Indiana suspends Devan Dumes

Tom Crean has decided to suspend leading scorer Devan Dumes indefinitely after Dumes was ejected in the Hoosier's loss to Michigan State. Dumes was tossed after throwing an elbow with about two minutes left in the game, but it definitely wasn't the first elbow Dumes has thrown (not at a computer right now, but when I am I will try to find video of the indicent).

This just makes things even more difficult for Indiana, who is 6-16 this season (they did pick up their first Big Ten win last week against Iowa). Dumes was averaging 13.8 ppg to lead IUn who will be playing with just seven scholarship players until Dumes returns.

UPDATE: Seldom-used Oklahoma guard Ray Willis has been suspended as well after being caught on suspicion of driving drunk. It isn't the first time Willis has been in trouble this year. He was involved in a fight at a club that resulted in him getting stabbed, partially collapsing a lung.

UPDATE #2: I found of the elbow that got Dumes tossed, but it doesn't show the other ones he threw during the game. Good thing he didn't land it, because he swung hard.



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Eric Gordon Speaks About Indiana....

...and it probably wasn't what Indiana wanted to hear. Rumors have been swirling for a while that one of the reasons that Sampson was ushered out of Bloomington so quickly was that he had lost control of the program and that drug use was a major problem with his players.

In an interview with the IndyStar, Eric Gordon confirmed those rumors. From the IndyStar:

"It was the guys that were doing drugs that were separate," Gordon told The Indianapolis Star.

Gordon didn't say which players used drugs, but he said D.J. White and two others still on the team were among those who did not. Attempts to reach White and several other former players were not successful.

Gordon said Sampson "tried to stop it," but the coach "was just so focused on basketball and winning and everything."

Gordon said he spent considerable time with a family friend in Bloomington because the atmosphere around some players was so bad he didn't feel comfortable on campus.

"Sometimes it felt like it wasn't even a real basketball team because of all the turmoil that went on," said Gordon, now a starting guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. "I was just thinking about that the other day. It was so crazy that all that stuff threw off a good season and made it a waste, basically.

"It was really tough for us to be around each other all the time off the court because we were so separate."

Now if these guys were smoking a little weed once in a while, its not that big of a deal. If you read this blog, then you know that I am a big proponent of allowing these players to be kids, just like their classmates. And college kids smoke weed.

So forgive me if you disagree, but I really don't have that big of a problem with a star basketball player taking a couple bong hits on a Friday night after a big win.

That said, based on what Gordon was saying, it seems like this was much more than a once-in-a-while thing for these players. Whether it was smoking, or (hopefully not) snorting/shooting, Gordon makes it seem as if these guys were high all the time. RTC makes the point that Gordon played terribly down the stretch - his numbers went for 46.6% shooting and 3.4 t/o's per to 32% shooting and 4.2 t/o's per for the last seven games. Now whether this is because he gave up on his team or because of this wrist injury doesn't matter. It is clear that Gordon had given up on the season.

I'm guessing a lot of people wish they found this out before last year's NCAA tournament. Continue reading...

11/25 - Some Links, Some News

-Xavier freshman PG Terrell Holloway is out for 2-4 weeks with a stress fracture in his left foot. Pretty disappointing news for the frosh as he looked so impressive in Xavier's championship in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. It could be worse, however. Even if he is out for four weeks, Holloway should still be back in time for X's trip to New Jersey to play Duke.

-UCLA's Alfred Aboya doesn't have a broken wrist. Southern Illinois's Nick Evans does.

-It looks like the Kelvin Sampson soap opera is over at Indiana. From ESPN:

Sources told ESPN.com on Tuesday that Sampson, now an assistant with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, will receive a five-year show-cause penalty -- one of the harshest the NCAA can levy against an individual -- while the Hoosiers program has been spared a postseason ban.

The sources also said Indiana's self-imposed penalties are expected to be upheld. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Star is reporting that the Hoosiers will receive three years' probation. The NCAA has scheduled a 4 p.m. ET conference call to discuss its findings in the case.

Good decision by the NCAA not to punish the kids at Indiana right now because it is an entirely new group of people around the program. Punish the school, don't punish some kids that are going to spend 2-3 years getting pounded by Big Ten opponents.

-Doug Wiggins has been suspended indefinitely from the UMass basketball team after being arrested for breaking and entering. Apparently, Wiggins was found in the bathroom of someone else's home. Wiggins is sitting out this season after transferring from UConn, where he had been in trouble before. Last year, he was suspended for two games after an arrest for possession of alcohol by a minor.

-Seth Davis of SI wrote a very interesting article about St. John's and what has happened to the basketball program there. Definitely a must read.

-Gary Parrish explains why there are so many pre-season tournaments.









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Tuesday Morning Shootaround

Still waiting for my internet to get fixed. Gotta love comcast...

Anyway, I watched entirely too much basketball last night - 5 games in total before giving up during Oregon-Alabama. As I said yesterday, Feast Week is easily the best week in the college hoops season that doesn't come in March. The games yesterday: Texas-St. Joe's, Notre Dame-Indiana, UConn-Wisconsin, Florida-Syracuse, and Kansas-Washington. Six (or seven depending on where you have the 'Cuse) ranked teams, nine with tourney hopes, played yesterday. My thoughts on the games:

Texas 68, St. Joe's 50: Texas won this game with defense (how often have you heard that the last few years). The 'Horns pressured a St. Joe's team (who looked like they weren't ready to play) throughout the game, forcing 18 turnovers. The Hawks made a little run at the end of the half to cut the lead to 37-28, but an 11-2 Texas spurt (aided by three St. Joe's turnovers) put the 'Horns up 48-30 and all but sealed the win. I knew Texas was going to be big this year, but still, they are huge. They start Dexter Pittman, Connor Atchley, and Damion James at the three (a guy who averaged a double-double last year) and bring Gary Johnson (14 and 10 last night) and Alexis Wangmene (8 and 7) off the bench. Those are a lot of big bodies for Rick Barnes. But I'm not convinced of their point guard situation yet. Abrams is clearly more comfortable running off of screens in a half court offense (he did pretty well handling the ball in transition), and Justin Mason, as good as he is, just is not a point guard. If the 'Horns want to be a Final Four team, Dogus Balbay or Varez Ward is going to have to step up and push for more minutes handling the rock.

For St. Joe's, I was really disappointed watching Ahmad Nivins. He ended up with 14 and 13, but he seemed genuinely uninterested for most of the game. I mean, the guy is long, athletic, and strong and could feasibly average 18 and 12 in the A-10, but he is going to have to work a lot harder than he did last night.

Notre Dame 88, Indiana 50: Really not all that much to say here. Notre Dame got a lead early and put it in cruise control by the end of the first half. Kyle McAlarney, who was 2-13 in his first two games, finally got into a rhythm, knocking down 6 3's. Tory Jackson, who is one of the most under-appreciated players in the country, scored 21 and had 6 assists, but also turned the ball over 5 times. I really like Jackson's game (he reminds me a lot of Taliek Brown, the PG for UConn the year they won the title with Okafor and Gordon). He is quick with the ball, getting in the lane just about whenever he wants. Once there, he is a very good passer (has led the Big East in assists the last two years) but he can also finish with a variety of floaters and finger-rolls. He's also a pesky defender and a great rebounder for his size. He's a perfect point guard for Mike Brey and this Notre Dame team that has so many offensive weapons.

On the other side, I was really impressed with how hard Indiana played. The talent isn't quite there yet, but one thing you have to credit Tom Crean's team for is that they didn't give up, even down 30 late in the game. There are a few pieces to build around. Freshman Nick Williams, who signed with Crean at Marquette, showed a lot of upside, although he is still a little raw. I also saw a lot to like in Tom Pritchard, the Hoosier big man that came into the game averaging 16 and 10. He is a crafty lefty in the post. He's got a slew of fakes and has tremendous foot work. When he gets the ball on the block, he knows what he wants to do with it and is patient enough to take his time and make his move. He's not a great athlete, but he has a nose for the ball. He'll be the guy that Crean runs his offense around this year. Pritchard had 14 last night.

UConn 76, Wisconsin 57: The first thing to note about this UConn team is that Jim Calhoun has been going with a seven man rotation early on. One of the things that has really bugged me about Jimmy C in recent years is that his notorious "quick hook" has gotten quicker and quicker, and he would end up going 10 or 11 deep and using guys that had no business playing in the Big East. He wasn't doing that last night (well, as much - AJ Price got pulled about 40 seconds into the second half for taking a bad shot). UConn's strength this year is going to be their guard play. AJ Price, Jerome Dyson, Craig Austrie, and Kemba Walker wreaked havoc on Wisconsin guard's. UConn is back to their old ways, running Calhoun's 2-2-1 press then dropping back into man-to-man. I was really impressed with Kemba Walker (this was the first time I saw him play). He is probably going to be the quickest guy on the floor every game this year, and he takes advantage of that. He is an absolute terror defensively, as he had four steals last night (two of which led two 1-on-0 fast breaks) and forced about 3 or 4 more turnovers. He still is a freshman and makes freshman mistakes (he had 7 turnovers himself, a lot of which were just a result of over-penetrating and playing too fast), but Calhoun will live with Walker learning as he goes when he gets 12 points, 8 boards, 4 steals, and 2 dimes out of him. Another thing that impressed me was that out of UConn's big four (Dyson, Price, Hasheem Thabeet, and Jeff Adrien), Dyson was the only one that played well (21, 3 dimes, 3 steals). Price struggled all game as he is battling a variety of ailments (abscessed tooth, sprained ankle, coming off the torn acl). Thabeet and Adrien combined for 23 points, 15 rebounds (10 offensive), and 4 blocks, and seemed like they were getting pushed around a bit on the blocks by Wisconsin's bigs. And the Huskies still beat a good Wisconsin team soundly. When the Huskies get it going this year (and when they get Stanley Robinson and Ater Majok eligible), they are going to be tough to beat. One last note - Thabeet looked much better defending on the perimeter last night. What Bo Ryan did was take whoever Thabeet was guarding (usually Keaton Nankivil, who led the Badgers with 11) and use him as a screener, both off and on the ball. While he still is not great at it, Thabeet looked much improved at defending the pick and roll. His inability to do so is what cost UConn their first round game against San Diego last year.

Wisconsin did not look very good last night. They don't really have a scoring option on the block (although I'm sure a lot of that had to do with Thabeet's presence), Trevon Hughes really struggled against the Huskies pressure, and if it weren't for a tremendous start (5-5 from deep in the first 10 minutes), Wisconsin might have been run off the court in the first half. I'm not and never will be worried about a Bo Ryan coached team, but right now they look like they are a ways behind Michigan State and Purdue.

Syracuse 89, Florida 83: This is the second time I've seen the 'Cuse play, and they are really going to be good this year. I probably would put them at fifth in the Big East right now (behind the big four). Jonny Flynn is the same Jonny Flynn from last year. Paul Harris is just as tough, but as added a 15-17 foot jumper that you must defend. Arinze Onuaku has gone from a 275 lb fat boy to 275 lb of muscle (seriously, he looks like he should be on World's Strongest Man). Kristoff Ongenaet, Rick Jackson, and freshman Kris Joseph are all going to be able to provide hustle, rebounds, and defense inside. And they've gotten back the two things they were missing last year - perimeter shooting from the wings (Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins) and another guy that can penetrate and score or create shots for others (Devendorf). But the biggest change I see in this year's team is that Jim Boeheim has them playing a lot of man-to-man, which makes it all-the-more difficult for a team to prepare for the 'Cuse. Boeheim has himself a tough team that is going to make some noise this year.

As for Florida, I want to know where their defense was last night. For some reason, Billy Donovan decided to play predominantly 2-3 zone last night, which Syracuse tore apart. Personally, I think that Donovan was trying to see how good this zone could be if he wanted to use it later in the season. He has a ton of guys that are long and athletic and can cover a lot of space in a hurry, which is exactly what you want in a zone. Offensively, it all starts with Nick Calathes. I hate to use cliches, but the kid is just one step ahead of everyone else. The best comparison I can give for Calathes is Jason Kidd. They are both bigger point guards who can make any pass with either hand, know where people are going to be before they get there, do not need to look when they make a pass (seriously, Calathes probably looks on about a third of the passes he throws), and both have an ugly, but effective, set shot three pointer. The best example was this play from last night. Calathes had the ball on the wing, and Alex Tyus (who played great last night, more on him in a bit) was in the opposite short corner. Syracuse was in a zone. Calathes drove baseline (to his right), and after two dribbles zipped a pass right to the center of the paint. It looked like the pass was to nobody, but Tyus, as Calathes was driving, was curling around into the middle of the paint, where he got the ball and got an easy look (I forget if he finished the lay-up or got fouled, but it resulted in two points). Calathes finished with 19 and 7 dimes. As for Tyus, he just knows how to get open. He is a lanky, 6'7" athlete, but he is very active and scored 24 last night on a variety of put backs and dunks off of Florida's ball movement.

Kansas 73, Washington 54: Kansas is exactly what you would expect. Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich are both as good as advertised. Collins last night had 18 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals, but more importantly made great decisions and was the leader for this young team. Perfect example: after a bit of a scrum for a rebound, Markieff Morris and Justin Dentmon got chest to chest and started jawing with each other. As the refs headed over to break it up, Collins said something to Morris and kind of forced him to head back to the bench, then as the game headed into the commercial break, you could see Collins talking with the ref for a while. No way I can know what was said, but by his body language and gestures, it was clear that Collins was going to bat for his young teammate. That's what senior leaders are supposed to do. Aldrich looked like the real deal last night. He did miss a couple easy ones inside, but for the most part played great. He ended up with 16, 9 boards, and 6 blocks. What impressed me the most were his outlet passes. There were two or three in the first half when he grabbed a rebound in traffic, kept it above his head, turned and flung the ball 50 feet up the court to a Jayhawk in stride, leading to a fast break. And all of that would happen in the span of about a second and a half.

For Washington, they have a long way to go. Brockman is a horse inside, but beyond him they aren't anything too impressive. Isaiah Thomas can score, but he has a long way to go before he lives up to his name. The rest of that team - Quincy Pondexter, Dentmon - looked downright awful at times last night. The days of Brandon Roy must seem like a long time ago for Lorenzo Romar.

Other scores of note:

• Davidson 76, Florida Atlantic 60 - Stephen Curry had 39 points and 4 assists in the win.
• Wake Forest 62, Winston-Salem 31 - A week after scoring 120 points in a game, the Demon Deacons held a team to 31 when they struggled offensively. Don't hand Duke second place in the ACC just yet. 
• UNC 115, Chaminade 70
• Miami FL 80, San Diego 45
• Kentucky 91, Longwood 57
• Ohio State 61, Bowling Green 57 - BJ Mullens had 2 points in 11 minutes.
• UNLV 80, UTEP 67
• Oregon 92, Alabama 69
• Yale 53, Oregon State 52

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9/23 - Some Link, Some News

-Kyle Whelliston of the Mid-Majority and ESPN, who is probably the world's leading authority on mid-major basketball, profiles three guys (and gives a full list) that transferred out of power conference schools and into mid-majors, and are going to be eligible this year.

One of those guys is Maurice Joseph (who is heading to Vermont despite averaging 5.9 ppg at Michigan State in 2006-07). So not only do the Catamounts return Marqus Blakely (America East Player of the Year at 19 ppg and 11 rpg despite being 6'5") and Mike Trimboli (17.4 ppg and 4.5 apg), they add the 6'4" Joseph (who conveniently used his year off to get shoulder surgery), giving UVM a very talented 1-2-3 punch. Expect UVM to regain their spot atop the America East.

-On Friday, Sept. 19th, some of the biggest names in basketball gathered at Manhattan College for a coaches clinic, which has been dubbed "the clinic to end all clinics". The five guys who spoke: Barry Rohrssen, Hubie Brown, John Calipari, Rick Pitino, and Bob Hurley Sr. Maybe I'm too much of a basketball junkie, but I think I could sit there and listen to those guys talk basketball for hours.

-Dan Dakich, the guy who was the interim coach for Indiana after the Kelvin Sampson debacle, spoke with Gary Parrish (more here) about what he will be doing next year (coaching his 8th grade son and 6th daughter's basketball teams) and about the state of the Indiana program. The most interesting part:

"Let me put it this way," Dakich said. "Sometimes being with Coach Knight you think 'Well, maybe our culture is wrong. Maybe we work too hard and demand too much.' But after seeing what I saw last year, you better have the right culture or else the thing can really blow up on you. And when you talk about everybody gone from the athletic director to the graduate managers, that thing blew up."

It's common knowledge that the players at IU last season weren't model student-athletes, evidence being how Dakich and his successor, Tom Crean, combined to dismiss pretty much everybody who didn't leave on their on accord. Out of respect for the individuals, Dakich declined to get specific. But he did acknowledge the group of players didn't "fit the Indiana basketball culture."

"I feel bad that D.J. White never got to experience Indiana basketball the way it's supposed to be," Dakich said. "And I'm really sad for the players that ended up getting kicked out of here because they will realize at some point in their lives what a colossal mistake they made by not taking advantage of Indiana."

-Good read on Steph Curry, who despite being a super star (he's boys with LeBron), has managed to stay grounded (apparently, he volunteered to help freshman move in at Davidson).

-Syracuse's Eric Devendorf has been granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA.

-Nothing to do with college basketball (although No. 9 was a cheerleader for the Arizona State basketball team), the top 10 cheerleader's gone bad. Continue reading...

9/18 - Some Link, Some News

-I thought that it would take Tom Crean three or four years to rebuild the Indiana Hoosiers basketball program, but after Crean signed Christan Watford, a 6'7" combo forward from Alabama and a consensus top 40 recruit, it looks like Indiana may be able to compete before that. Watford joins Maurice Creek (Rivals No. 59), Derek Elston (98), Jordan Hulls (106), and Bobby Capobianco (as well as Georgetown transfer Jeremiah Rivers, who will become eligible for the 2009-2010 season), giving Indiana what is just about guaranteed to be a top 10 recruiting class in 2009. The best news? Crean can recruit Indiana. Elston (Tipton) and Hulls (Bloomington) are two of the best local products. Crean also has 10 new faces coming into Bloomington (eight freshman and two JuCo transfers) this season, led by 6'4" guards Verdall Jones and Nick Williams.

-Yesterday we wrote about the newest trouble arising in Tuscon, Lute Olson's alleged recruiting violation. GoAZCats.com is probably the best place to get up to date news on all Arizona Wildcat athletics, but they have yet to report on the possible violation (although they were the ones to break the story about Abdul Gaddy re-committing). Gary Parrish tells us why. Jim Storey, the man whose AAU Tournament was the destination for the illegal funds Olson was trying to get from donors, also just happens to be the creator and principal of GoAZCats. Interesting.

-Last year, Duke Crews was the starting power forward for Tennessee before an injury, a suspension, and a heart condition combined to end his season. This year, Crews will be the starting power forward for DII Bowie State. Crews was kicked off the team at Tennessee, along with fellow sophomore Ramar Smith, for failing drug tests and decided to go to a DII school so he wouldn't have to sit out a year.

-Alex Stephenson still has not been cleared to play for USC this year, as he is awaiting word on whether he will get a waiver (aka the Tyler Smith waiver) because of the health of his father.

-Luke Harangody vs. Tyler Hansbrough. Both put up similar numbers, but one has much more star power than the other.

-Seth Davis of SI.com wrote an interesting piece looking at five teams that took trips abroad to play exhibitions during the summer.

-ESPN's Dana O'Neil catches up with John Chaney.

-Which state has the best overall college basketball? Storming the Floor tries to find out.

-Former Illinois guard Jamar Smith has received 18 months probation for violating a court order after his 2007 DUI, where he crashed into a tree and left teammate Brian Carlswell severely injured in the car.

-I don't like getting into recruiting too much, but there were some big signings yesterday - Tyler Honeycutt to UCLA and Avery Bradley to Texas. Continue reading...

8/20 - Some Links, Some News

-Bill Self was rewarded with a 10 year, $30 million contract after bringing a national title to Kansas. Tom Crean was rewarded with a 10 year, $23.6 million contract after, well, bringing a clean image to Indiana? I'm not really sure what Indiana is doing adding those two extra years. Maybe, given the fact that they lost every single talented basketball player off of their team from last year, and will be led into the Crean era by Kyle Taber, the school wanted to give Crean some extra time to earn his $685,000 national championship bonus. One thing the school did change was make it much more strict in terms of recruiting violations - apparently IU can fire Crean for the slightest infraction. Side Note: Crean hired former Duke star Roshown McLeod as an assistant.

-Bad news for Mike Cook and Pitt, but good news for the rest of the Big East - the NCAA denied his request for a medical redshirt after a knee injury cut his senior season short. In order to be eligible for a redshirt, you must play in less than 30% of your team's games. Cook played in 11 of 32, or 34%.

-Ty Lawson has plead guilty to underage drinking and driving. Lawson will be sentenced to 26 hours of community service.

-Gary Parrish with an interesting piece on Oregon State coach Craig Robinson and his brother-in-law, Barack Obama.

-6'9" junior-to-be Alex Stephenson has decided that he will transfer to USC which is close to his North Hollywood home. Stephenson averaged 4.3 ppg and 4.5 rpg for UNC last season, but with Tyler Hansbrough and Deon Thompson returning, and UNC bringing in two Mickey D's freshman in the front court, Stephenson's playing time will be severely reduced.

-Lars Mikalauskas, the 6'8" Lithuanian center, has been dismissed from the Virginia basketball team by Dave Leitao. Neither will comment of the cause of the dismissal, but Leitao and Mikalauskas have had flare-ups in the past, including the coach suspending the player for an exhibition game. 6'11" Tunji Soroye will, however, return for another season.

-After Xavier landed Indiana transfer Jordan Crawford, further crowding their back court, guard Adrion Graves has asked for a release so he could pursue playing somewhere else. Graves averaged just 1.9 ppg in 34 games for the Musketeers.

-South Alabama guard Dominic Tilford, the only one of the Jaguars three talented guards returning from last year's 26-7 team, has been suspended indefinitely from the team following a cocaine possession charge he received last week in Louisville.

-Markieff Morris, an incoming freshman at the University of Kansas, has been arrested for underage drinking and, get this, shooting a BB gun out his window and hitting a woman in the arm. What a moron. I guess it probably isn't a surprise he and his twin brother (also a Kansas recruit) are still not eligible for this season. Continue reading...

Oh, How The Mighty Have Fallen

In February, mid-way through the Big Ten season, the Indiana Hoosiers were a top-ten team in the nation, led by star freshman guard Eric Gordon, bruising big man D.J. White, and a marquee coach in Kelvin Sampson. They were a trendy Final Four pick, and basketball-mania was alive and well in the Hoosier State.

And then things got ugly. Sampson accepted a buy-out from the school after it was revealed that he engaged in unsavory and illegal recruiting tactics. His indiscretions were particularly bad considering he left Oklahoma University surrounded by similar allegations. Assistant Dan Dakich took over and did the best he could, but the team collapsed. There was even a period of time when it was unclear if the players would show up to play for their new coach.

The Hoosiers lost unexpectedly to Minnesota in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and slipped to an 8th seed in the Big Dance, where they promptly lost to Arkansas. Not exactly the results you would expect from one of college basketball's powerhouses.

And then things got really ugly. Despite hiring Tom Crean from Marquette, a terrific coach and recruiter, the team began to disintegrate. Gordon declared for the NBA draft (no surprise there), and White and forward Lance Stemler graduated. Sophomore Armon Basset and junior JaMarcus Ellis, two key contributors that were suspended by Dakich, were thrown off the team for good and transferred. Another forward, DeAndre Thomas, decided he wasn't going to come back, and little-used freshman center Eli Holman left the school after getting into an argument with Crean in his office. He apparently threw a potted plant and Crean had to call the police. You know it's bad when bench-warmers are throwing potted plants. Finally, talented guard Jordan Crawford transferred to Xavier, completing the exodus and depleting the Hoosiers.

So what can we expect from Crean's team? Indiana's fans are perhaps the most passionate in the country, and while they have to know that this will be a down year, Crean will still be on a short leash. He only has one returning player, forward Kyle Taber, who averaged a whopping 1.6 points per game last year. The rest are newcomers, and since Crean didn't have much time to hire a staff and recruit, he wasn't able to compile a top-shelf incoming class. Uh oh.

This situation reminds me of North Carolina's predicament in 2001, when they went 8-20 under the overwhelmed Matt Doherty. The talent level was low, the coach was unprepared, and the fans were ravenous. I would expect a similar record in Bloomington this year.

But there is hope, and it lies in Crean. By all accounts, he is a terrific coach, able to motivate his players and get the most out of their talent. The Hoosiers will struggle mightily this year, but if the fan-base is patient enough to let Crean recruit and develop his own talent, Indiana will be back at the top of the Big Ten soon enough. Just look at what happened to UNC. They were awful in 2001, but won the national championship only four years later.

My advice to Hoosiers fans is this: wait it out. It will be tough losing in East Lansing by 25 points. It will be even tougher sweating out close games with Northwestern. But the allure of playing for Indiana will bring talented players and Crean will mold them into a winning program soon. He transformed Marquette from Wisconsin's ugly step-sister into a perennial Final Four contender. He will do the same for the Hoosiers.

And if that doesn't console you, at least the Colts should be good.

Posted by Ross Weingarten Continue reading...