I hope the best for this team and I want them to achieve. This is why I'm critical at times, but these guys on here almost worry me (really they irritate me) when they seem satisfied or without reservation cause “we are young and rebuilding”, or tell people they don't have a right to speak their mind cause this is only Creans second year. Well, the second year is almost over and next will be the third, then the fourth. What happens then??? When people step over the line and make comments like, “Crean needs fired right now!!” without stating why or giving alternatives, then I can see how someone might might make a comment or just simply ignore them. I don't know, there are no easy answers at this point and I don't think it can get much worse, so with that being said these kids need to quit over thinking everything and go out and have some fun, play ball like they have nothing to lose. I hardly ever get on the kids, its the coaching staff's comments or lack of preparation that usually tick's me off. Just as you said though, these kids have played ball their whole lives and I'm sure they have grown some pretty thick skin by this point.

I'm not going anywhere, I couldn't if I tried so I'm hanging in there for sure and remember to always speak your mind even if it means making a few people mad. I can almost bet you that the majority of the people probably feel exactly as you, frustrated beyond belief!!!!!!!

Many of us have brought up Coaches Creans shortcomings which I for the most part agree, but we should also be focusing on Coach Roshown McLeod's seemingly failures. He is our “big mens” coach and as obvious, they are woefully far behind where they should be in my opinion. We can't seem to be able to box out, haven't developed any moves of any consistency where we can get a score from our big men. Our guards do as much or more rebounding than our bigs do so it seems to me that Coach McLeod abilities needs to be questioned as well. Just recently Dan Dakich was asking the same thing.

As many here are surely aware, there was some boos at the game against ohio state. So it seem it is not just a few of us that feel the way we do. But we all need to keep supporting our team no matter what. But, to question the coaching, effort, and direction should always be a privilege of fans.

Again, I'm all for constructive criticism of the team in-game and direction of the program. I'm really disappointed in the '10 class so far. I think Rivers needs to be benched. I agree Elston has been handled very poorly. His confidence is shot, and I think that's mainly on the coaching staff.

Everyone has a right to their opinion and to post it. With that said, of course people are going to respond when a poster says CTC told Williams to leave, should have demanded Story stay and says the '09 class was a bunch of 2 and 3-star players and hasn't lived up to the hype. It's not opinion, that's factually incorrect. The '09 class had 3 4* and 3 3* players and are only freshmen, with the best one out for the season.

Also, when people question why IU isn't winning since we had this great '09 class, isn't it fair to respond that it's just one class, not an entire team? That CTC would not have handpicked this team if he had a full strength program to work with. I'm not trying to be some huge CTC defender, but man, IU doesn't have a full roster, we just don't. IU is at a talent/experience disadvantage nearly every time they step on the court in the Big Ten.

I try to be in the middle. I see what you are saying here, but at the same time, I feel their point too. Yes, there are some people who are ready to jump ship and just complain to complain, but there are some posters, and to be honest sometimes you come off this way whether you mean it or not, who won't let anyone say anything negative, even if it is constructive. I think maybe a few bad apples have soured you to think anyone who voices concern is just a basher who doesn't know anything.

Unlike some posters above, I grew up playing basketball, played through high school, went to nationals in AAU, just like a lot of other kids. My point is not that I'm awesome, my point is that I'm not a casual fan who doesn't understand whats going on, so what I would like to do is stimulate a real discussion here, with MY CONCERNS and I would like YOUR opinions (Got that everyone else? its just people who can be respectful having a debate like is supposed to happen.)

1. I don't think that we should be going marching this year and didn't expect a 20 win season, but baring some huge influx of confidence and wins, we won't get more that 11 this year. I know we are young, and that we need more talent and were decimated, I get that, but… watching us stick with some good squads (Purdue and Illinois) you can't argue that we are so bad we deserve to have terrible effort and get blown out by OSU by giving them at least 5 dunks against a Zone! I'm fine with losing when we are out talented, but to lose games we should win, or get blown out in games who should compete in, is simply unacceptable. We have more talent on this team than 9 wins. Can you honestly watch these games and not think that?

2. Crean has constantly said, I need more talent. This is true, but how much more? I, or you, or anyone could win 70% of my games and make the tourney (probably do a lot better to be honest) with a bunch of 5-star and veterans. (See Kentucky. Just let them play) With that said, that is not coming even in the next 4 years. even with the best 2010 and best 2011 classes we could pull off from here on (Selby, Zeller, insert your favorite) they will still be young, and we will still have the other players we have. This isn't changing. So what can change? My argument would be our strategy. We don't have the athletes yet, so to get them, we have to perform better than expected. This isn't going to happen running an NBA offense for Jordan Hulls and Tom Pritchard. (Creek can handle this offense, Jones at times, and Rivers can get to the rim, but he sure can't finish worth crap and he also turns it over about 5 times a game playing this way) We have some talented kids, that have no structure. Give them some sets to get them open. For example, one of many, Jordy can make 3's if hes open, but that's not gonna happen with him going 1 on 1. Give us some plays that get people open in a position where they can do something with the ball. If we have the talent, our current plight might work, but we don't and may not for a while, COACH WITH WHAT YOU HAVE! That's what good coaches do. Look back at some of our better teams of the past (This is not intended as an I love the General, bring him back) Were they filled with 5-stars? not at all. We made guys half as athletic look like good ball players. Luke Jimenez was productive for us, Tom Coverdale was a good point guard and was an un-athletic drunk. We have the athletes and bodies to develop, but aren't doing too much for them.

3. Just because we are young, does not mean we can't teach and move forward. I know Crean has to be himself, and has done some of this. I know we don't see practice so we don't know what is said there. Even with those things being true, how does the message get to Dumes that he can't just pull up whenever he wants, or the message get to Jeremiah that driving 1 on 4 with nowhere to go and then throwing it away isn't okay either, how do these things get across if Crean only claps and then leaves them in. I thought he said people had to earn their spots this year. They aren't earning anything. Yank them out when they get out of hand, then teach them, let them get over it, and put em back in.

I'll put it this way, MSU wasn't playing up to their potential early this year. I know Crean learned there and respects IZZO. What did he do? KICKED HIS BEST PLAYER OUT OF PRACTICE. It worked great until Lucas recently was hurt and they went on a 3 game skid. before this, their help defense was some of the best in the country (no not perfect at all, but when they did it right, really really good D). Our help defense is terrible, and we just keep doing it. It can't be all blamed on youth either. No one gets yelled out for face guarding a guy away from the ball, it looks like they are being told to do that. And the match-up zone is just terrible. How many lay-ups and dunks can we give up in a ZONE. You know the defense that is supposed to pack the middle and not let anyone in, and has to be beaten over the top with 3's… that defense, well we give up lay-ups in it because we have some of our best defenders and older players, running all over to find a man within the zone. This will not work in the Big Ten. Give us 5-stars, and it will not work. Yet its the defense we are obviously coached to be in.

Sorry, I got carried away in venting. My overall point is that while I agree with you we need some time to be where we were, and to be competing for the B10 title, we already have more than enough talent to be better than we are. 3 more wins this season is a huge dissapointment when you think about how much more talent we have this year, with some good players being a year older, and the fact that we played some horrible teams this year that were even worse than teams we played last year. We are better than a 9 win team, but yet here we sit at 9 wins with a good chance we won't get a 10th. This comes down to the coach, no matter how young we are. This program deserves a good coach, and good coaches win with less talent. Good coaches get the most out of what they have. We haven't done that at all. We put our kids in situations that they can't live up to, and struggle through, because its what the coach wants to play. How about setting up stuff that helps the players use the skills they do have?

I like Coach Crean, I really do. I like his enthusiasm, I like his recruiting, and I like what hes done with the public outreach and getting back old players to events. What worries me with him, is that this is not the BIg East. The Big East has some really good teams, it has some teams with a lot more talent than a lot of Big Ten teams, but what they don't have, is a lot of set offense, and a lot of lockdown defense that scouts really well and gets people out of their sets. The Big Ten absolutley does. Thats why it is so slow as a conference. Even good teams can take all 35 of the shot clock to get their shot, because the defenses are prepaired and good. Unlike the Big East there are not a ton of teams that take the first shot they can get and use only 10 seconds of the clock. We play like a Big East team, and throughout a Big Ten season, that will consistently get killed by a team that sees them twice a year, every year. Its way to easy to shut off our 1 ball screen. Crean is in the Big Ten now, and its time that he start to coach like it. Take the guys that other people overlook, the effort guys, the small guys with gusto and knowledge like Jordy Hulls, and put them in a position where they can out execute other people. Thats how we can win and be good, its not going to be by running, jumping, or out talenting people anytime soon. You have to win to get top recruits, and we won't win without top recruits if we keep playing the style we are. 2 years is too soon to expect us to be back, but is it really too much to ask to improve on stupid mistakes and general basketball skills and knowledge throughout the year. Half our fanbase grew up playing right here in this great state of High School basketball and learned all of these things by 7th grade. It is not too much to expect our College players to know as much as our states junior high kids. That will be an argument that no one will ever convince me to think differently on. We are not so young that we can't execute general basketball skills and plays. or make free throws. or know that you don't save it under the other teams basket. or that 1 on 4 is not good odds. I could go on forever.

Youth, Talent Level, or 'Proven Winners' are not excuses for poor basketball knowledge and game plans. If we get beat because the other team is simply better, then so be it, I can live with that and respect a good opponent. When we lose because of lack of effort, or we are not as prepaired as the other team, or don't make the proper adjustments to their disruptions of our game, that is when I can't take this anymore.

I had no idea people felt I was some sort of “hall monitor” here. I'm flattered 🙂

Not that it matters what I think, but I'm sorry if myself and some other posters get frustrated with people commenting about how TC put this team together and it's his fault the players aren't good enough, and that IU should be better by this point.

Of course he did bring the players in, but IMO it's pretty short-sighted to blame him given the situation he inherited. Do you really think players were beating down the door to commit to a team that had two walk-ons returning? Do you really think TC would have handpicked this team had it been 100% up to him?

Sorry if I'm out of line for posting my opinion.

You and some of your supporters on this forum seem to immediately attack anyone who questions the direction, effort, and coaching of OUR team. It is my opinion that we all have a right to do this. I have not seen a post where anybody has attacked your opinions of this team or questions your knowledge of the game. Let’s be clear, it is an opinion, we all have them and we all are deserving of our own. The problem lies with the fact that you seem to go after people personally rather than just read the post and understand that it’s their opinion and leave it at that. I don’t think the players and certainly the coaches need a personal protector. I have even seen where a persons spelling was brought in focus as an attempt to ridicule and belittle someone who didn’t share their views. This type of behavior is pathetic and sophomoric at best.

You are not out of line for posting your opinion. However to ridicule someone else for their opinion is out of line.

We are all painfully aware of the particulars of this years team and some of us believe that we should be further along with the maturation process of this team and frankly coaching than we are. For those of us that believe this to be the case, it is obviously extremely frustrating.

No apology needed for an opinion, just don’t ridicule someone else for sharing theirs.

“Did TC demand that Malik Story was making a bad decision going home and that he demands that he stick it out for another year??”
Show some compassion. The kid wanted to go home. He was from California playing in the very cold Indiana weather for a TERRIBLE basketball team. If he wanted to transfer closer so that his mom and dad could come see their boy play basketball, does that mean Crean ran him out of town? If you were TC and a player came into your office asking for a transfer to go to a school closer to his parents because he was homesick and didn't think that he could be comfortable here, you would “demand that Malik Story was making a bad decision going home and that he demands that he stick it out for another year?” I hate that you're saying that CTC is responsible for running these kids out of town. Unless you know something that no one else does, and the exact reasons why these kids are gone, it really is not fair to claim that it's CTC's fault. Maybe he asked those kids to stay, and they told him that they felt it was the best case for them. Would you still “demand” they stay?

Coach Crean doesn't have a lot of avenues. He's in essentially the same place he was last year. I am with you in that I wish we still had Williams. I was okay with the Story departure because while he did some good things, he also made a lot of boneheaded mistakes and wouldn't have seen much playing time this year with how many guards we have this year, although the depth wouldn't hurt. Williams would be a very good rebounder for this team and he would probably be starting in VJ3's spot as a big physical guard that can play defense extremely well, which while I love Verdell's ability to score, makes me want to tear my hair out every time I watch IU play. Believe me, a lot of the fan's on here wish the exact same thing that you do. We all want IU to win and hang banners. Coach Crean has taken a lot of blame for this team but you can't put it all on him. You can't win with freshman and sophomores. When the leader of your team is a sophomore, who would be a redshirt freshman at a lot of other schools because he wouldn't have even played last season, you have a major problem. I hate the excuse of youth, but in this situation, IT IS NOT AN EXCUSE! It is the blatant truth. I say that CTC has one more year to make a tournament. Next year, he absolutely has to make the NIT. He has to or he will be on the hot seat. People will start asking for answers. However, it is very possible that if, and I stress IF, this team develops the way that it should, that the bigs get stronger, the wings improve their ball handling and shooting, and Rivers and Hulls can adequately distribute the ball, with the return of Mo Creek, they have a damn good shot at making the NCAA tourney. Again, if. Be patient. They're young, but they show you the flashes of brilliance. They will be outstanding players, you have to let them develop. Perhaps you're right, maybe a kid or two will transfer, but it won't be because TC told them that they need to pack up and leave. Everyone looks at TC's annual “spring cleaning” at his teams at Marquette, but maybe it's because he is a straight shooter in these exit interviews that he conducts. Maybe he tells the kids that unless they work extremely hard, they won't play a lot of minutes for this team, and some kids don't respond to the challenge but I don't see how that is TC's fault. Also, I want to make it known, I am not attacking you. I am just trying to point out that if you want to look at one side of the argument, you also have to look at the other side too, which I've presented.

Go Hoosiers. We got 5.