Nico Perrino
Men’s Basketball
Even with the loss of a stud freshman (Maurice Creek), mastermind Tom Crean has IU competing in conference play.
It must boggle Big Ten Coach’s minds.
How does a team like Indiana, whose talent is so sparse, compete on the court with teams in one of the best basketball conferences in the country? To me, there can really only be one answer:
Heart.
And I hate saying it so much –I can’t emphasize that enough. It’s so cliché and sounds like a line straight out of a bad Disney made-for-TV sports movie, but it’s true. How else can you explain it? With a starting five that is more reminiscent of a good high school basketball team than a powerhouse Div-I team, the Hoosiers manage to hang in there, and beat, some of the best college basketball teams in the country; teams that have more talent sitting on the bench than Indiana has in it’s starting lineup.
Pitt, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State- all respectable basketball teams- have fallen to Indiana’s mop squad this year, while teams like Kentucky, Illinois and George Mason would have, had it not been for late second-half collapses by the Hoosiers.
If you look at the history, and the numbers, it’s unexplainable.
After Sampson was fired for being a douche bag the program went down the shitter. Eric Gordon left (but then again, who didn’t see that coming), and along with him, the rest of the scholarship players; the Athletic Department was forced to pay an enormous buyout; word started leaking that the team, under Sampson’s tutelage, had a whole array of drug problems (thanks Gordon); fans started hearing that for years players weren’t going to class –something coach Tom Crean called, “an abomination;” And the Hoosier faithful wondered how the team might ever recover…
But then something happened.
The Athletic Department hired Marquette head coach Tom Crean –an apprentice of Tom Izzo- to begin the long arduous process of trying to return the once illustrious Indiana basketball program to it’s glory days of the Bob Knight era.
He started from scratch. No players, but a ton of support. He fielded a first year team that was up to it’s neck in Div-1 rejects: He had a walk-on from Carmel, Indiana at starting point guard –an Indiana first; a slew of guards who left obscure teams all over the country to jump at the opportunity of playing for one of the most prestigious programs in the country; and a lanky, uncoordinated, 7-footer who couldn’t bend over to tie his shoe when he first got to Bloomington, let along dribble a basketball.
And he had a full Big Ten schedule that would show no mercy.
The team, as you could very well guess, finished with a pretty abominable record that included only a single Big Ten conference win. It was the worst single season in Indiana basketball history. But for some reason you could sense that Indiana basketball fans weren’t worried. They had trust in their coach. They understood his predicament and knew that one day the talent would come and with it the wins would start pilling up. They also knew, however, that no matter the talent on the floor Crean was going to milk it for all it’s worth – allowing no player to leave anything left on the court.
He made that promise to all fans.
It was the only way to play basketball when you’re so overtly outmatched: When you lack in talent you have to make up for it with hard work and spirited play.
And with hearts the size of Watermelons, they played.
Continuing their effort into the 2009-10 season they finally got some help. Creek, Watford, Elston, Hulls and Capobianco came to Bloomington, and with them came a collective sigh of relief from Hoosier nation.
“Finally some talent.”
Creek and Watford were some of the best players in their class, while Hulls –making the long trek from Bloomington South High School to Assembly Hall- came after just being anointed, “Mr. Basketball.”
Even with the extra help, things remained the same for the Hoosiers at the start of their second rebuilding season. Three straight losses to Mississippi, Boston and George Mason had many fans fearing a repeat of the 6-win season the year before. And things weren’t made much better with a loss to Loyola right before Christmas and the loss of their best player, and Big Ten Freshman leading scorer, Maurice Creek, the week after in a gimme game against Bryant.
Those who didn’t write Indiana off before the Creek injury definitely wrote them off after.
But that was a mistake. The Creek injury had the counterintuitive effect of actually improving the team – at least in the Big Ten wins and losses column.
They opened up with a huge Big Ten victory over Michigan – a very unexpected win after Creek went out: A win I bet you Michigan fans didn’t expect from the Hoosiers.
But Michigan exacted revenge a few weeks later, capping a three game losing streak for coach Crean and Indiana with a 69-45 home victory.
Then Indiana won a thriller against Minnesota that ended with an incredibly embarrassing court storming that ESPN anointed the worst court storming in the history of court storming. Non-the-less it was a win over a Big Ten team that started off the season ranked –a win many saw as a huge step forward.
Next was a win over Penn State at Penn State, and the obvious question from most sports writers, “how?” How can Indiana, now on a two game winning-streak in the Big Ten (Woo hoo!) be .500 in Big Ten play and right in the middle of the conference in the Standings?
They were a white-wash squad: A team assembled from the wreckage of hurricane Sampson, meant to wash the slate clear and erase the memories of an era gone astray.
The answer to the question, which can’t be found in the statistics because, quite frankly, they aren’t good, has to come from somewhere else. From somewhere -from something- that can’t be found on the stat sheet, but can only be seen when you watch the scrappy team move up and down the court in Assembly Hall.
From respect for tradition, from respect for their coach, from respect for the fans, from a commitment to the pursuit of excellence: From the heart.
