuilding effort has coincided with Stevens’ ascent to coaching superstardom.

Tonight, with Stevens in his house, Crean needs to assert himself as the alpha dog, which he can do with a solid, well-played, 40 minutes from his team.

Indiana doesn’t need to beat that 11.5-point spread – we should all have more respect for Butler now than to expect that – but they do need to play well and not just out-talent the Bulldogs. Such a win won’t silence the Stevens supporters, but it will give Crean a little bit of breathing room to continuing his rebuilding process without a scorching feeling on the underside of his coaching slacks when he sits down.

I can’t wait. There is a lot at stake tonight in Bloomington, and I think for the first time in four years IU is ready to step up to such a challenge.

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Don’t forget: As we do after every IU game, Andy, Ryan, and I will be breaking down tonight’s IU-Butler game as soon as the buzzer sounds on the latest episode of The Assembly Call.

And we want the reaction of IU fans, so watch the game, have a take, and call in to share it. Plus, after Alex Bozich of Inside The Hall and Chronic Hoosier called in last week, you never know what esteemed IU guests will join us. Don’t miss it.

The reason is easy: the Season of Expectations is finally here for the Hoosiers. (As is the first episode of The Assembly Call.)

Because we are on the precipice of finally having the kind of team that IU fans are used to, I am not going to delve at all into the details of what caused the temporary downfall of IU basketball. You know the details, I know them, and they are quickly becoming just a horrid memory. Let’s keep it that way.

But to understand why IU fans like myself are so stoked for the 2011-12 season to begin, the season I am referring to as the Season of Expectations, it is important to understand the progression of the last three years under Tom Crean that has brought us here.

2008-2009 – The Season of Disbelief

This was Tom Crean’s first season in Bloomington. He justified not thinking twice about taking the job because “It’s Indiana” but at that time Indiana was nothing more than walk-ons Kyle Taber and Brett Finkelmeier and a fan base that felt completely railroaded. Crean retained committed recruit Tom Pritchard, then hustled and bustled to bring in guys like Verdell Jones, Devin Dumes, Nick Williams, and others to field a full roster.

I watched every game that season, all 31 one of them (of which only six were victories, and just one during Big 10 season), appreciating the efforts of the kids on the floor and trying my best to be my usual upbeat, positive, banshee-like self during games; but really, I was just staring at the TV in disbelief that this is what had become of my beloved Cream and Crimson.

2009-2010 – The Season of Hope

Despite the team’s terrible win-loss record in Crean’s first season, he snagged a very good recruiting class that featured top-50 players Christian Watford and Maurice Creek, as well as Indiana’s Mr. Basketball Jordan Hulls. This led to some optimism heading into Crean’s second season.

After ’08-’09 the spirit of IU fans had been bludgeoned enough that none of us were expecting miracles, but there was hope that the team would be more competitive. And it was, with the high point being a sterling home performance against Kentucky led by the sharp-shooting Creek. Unfortunately, Creek’s freshman season would end prematurely because of an injury shortly thereafter.

The Hoosiers went 10-21 (4-14 in the Big Ten), though a late season collapse in February meant the season ended on quite the downer. Still though, the preseason hope had not been misplaced, and improvement was obvious.

2010-2011 – The Season of Growth

With Jones, Watford, Hulls and others finally having some experience, Creek expected to return from injury, and the athleticism of Jeremiah Rivers, Victor Oladipo, and Will Sheehey added to the roster, IU fans entered last season believing that significant growth could and would be seen. Unfortunately, said growth did not often manifest itself in the results on the floor.

Creek was nowhere near the player he had been as a freshman, and he unfortunately hurt himself again, ending his comeback before it even really started. Christian Watford improved, becoming an efficient scorer, but an injury halted his momentum in the second half of the season after his best performance as a Hoosier in a narrow road loss to Michigan State.

The Hoosiers seemed like a better team at times, but the consistency was not there, nor was the late game decision- and play-making to beat good teams. For the second year in a row, the Hoosiers found winning games impossible in February, leading to a 3-15 Big 10 record, a game worse than the previous year. Overall, the team finished 12-20, which was better than the 10-21 of 2010; but I think most Hoosiers ended last season disappointed that more strides hadn’t been made on the floor.

But off the court, Crean was doing enough things right in terms of representing the university and respecting IU traditions that Hoosier fans were willing to be patient. Oh, and Cody Zeller committed, starting a domino effect that led to the recent signing of Yogi Ferrell, Jeremy Hollowell, Hanner Moquera-Perea, Ron Patterson, and Peter Jurkin, one of the best recruiting classes in the country.

The promise of a brighter future offered by Crean’s tremendous work on the recruiting trail allowed Indiana fans to get past the team’s on-court struggles in his third year. Every time the Hoosiers collapsed in the second half of a February game, we simply looked towards a future that included Zeller and #themovement and allowed our optimism to overshadow the frustration of the present.

And now a part of that future is here in Zeller, which is why disbelief then hope then growth have led to IU fans having legitimate expectations for the first time since Eric Gordon and DJ White were in Bloomington.

2011-2012 – The Season of Expectations

With Zeller in the fold, plus Watford, Jones, and Hulls now upperclassmen, and the play of Sheehey and Oladipo suggesting that both were underrated by the recruiting experts, Indiana fans believe – rightfully so – that they finally have a team that can compete on a night in, night out basis.

Are the Hoosiers a lock for the NCAA Tournament, as all IU teams were under Bob Knight? No. Of course not. Making a return to the NCAA Tournament as a double-digit seed probably represents the most optimistic of expectations for this year’s team. But it does seem possible if things go right. It doesn’t seem like a pipe dream, as it has for the last three years.

More than a tourney return though, I think Indiana fans simply expect to see a better team. They expect a team that competes in most Big Ten games and that finishes at or near .500. They expect a team that beats the teams it is supposed to beat during the non-conference schedule. They expect a team that is better in February than in November. They expect players to improve and play the game with a higher basketball IQ the longer they are in the program. They expect a team that not only competes on the defensive end of the floor, but that can get stops at critical times.

Indiana fans expect…Indiana basketball.

That’s why this is the Season of Expectations. Hoosier fans are still realistic enough to know that an NCAA Tournament appearance would be a outstanding achievement for this group, and they are hopeful it can happen, but the expectations about what we will see while watching games is real, as well as fair. Do we feel like we’re watching Indiana basketball again?  Too often over the past three years it hasn’t necessarily felt like that. This year, the expectation is that it will much more than it won’t.

And if all goes to according plan, this year’s expectations will turn into even bigger and better things next year.

2012-2013 – The Season of Winning

This is the season Indiana fans and even Tom Crean himself have been pointing to, and with very good reason.

Zeller will be a sophomore; Watford, Hulls, Oladipo, Sheehey, and hopefully a healthy Mo Creek will be upperclassmen; #themovement will have finally arrived on campus. This is the year when the NCAA Tournament is expected. When double-digit Big Ten wins is expected. When regularly competing with and beating good teams is expected.

Next year, it’s all about winning. And in Year 5 of the Crean Era, that will be a perfectly fair expectation.

But that’s next year.

Unlike last year, there is no reason to turn our attention towards the future prematurely. This year’s Hoosiers have the potential to turn into a good, solid, competitive basketball team. That’s all I want to see, and it’s what I think we will see; and that’s what we should expect.

After all, this is Indiana.

I posted some thoughts over at the Peegs.com message board and decided I might as well post them here as well for those of you who are interested.

As you know, of any sports team I follow, IU basketball is the one I truly live and die with. So reports like this one always cause me to stop, think, and react.

Here is what I said to my fellow Hoosier fans:

In light of the disappointing but not earth shattering news tonight that Coach Crean committed a secondary violation in contacting Gary Harris outside of the allowed time period, I have one request of IU fans:

Please do not try to justify Coach Crean’s actions by citing Alabama’s 44 secondary violations (as a prominent IU fan did in my Facebook feed) or anything having to do with Kentucky or any sports program of their historical ilk. Just because Alabama or Kentucky would do it, does not mean Indiana should do it. Quite the opposite in fact.

Now, with that said, let me state that I think everyone is entitled their own opinion, and I’m not positing mine as the gospel or how IU fans *should* feel. I’ll respect those who disagree with me. I’m just stating how I feel.

Personally, I am disappointed by this. I’m not going to make a mountain out of a molehill, but I don’t want to see this stuff. Whether the rules are silly are not, they are rules, and this clearly gave us an advantage over other teams recruiting Harris who followed the rules. I grew up with Coach Knight and being around Coach Mallory on a regular basis. I have always been proud to be an IU fan because I felt a certain sense of superiority in the regards to our kids going to class, graduating, and being recruited the right way…regardless of wins or losses on the floor, though obviously that’s the ultimate goal. I realize that having the cake AND eating it too is not of utmost importance to everyone, but it is to me and, I think, most longtime IU fans. I’ve been a staunch supporter of Coach Crean through his entire tenure, and I will continue to be, but I’m disappointed by this.

If it was an honest mistake, shame on Crean and Buckley for not dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s, especially in light of what happened before they got here. And if it was a cunning, calculated ploy to get one final contact knowing it would only be a secondary violation (as I’ve seen suggested, though I have no knowledge one way or the other) then shame on Crean for bargaining with the integrity we’re slowly rebuilding.

Basic point: whatever the explanation or justification, shame on Crean. It was wrong. End of story. (As far as I’m concerned.)

We’re Indiana. We do not win at all costs. We win the right way. While these beliefs may be antiquated, and perhaps even unrealistic, they are part of the reason why I bleed Cream and Crimson and live and die with this program. I’m proud of it. This blip on Crean’s near-impeccable resume (so far) of leading our program the right way doesn’t change that, but it does disappoint me. And it disappoints me even more that any IU fan would justify anything in relation to unscrupulous sports programs like Alabama and Kentucky. Coach Crean is better than this, and so are we.

My final suggestion, whether it is taken or not, is this: let’s all be humble, admit this was wrong (without defensive justification, eat whatever crow others want to throw, and then look forward to what I really believe will be a season of rejuvenation. I just want want to make sure the rejuvenation continues to happen on the floor, in the classroom, AND on the recruiting trail. That’s what Indiana basketball has always stood for to me. Forgive me, if you must, for not being so quick to compromise those expectations, even a little bit.

Thanks for reading.

Jerod Morris
IU Class of ’04
@JerodMorris on Twitter if you want to discuss further

I like Tom Crean a great deal, and respect what he has done in Bloomington both for the basketball program and the community, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt that this was an honest mistake. Hopefully I’m right.

Feel free to comment below if you want to discuss, or pop over to Peegs or our friends at ITH, where the conversation will probably be far more lively.

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Update: Terry Hutchens provided some good context this evening in this article, the crux of which is that IU’s athletic department reported 18 secondary violations in 2010 (two by the basketball program) and that, basically, they happen everywhere. I’m less concerned with the latter point than the former, as well as the reality that having an over-zealous compliance department – which I think is a good thing – can sometimes be a negative in terms of public perception because things are reported that don’t necessarily have to be (i.e. they wouldn’t get out otherwise). I’m glad IU’s compliance department has been proactive in this regard. It’s why I’ve been willing to give the benefit of the doubt that mistakes have been honest and not ill-intentioned.

Why? Simple: because my favorite athlete of all time is Calbert Cheaney, still the Big Ten’s all-time scoring leader with 2,613 points, and he wore #40 during his four incredible years and Bloomington.

And now it looks like he may be coming back!

Via our friends at Inside the Hall:

Calbert Cheaney is reportedly headed back to Bloomington.

The Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer will likely join the Indiana staff in an operations position, according to Rick Bozich of The Louisville Courier-Journal.

Indiana coach Tom Crean has not offered any official word on Cheaney, but did make a statement:

“I’m not ready to make any official announcement yet but you can say that I’m extremely excited about the future of our basketball staff,” Crean said.

To say I am excited about this would be an understatement. I can think of no better link to the past we are trying to get back to than Calbert. Were in not for Alan Henderson’s ACL injury in 1993, I firmly believe Cheaney would have won a National Championship as a senior. Perhaps he can come back to Bloomington and complete some unfinished business.

That is why all across West Lafayette you could hear choruses of “…ever faithful, ever true, thus we raise our song anew; of the days we’ve spent with you, all hail, our old, Purdue!”

But just because Painter is staying a Boiler does not mean all is perfect. Many people question how Painter handled this situation, including Purdue’s own mascot Purdue Pete, which means Painter has some ‘splaining to do.

And in terms of winning championships, there is that tricky little situation going on at a previously harmless Horizon League “mid-major” that doesn’t seem so harmless, nor so “mid”, anymore.

Details of both aspects of the aftermath of Painter’s announcement are included in our latest photo story.

If for some reason the image does not load properly, click to view in new window

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Note: For IU and Purdue fans, click here to see and alternate ending! It’s the first alternate ending in the history of MSF Photo Stories, and trust me, it will be much more satisfying.

You can decide whether it will be true or not…

After Wednesday, the Boilers will go as far as seniors E’Twaun Moore and JaJaun Johnson can take them in the Big 10 and NCAA Tournaments, but will then have to fill those gargantuan shoes next season. Indiana, on the other hand, loses only defensive specialist Jeremiah Rivers while adding McDonald’s All-American Cody Zeller to a lineup that will be more experienced and more talented than any IU team since Eric Gordon was wearing the Cream & Crimson. And with Tom Crean already lining up commitments from top in-state recruit after top in-state recruit for the 2012, 2013, and 2014 classes, the balance of power in the Basketball State seems to be shifting back towards Bloomington.

Crean and Purdue head coach Matt Painter recently discussed the relative states of their programs, and as expected MSF was there to capture the entire conversation. It is presented below, verbatim, in photo story format.

If the image above does not load properly, click here to view in a new window.

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No matter how hard it is to watch your favorite basketball team be royally screwed over (I won’t even mention his name) and become the laughingstock of many college baskeball fans, I still watch every IU game I can. It’s not easy, but nights like last night make it worth it.

Tom Crean and Indiana AD Fred Glass (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

What was once a college basketball program that won consistently has been forced to take some serious steps backwards.

When Tom Crean was hired in 2008, no other college basketball coach had as hard as a job as he did. Many of the new players on the team were walkonsm and because of that IU had a 6-25 overall record and a 1-17 record in the Big Ten that first year. This was after a season when IU made the NCAA tournament.

This restructuring was going to take some time, and probably longer than some people expected.

The 2009-10 season brought improvement. IU went 10-21 overall and did manage four wins in the conference. It’s nothing to write home about, but to IU fans it was a sign that this program was heading in the right direction.

If there was anything we as an IU fan base had to believe in it was Tom Crean. We had to stay patient. We couldn’t let a few terrible years get us too angry with the head coach.

In some ways, I sympathized with him. To take the job he has takes balls. He’s risking his college coaching career if things don’t pan out too well in Indiana. And so I respect the man and want him to be successful, not only because I am a fan, but because I respect the dedication and the fact that he’s taking a risk with a basketball program you can tell he really loves.

Thursday night’s win was for all that dedication and the “never give up” attitude Crean has instilled in his players.

Nobody has doubted his or the players’ dedication. You can see it in their faces when they play. The Hoosiers have played well in other games but still come up short. That’s what these past years have been like. Dedication, but no reward.

Last night they got their reward: a victory over a ranked team, an event that hasn’t happened since beating Purdue on February 19th, 2008.

So, IU fans, savor this win. Know that it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment win, but an almost three year in the making win.

It’s things like this that keep that hope alive that Indiana can, once again, regain its place among the top of the Big Ten.

I’ll see you at Assembly Hall.

I have no words, so please don’t ask me for any.

Just watch. This is how I feel right now.

Okay, let me try to come up with some words now.

Did this win just make 3+ years of sports fan suffering worth it? Yes. Yes it did. Like only a win over Purdue or Illinois could.

So proud of the team, so proud of Coach Crean, and so proud of the fans.

I love my school and I loved this win.

When Tom Crean said “It’s Indiana”…this is what he was referring to.

That’s all I got. I’m getting tears in my eyes writing this. If you don’t get why, you just don’t get it, and I’m not explaining it.

Indiana basketball is more than a game to those of us who follow it. It’s a passion, a dream, an ideal, an unyielding love. It was great to finally have it requited tonight.

Now let’s get the next one boys.

HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOSIERS! HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOSIERS!

Update: Here is what Coach Crean had to say after the game. Awesome listen for any IU fan.

Sadly, I have grown used to these kinds of defeats, as they have become commonplace over the last three years. I am maintaining my perspective, and trying to maintain my patience with Coach Crean, but it becomes harder and harder to do with each successive loss; and it’s not just the losing, but rather the lack of growth from game to game that is most concerning.

But this loss, in particular, has been difficult to deal with, and it has little to do with how Indiana played as a team. Rather, it has to do with one isolated incident – Derek Elston’s blatant, classless trip of Northwestern’s Alex Marcotullio – and how Tom Crean has chosen to handle it.

Coach, take this from a guy who has been one of your most vocal supporters over the last two and a half years: you are making a big mistake by not suspending Derek Elston.

For those of you have not seen the trip, probably most of you, here is the video:

Hat tip: The Hoosier Scoop

To me, there is absolutely zero question that Elston intentionally stuck his foot out to impede the progress of Marcotullio by tripping him. That’s what I thought immediately when I saw it, and viewing it 10+ times has not changed my opinion.

To be fair, here is Elston’s explanation of the incident, via a quote from Tom Crean (hat tip to Dustin Dopirak of The Hoosier Scoop):

“I didn’t get a good look at it during the game at all. I didn’t see it until it was on the film. I brought him up to the plane. He stayed with the same thing. He said to me that he didn’t do it intentionally. I know exactly what it looks like. I told him the same thing. When I looked at, it the referee had a good view of it. I didn’t argue it. In comparison to (Devan Dumes’s intentional foul two years ago) I don’t think there is any comparison because there’s no question that that was intentional. i wasn’t surprised by it. In this situation, it would be highly out of character for Derek to be dishonest or do something of that nature in a negative way. It would be truly out of character, and if he did it would be a mistake. That’s the end of story. We got the intentional foul, they got the foul shots. I looked at it. I discussed it with him. But the last thing I’m going to do is break down a trust by accusing a player of something that he says he didn’t do on purpose. I’m not trying to put my head in the sand, that’s just the way that it is. Again, it would be different if it was something that was after the fact that you see on film. Those are the things that you react a little bit more to. The referee saw it, the referee handled it.”

Also, to be even more fair to Elston, his grandfather passed away last week. He missed practice time because of it, and it is very likely that he was still not fully back mentally and emotionally. This is important to note so as to consider the full context of the situation.

You’ve seen the video, you know my opinion, and now you know the full context and the thoughts of Elston and Crean. Just to make sure I am not way off base, let’s take a quick poll:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

I will be interested to see what the results of the poll are, but based on the message board threads and comment sections that I’ve read and participated in, the vast majority of you will consider the action to be clearly intentional and egregious.

And this is why I think Tom Crean is making a big mistake by not sitting Elston down for a game.

Before I digress into my own personal coaching philosophy and how it impacts my thinking here, let me state right off the bat the main reasons why Crean is making a big mistake.

First off, it is a mistake not to suspend Elston because what Elston did was totally uncalled for and classless. Period. I know that I tend to have traditional values when it comes to sports, and especially when it comes to my Hoosiers, but I am not some fuddy-duddy stick-in-the-mud who thinks sports need to be whitewashed of personality or physical play. What I do believe is that sportsmanship is of the utmost importance. Derek Elston exhibited no sportsmanship here. None. And that cannot be tolerated.

Secondly, I believe that Tom Crean is sending a negative message to his team. Perhaps he thinks it sends a positive message that he has his players’ back – and I’ll grant that it probably does send that message. But there is a fine line between being a “player’s coach” and maintaining clear lines of accountability and responsibility. To me, Derek Elston’s explanation severely contradictd an action that is clear for all to see on tape. Crean can have his players’ backs but still disagree with them and discipline them when necessary. That’s coaching sports. He’s not leading a youth group.

And third, though some might disagree, and while I admit that this reason is more on the selfish side, I believe that Tom Crean needs to consider his decision within the framework of the basketball family he now presides over. It is a family that extends far beyond the team and includes a nation of loyal supporters scattered across the country, like me, who live and die (figuratively speaking…for the most part) with everything that goes on with the basketball program in Bloomington. Understand: we are not rational people. (I kid…kind of.) You can poke fun at us and our expectations all you want, but we unabashedly expect the program to be run a certain way and do not enjoy having to tacitly endorse decisions like this, which speak to the character and principles of the program, that we strongly disagree with. I know I don’t.

From Crean’s perspective, I think this is where this decision really hurts him.

The reason why most of the IU faithful remain in support of Crean and are being patient despite the team’s lack of success on the court is that he has done everything else right. He respects the IU tradition, he pays homage to it regularly, he is recruiting like a madman – especially in-state, his energy is boundless, and he has insisted that players represent the program well off the court and in the classroom while holding them accountable for doing so. In short, despite his lapses in coaching judgment, he has done nothing to make us question his judgment off the court…until now. This doesn’t mean that IU fans will storm Assembly Hall with flaming pitchforks, but it does mean that one little layer of insulation has been stripped away because, well, most of us just flat out think Crean is wrong here.

Cue the eye-rolling, but fans of Indiana basketball are one of the only fan bases I know of that would rather lose the right way than win the wrong way, and we have certainly had this tested in recent years. Don’t get me wrong: the appetite for winning is insatiable, but there are principles that cannot be compromised to do it. Sportsmanship is one of them. We finally have a coach who exhibits it (sorry Coach Knight, but you most certainly did not, though you did demand it), and the expectation that the players do it remains as strong as ever. There is a standard that Derek Elston did not meet on Sunday night, and I believe it is Tom Crean’s responsibility to hold him accountable and send a message to the team, the fans, and everyone else that such blatant disregard for sportsmanship and class is not and will not be tolerated from an Indiana player.

Look, no one is saying that Derek Elston is a bad kid or that this should hang over his entire career at IU. Quite the contrary, in fact. Sit him for one game, send the proper message, and then we can all move on. It is only in erring so obviously that Tom Crean is making this a bigger story than it needs to be. And what surprises me is that Crean has dealt with previous situations that were similar in such a pitch-perfect manner each time they have arisen.

I applauded Tom Crean when he immediately cleaned house upon arriving in Bloomington. Talented players like Armon Basset were not doing what was expected of an Indiana player off the court and in the classroom, and Crean showed them the door. It hurt us in the short-term but helped to establish a foundation for what would be acceptable and what would not be acceptable moving forward.

When Devan Dumes intentionally fouled a Michigan State player (basically punching him or at least pushing him down unnecessarily hard), Dumes was kicked out of the game and Crean swiftly imposed a one-game suspension. I heartily applauded this because it further drew a line in the sand for the kind of conduct and sportsmanship that would be expected out of IU players under Crean.

These two examples, in which Tom Crean was decisive and showed such an acute understanding of how the Indiana faithful expects its program to be run, are part of the reason why I am having a hard time understanding Crean’s decision-making process here. Unfortunately, I think it is a microcosm of a larger problem plaguing Crean’s rebuilding effort.

What has become clear with the Crean Hoosiers Version 3.0 is that, while we still do not have the overall talent to compete night-in, night-out in the Big Ten, that deficiency is compounded by a general lack of understanding, focus, and accountability. A coach cannot make players taller, or faster, or even necessarily more skilled; what a coach can do, and what he or she is most responsible for, is making sure that the team plays together with a shared focus on a certain system and that each player has an understanding that there is accountability for a lack of focus or a lack of effort. Watching these Hoosiers player this year, I cannot say that I see a team with much cohesion or that is held accountable.

Two common traits of many great coaches I have watched over the years are the willingness to a) use the bench as a teaching tool, and b) lose battles to win wars. In this particular instance involving Derek Elston, I believe Crean is showing that he is unwilling to do either. Just like there have been numerous times this season when Christian Watford and Verdell Jones should have been whisked off the court for a general dearth of defensive focus and effort, Elston should be sat down here. However, in only rare instances has Crean been willing to do something like this.

Sure, the Hoosiers are not as talented offensively without Watford and Jones on the floor, but for this team to win games in the long term Watford, Jones, and the rest of the team has to make a commitment to playing defense. Sitting them down a) would teach them and their teammates, who would undoubtedly take notice, the kind of lesson that only the bench can teach, and b) would hurt you for the specific minutes they are off the floor, but could help you immeasurably and exponentially down the line.

I view a swift one game suspension of Elston the same way. Teach him and his teammates that there a consequences for negative actions such as this, even if they occurred only because of a fleeting lapse in judgment. Games are won and lost and reputations are made and unmade because of fleeting lapses in judgment. Explaining it this way takes the focus off of “Derek Elston did a bad thing” and shifts it to “Derek Elston made a terrible split second decision, and must accept the punishment, but it could have been any of you.” In this case, the bench is a teaching tool for the entire team and can teach an impactful lesson that is much more broad than just about not tripping someone cutting across the lane. Maybe Derek Elston gets his feelings hurt and maybe his one game absence hurts the team for that once game, but the responsibility of a coach is to deal with those smaller scale issues while keeping in mind the big picture. This is especially true when you are in charge of a rebuilding project the magnitude of what Crean has faced and continues to face in Bloomington.

I realize there is a good chance that, rationally speaking, spending 2,000+ words on this topic is too much; and I’m sure I lost many of you quickly after the poll, but I needed to get these things off my chest. I can’t just watch an IU basketball game like Sunday night’s and quickly discard it, especially when something like this occurs that makes me examine all over again what IU basketball means to me, what it represents, and what I will passively accept or, conversely, feel I have to comment publicly on.

As I’ve said numerous times, I can deal with the losing right now. It’s hard, but I can deal with it because Tom Crean has done many more good things than bad so far, and he was dealt a preposterously crappy hand when he got here. To this point, he’s played that hand about as well as anyone could have expected him to, but not here. Not this time.

Coach Crean is making a mistake by not sitting Derek Elston down for one game, for all of the reasons expatiated above, and I’ve lost a little bit of faith in him in the process. I still believe he is the right man for the job right now, and I continue to support him, but I’m disappointed. In fact, I’m much more disappointed in this than I’ve been in any loss Crean has had on the scoreboard. This is a lost opportunity to rebuild the character of our program, the first time Crean has missed such an opportunity since he’s been here. But I’m willing to move on now, feeling better that I’ve spoken my peace, and trusting that the lapses in judgment discussed in this post – Elston’s and Crean’s – will prove to be isolated incidents that I won’t need to comment again.

Go Hoosiers.

Next up: Michigan in Assembly Hall, January 15th at 8:00 ET. That first Big Ten win sure would be nice right about now. And I’ll watching, pacing, and cheering, just like I always am.

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Update: I know that the majority of you here are not IU basketball fans, and thus do not have the same emotional (over)investment in this story that I do. To see if I really did have my finger on the pulse of Hoosier Nation with my take, and just to get some general feedback, I posted this over at Peegs. To my surprise, a good number of the posters there disagreed with me. But, as I always, I appreciated the opposing viewpoints because they challenged me to further explore my own thoughts and feelings.

Anyway, if you want to see the counters to what I’ve written above, click here to view the thread.

* – Tom Crean photo credit: Joshua Levering/WFIU via Flickr

I spent last night stewing about Indiana’s terrible 69-60 home loss to Penn State, and I told myself that I’d wake up this morning, put it behind me, and have a productive day. But I can’t. Not without first venting and then second putting everything into perspective so that I can move forward with some semblance of optimism.

Lucky for me I run this here sports blog, so I have a place to do both and can invite other frustrated IU fans to commiserate with me.

As I know is the case for many of my IU brethren, home losses to teams like Penn State – which lost to mighty Maine in its previous ballgame – just don’t sit well with me. Three game losing streaks don’t sit well with me. IU appearing listless and disorganized does not sit well with me. Yet here we are, with all three of those unfortunate realities staring us smack dab in the face.

If I tried to sum up how pissed off and frustrated I was after last night’s loss, I know that I would fail in trying to find the right words. Fortunately YouTube exists, which allowed me to play this over and over again and relieve a little bit of my frustration.

Note: video contains audio of an angry old man using extremely bad language. You’ve been warned.

Yes, in the aftermath of Indiana’s 9-point loss to Penn State, I was hoping that the current Hoosiers were receiving a tongue-lashing somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-50% as strong as the one you just heard. One line in that infamous recording sums up perfectly how I felt during the minutes and hours after the IU-Penn State game went final: This is absolute fucking bullshit.

And it was.

I am all for patience, I understand just how bad a shape the IU basketball program was when Tom Crean took over, and I am still firmly in his corner as I will explain later. All that said, I do believe it is reasonable for IU fans to now consider a loss like last night’s unacceptable.

And, as a quick aside directed at Coach Crean:

I don’t want to hear any excuses about Christian Watford having back spasms or “old demons” rearing their ugly head. If we had just lost a close game to Ohio State or Purdue or Michigan State, and played well in doing so, I’d be much more willing to listen to that kind of explanation, given the reality of where our program is. But this was a home game against Penn State, a team picked by everyone to finish at or near the bottom of the Big Ten, and we came out with no sense of urgency and no cohesion on either end of the floor. That is a problem, and it’s your problem. Last night was a night for you to accept blame for your team being outcoached, outsmarted, and outhustled, because they were. And the responsibility is yours to get that turned around.

We will all now see if Tom Crean can, in fact, lead this Hoosier squad out of its current doldrums and into something resembling a smart, competitive basketball team. While Coach Crean has done a lot of things in his short tenure to inspire confidence and support among the Hoosier faithful, it is this most important task that he has yet to prove he can handle.

For the sake of discussion, here is a quick rundown of what I want out of Indiana’s basketball coach:

1. Win games, compete for Big Ten championships, make regular NCAA Tournament appearances
2. Do the above without making egregious rules violations* that call into question the integrity of the program
3. Consistently get the best high school players from the state of Indiana
4. Put a team on the floor that plays hard, no matter what, and that represents Indiana well off the court
5. Respect and honor the Indiana tradition and what this basketball program means to so many of us

* – I think it’s pretty clear that we are now in an era in which the NCAA rulebook is so convoluted and enforcement is so contradictory and seemingly arbitrary, that I have a hard time getting worked up over secondary violations like what forced Tom Izzo to be suspended for one game. I still believe Tom Izzo leads the Michigan State program with integrity and would be proud to have him as my coach. I understand that honest mistakes can happen, but I can accept those if there is an overall atmosphere of compliance and a commitment to doing things the right way. And no, I would not sacrifice #2 to ensure #1. They have to go hand-in-hand.

If you want to know why I stand firmly in Tom Crean’s corner despite all the losing, it’s because he has absolutely nailed 2-5 above. Three years ago, Crean famously said “It’s Indiana” when asked why he took the job. He has proven that he understands exactly what that means.

But, and it’s a big but…the further and further removed we get from the wreckage that Crean inherited, the more he has to take ownership of the product on the floor. And as much as I like Crean, and as much as I want his energy and passion leading our program, there is no question that the bottom line is what is listed #1 above: win games, compete for Big Ten championships, make regular NCAA Tournament appearances.

This is the first time during Crean’s tenure that I am having legitimate doubts about his ability to ultimately achieve #1 consistently. However, I also believe that this is a good time for IU fans to give themselves a perspective check and for all of us to make sure that our expectations are in line with reality.

It is inevitable that until the end of time all Indiana basketball coaches will be compared to Bob Knight. His shadow continues to loom large over our program more than a decade since his firing, as it should. It is because of Coach Knight, and Branch McCracken before him, that “It’s Indiana” means what it meant to Tom Crean and to so many others.

Furthermore, the fact that Indiana has had two coaches win multiple national championships should also provide IU fans everywhere with a sense of confidence. It’s not like Bob Knight led Army to the three titles. IU had a pretty good tradition when he got here, having won two titles under McCracken (’40 and ’53), and Coach Knight took it to the next level (winning titles in ’76, ’81, and ’87).

So as great as Knight was, and as large as his shadow still looms, it’s important to remember that Tom Crean said, “it’s Indiana” not “it’s Bob Knight.” The program is bigger than one man, no matter how legendary that man is. Yet, when IU fans watch the IU team of 2010-11, we all still compare every movement, every shot, and every decision to Knight’s teams. (At least, I find myself doing this. Perhaps it’s presumptive to assume that all IU fans do the same.)

When our offense stagnates or we run set play after set play, we all long for the masterful way so many IU teams ran the motion offense. When our defense is out of position, we long for the days of the IU teams that always seemed so well-drilled and prepared to play 40 minutes of consistent man-to-man defense. At the ends of games, when the current Hoosiers seem clueless and unable to get a good shot, with Crean often having to call timeouts to set up set plays, we long for the days of Knight refusing to call timeouts while instead relying on his team to run the motion and understand how to get its best shooter a high percentage shot.

So here is what we all have to realize: Tom Crean is not Bob Knight…and that’s okay. In fact, when it comes to teaching college players how to execute on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, Tom Crean isn’t even close to being Bob Knight. I’m sure even he would admit that, and there would be no shame in such an admission. For 30 years, Indiana fans were blessed to have one of the 5-10 greatest coaches in the history of basketball. There will always be debates about how to order John Wooden, Henry Iba, Coach K, Coach Knight and the other legends of college basketball, but even the biggest Knight hater would admit that he’s among the best ever. And you can’t really fault IU fans for constantly reminiscing about the beautifully and consistently executed brand of basketball that Knight teams played, and the expectations that developed over 30 years.

I also don’t think you can fault IU fans for wanting to see more of that consistency and execution from the current crop of Hoosiers, but we all need to realize that it’s just not going to happen.

Look at Tom Crean’s record at Marquette:

• In the six years Crean coached Marquette when they were in Conference USA, he won one conference title (the year he had Dwyane Wade and went to the Final Four)
• In the three years Crean coached Marquette when they were in the Big East, he never finished higher than tied for 4th and never made it to the Sweet 16.
• In nine years overall at Marqueette, Crean made five NCAA tournaments, three NIT tournaments, and missed post-season play altogether one year.
• In nine years, Crean had single-digit losses only two years: the 01-02 season and the 02-03 season. Those were the two seasons Crean had Wade, who would then go on to become one of the best players in the NBA.

Here is what I think we can surmise from Crean’s track record before coming to IU:

• He is a solid but unspectacular coach who will win a little less than 2/3 of his games
• When he has a supremely talented player, Crean’s team can thrive because said player will have the freedom to dominate games with his individual talent
• Crean can recruit and attract the talent necessary to compete in a big conference and get consistent tournament berths, but he has not shown the ability to produce great teams consistently.

So, what’s my point with all of this? My point is that anyone who expected Crean to quickly turn Indiana back into the program it was in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s was sorely overestimating his ability and what was and is within the realm of possibility. While I do believe that Crean’s ceiling at Indiana is higher than what he was able to achieve at Marquette, there is nothing in Crean’s history to suggest that he will be able to produce a program at IU that is even 75-80% of what Knight did. This does not mean that we as fans should temper our hopes, dreams, and goals for what IU can become, but it does mean, I think, that we need to remember to be realistic in our expectations as we move forward with Tom Crean.

One reason is that unless Brad Stevens declares that he is ready to move to Bloomington, who would Indiana hire right now that would be a better fit than Crean? Is there anyone? I cannot come up with a name off the top of my head – and I even have some doubts (not a lot, just some) about Steven’s ability to handle a more high profile job like IU. It’s possible he and Butler are simply the perfect fit and that it is in everyone’s best interest for him to stay put.

Another reason to be realistic in what we expect from Crean is that we all knew from the beginning that his system demands guards with NBA-level talent to succeed on the level close to what we all expect. Mo Creek has some NBA potential once he gets back to full health, and Victor Oladipo could possibly develop into that, but neither is close right now. Jordan Hulls and Verdell Jones? Please. Both are nice college players who will not sniff the NBA. Thus, the ceiling for this year’s team is very limited with the system Crean employs.

Fortunately, Crean does have commitments from high school players who project as the kind of talented guards Crean’s system demands. We can wish for a return of the Knight motion offense all we want, but it’s not coming back. With Crean as coach, we need guards who can consistently create their own shots and penetrate individually to create shots for others. Until we have that, we will always be inconsistent offensively. (And yes, we also need to find a consistent post presence, but that hasn’t exactly been a staple of Crean teams in the past.)

Thirdly, and I think most importantly, let’s remember that while Coach Crean is struggling right now to deliver a product on the floor that we can all buy into, he is doing everything else right. He turned the program’s academic standing and character around. He’s recruiting like a madman in the state of Indiana, and he’s succeeding – and as far as we know he is doing it all with integrity. He also seems genuinely proud of IU’s tradition and passionate about honoring it. Also, Crean’s IU teams have, for the most part, impressed me with their effort.

So as frustrating and unacceptable as last night was, now is not the time for IU fans to start jumping ship or making outrageous statements about Crean needing to go. He is the best man to lead our basketball program right now, and continues to deserve patience.

Are we allowed to get pissed off and voice our displeasure with results like last night’s? Absolutely. The “honeymoon” is certainly over in the sense that three game losing streaks and home losses to Penn State are no longer acceptable without reproach, nor are excuses. However, there is a difference between a honeymoon period with a new coach and a support period. The honeymoon period is the time when losses and poor play pass with relatively little criticism, and when moral victories are chalked up. That time is done, as was proven last night. The support period, however, remains so long as the program is continuing to take steps forward overall, even if there are momentary blips and stumbles.

The honeymoon may be done for Tom Crean, but I think it is unquestionable that IU fans should still be firmly in his corner. This is a basketball program that was rocked to its absolute core before he got here, and Tom Crean has done a good job overall of rebuilding it. As the games and seasons pass, the on-court product will grow more and more important, and Crean will ultimately succeed or fail in Bloomington based on wins and losses, and how he does in the Big Ten and NCAAs. But bottom line time is not here yet.

Based on his track record and what we have seen so far, I don’t know if Crean has it in him to bring IU basketball to the level that we all hope for and expect. What I do know is this: based on the totality of his tenure in Bloomington so far, Crean has earned more time than this for judgments to be made and more benefit of the doubt before support is withheld.

Tom Crean will never be Bob Knight, and I doubt he’ll ever be Branch McCracken. As IU fans, it will make our lives a little bit easier if we understand this as we move forward. There is, however, a nice spot between the highs of Knight/McCracken and the lows of Davis/Sampson that Tom Crean can settle himself into. And isn’t that really the best case scenario? Maybe that spot includes a national championship and/or consistent Big Ten titles, and maybe it doesn’t. Time will tell, and it will obvioulsy need to include one or the other for Crean to be in Bloomington for 15-20 years, but after the last decade of IU basketball, I honestly just want to get back to good again before I start worrying about being great.

I don’t know about the rest of the IU basketball fans out there, but I can’t wait for the next time we win 9-10 games in conference play, let alone compete for a title. I can’t wait for the next selection Sunday when I see Indiana pop up on the screen, regardless of the seed. We can worry about great later. That time will come. But Tom Crean will make Indiana basketball good again; as many questions as I have about Tom Crean as a coach, I do not doubt that.

And if that’s as far as he can take us over the next 5-10 years, fine. I’ll still consider the Crean Era a success, all things considered, and it would then probably be someone else’s turn to see there is magic left in Bloomington. I happen to believe that there is and still have some confidence that Tom Crean could be the guy to bring that magic back. Let’s be honest with ourselves Hoosier faithful: at this point in time should we really be asking for anything more?

Let’s keep supporting our coach. Flaws and all, Tom Crean is still the right man for the IU job right now. Our patience does need to last into perpetuity, but it is still warranted even on the morning after a 69-60 home loss to Penn State. Yes, the honeymoon is over, but so what? No honeymoon lasts forever. It’s good that there are now higher expectations and disappointment at losses like last night’s. It’s good to see passionate, even knee-jerk reactions to terrible losses no matter how misguided and emotional they might be; it means the fan base is getting re-engaged. Add it all up and it means the program is being rebuilt, little by little, even with a few steps backs mixed in with all the steps forward.

Right now, that’s good enough for me.

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For the best IU basketball coverage, visit our friends at Inside The Hall or the always great Peegs.com.