If you go into a game thinking the outcome is already determined then the outcome IS already determined. I am a very competitive person by nature and I am not even an average an athlete but I have never went into any game of any kind thinking the outcome is predetermined. As a competitor in any type of competition you cannot allow that thought to slip into your mind. Every team and every player have weaknesses and your goal has got to be to expose those weaknesses while hiding your own. Granted there are times when there just isn’t enough camouflage available to do the job, as has been the case here the last three years. But you cannot go into any contest thinking you have lost before the game starts and expect anything other than to get your butt kicked. One of RMK’s favorite quotes was “in basketball….mental is to physical as 5 is to 1”. Nothing he ever said could more true. If you are not mentally tough you CANNOT be physically tough. That has been a lot of the issues we have on defense. Defense IS mental toughness. You can be a pretty good defender and have little athletic ability. If you have the work ethic and the determination and the ability to beleive in yourself and your team you can over come a great deal of adversity 

The extra weight and strength is such a key out there. I have played when I’m not in great shape and when I am 10-15 pounds over my natural. The difference is unquestionable. People start bouncing off of you instead of moving you around. I think Will and VO will benefit from this the most. It will be interesting to see what Jordy  can do. We need him on the floor 30 minutes a game.

I won’t take anything away from these guys, but the fact they are even on the floor accentuates my point.

Sorry but I can’t feel great about my odds when I am taking on MSU and someone at this talent level and size is on the wing. That is not a winning situation. Meanwhile, Keith Appling is running around them like a 3rd grader.

If a football team has a great offensive line, and are running down your throats, it doesn’t matter if you have 8 or 9 defenders in the box. They are going to run on you anyway. You can play as hard as you want, but at some point it affects you mentally. I think the IU bball team can relate to that.

At any rate, these players and we fans need to move on. Maybe he regrets saying those words. Either way I think the team will play harder with more talent around them.

The thing with the offense is, haven’t posters here said for Crean’s entire tenure that he was running the offense he hoped to one day run with the personnel to be effective?  I know people have complained that he didn’t change it to maybe be a little more efficient for the first few years, but I think the consensus was that he’d basically installed an offense that was going to be around for when he got high-level talent.  

So I don’t think it’s too big of a surprise that not much is changing.  And, as it is, IU’s offensive efficiency, and other stats, actually ranked fairly high, especially relative to their defensive numbers, so I think the focus is probably correct.  I think IU has scorers this season, as long as they make good decisions (VJ3) and don’t turn it over (VJ3 again).  Watford, Zeller, Hulls, Jones, Oladipo, Sheehey, and Elston can all score, most in multiple ways, and Roth and Pritchard can score if others create for them.  I don’t know enough about Abell and Etherington to judge, but it seems like they can do some things.  To me, having the right player initiating the offense is so important, so Hulls stepping up this year is huge.  

But the biggest change in offensive flow will probably be Zeller’s passing ability.  I used to cringe when Pritchard would take a handoff on the wing in certain sets last year.  I doubt I’ll still react that way when Zeller gets it in those same spots.

The reason why players like Suhr or Moore are loved is because they’re short and they’re walk-ons.  5’8″ and not able to earn a scholarship is something that virtually everyone in the crowd can relate to.

You’re all spot on – we heard the same thing last year.  Even from the players.  I do have faith that it is going to become reality one of these times, though, because CTC’s Marquette teams were always very good defensive teams.  We’ve got more depth this year so maybe CTC has a better chance of enforcing “defense first” by sitting any player who seems to forget it.

The question to answer is can we play defense without fouling?  Bobby, Tom, and Derek would foul out walking to class last year.  Part of it was their fault, part of it was covering for the weak perimeter D. 

IU teams were known for making more foul shots than the other team took.  If we can get some semblance of that back that will win us 4-5 more games right there. 

Probably the biggest improvement over last year’s team is the depth.  VO and Sheehey are stronger, more experienced and can take over (instead of fill in) for Creek.  Plus, I hope Roth and Etherington have a friendly rivalry over who’s going to make the most 3s. 

The question to answer is can we play defense without fouling?  Bobby, Tom, and Derek would foul out walking to class last year.  Part of it was their fault, part of it was covering for the weak perimeter D. 

IU teams were known for making more foul shots than the other team took.  If we can get some semblance of that back that will win us 4-5 more games right there. 

Probably the biggest improvement over last year’s team is the depth.  VO and Sheehey are stronger, more experienced and can take over (instead of fill in) for Creek.  Plus, I hope Roth and Etherington have a friendly rivalry over who’s going to make the most 3s. 

I respect your point, but don’t buy it. I think there are just as many stories about teams not being very good and working their arses off, look at Princeton and mid major teams that make a run. Plus these guys aren’t in high school, they are getting a free education and most have the belief (though delusional) they can play pro ball somewhere

It was Crean who made the comment about not playing hard, I just don’t understand how you can see that on the team and not do something about it? Nobody on the team the last 3 years was/is above getting thrown out of practice, being suspended or even booted off the team if they didn’t try hard enough. Not to go all Knight on this, but someone should have been made an example of, just like Jordan Crawford was when Crean started.

The reason players like Suhr or Moore are liked is because they have very little talent but huge hearts and the will to try hard. To have guys (most of whom would not be wearing an IU jersey without the team failing on hard times) not playing hard is pathetic.

It was, but last year’s team was less experienced and athletic than this one. With VO and WS likely to earn more minutes this year the athleticism on the perimeter has been upgraded significantly over Hulls/VJIII/Wat. Hopefully that, along with modest improvement from those three guys, leads to an improved defense.

Also, broken record thy name is “IU playing better defense”.  Let’s hope we get off repeat this year.

I think Crean was saying “rate” of improvement was the best.  VJIII had a long way to go in order to defend effectively so he made a big jump from where he was last year. That does not necessarily mean that he is the most improved.  He could still be our worst defender but at least he made a big jump over last year’s work. I am still waiting to see VJ’s improvement because I didn’t see it at HH.  When VO and Will play backcourt defense together, they can shut down all the other guards on our team. I saw that happen a few plays at HH but the coaches made some changes and I wanted to see more of their defense. Hope somebody talks about the backcourt d after the scrimmage this Saturday. I’ll be at the game but not at the scrimmage.   

I just hope this year’s go at it will prove more successful.

I remember my high school baseball team winning 90% of their games my Fr year. We lost all 9 starters to graduation and 3 other sr. pitchers. I started at SS as a soph. along with 7 other underclassmen. We had one senior that rarely saw the field.

When you go out there, knowing if every single kid had the game of their lives, you would still lose, it is a mental nightmare. “Don’t try hard enough” is pretty harsh. More realistically the outcome of the majority of these games was determined before the season started. I just don’t think they will feel that way anymore.

That, and although I like that we are deeper, I hope that doesn’t mean substitutions every thirty seconds.  Try stringing success together as a team when your “team” on the floor is never consistent.  I hope he gets a solid 7-9 man rotation down that players can depend on as the season goes on.

We had many more droughts of not being able to stop people. 

aka, 5 guys standing around not sure what to do with it? Yea, I’m with ya there

And while I’m sure he knows what he’s doing by focusing on defense first, I cringed a little at that, thinking about our many long scoring droughts.