-
Not exactly the perfect birthday week ... or was it? (Hoosiers Insider | The Indianapolis Star)
"I believe this was Carlino's idea and not that IU ran him off. But I also don't think IU was heartbroken over the news either. If I were to guess, Crean felt worse about Abraham on his birthday than Carlino." In addition to discussion of Moses Abraham and Matt Carlino, Hutch discusses a recent visit from juco big man John Wilkins, who has had a strange career path thanks to some play overseas. -
Should Brad Stevens Be the New Head Coach for Indiana University Basketball? (Kent Sterling, 1070 The Fan)
"So people wonder if Tom Crean is the right guy for the job. They wonder if the Crean hire was just another blind stab in the dark by Rick Greenspan, the man who did very little to stop IU’s athletic evolution toward the bottom of the Big Ten." This is such a dumb article that I hesitate to send any traffic its way. I link it more as an example of the horrid state of central Indiana's sports media than for any true value to the reader. I respect what Brad Stevens and his predecessors have done at Butler, but isn't it worth pointing out that not long ago, Tom Crean was the wunderkind who reached the Final Four before his 40th birthday? The passive-aggressive tone is annoying, too. Who wonders, Kent? Do you? Then say so. There is no guarantee that Crean will succeed at IU, but I don't see how his hire could be construed as a "blind stab in the dark." Crean is a protege of one of the Big Ten's best coaches ever, he has coached and recruited extensively in the midwest, and he had a strong head coaching record in both C-USA and the Big East. Who should IU have hired instead?
Purdue Boilermakers Men’s Basketball: Your 2011 National Champion (Hammer and Rails)
This isn't really an IU post, but since Travis baited Purdue's "friends to the south," I figure it's worth a response. Since the advent of the AP poll in 1949, on four occasions IU has entered the NCAA Tournament ranked number one. Since 1949, IU has won four NCAA championships. Still, the overlap is only 50 percent. IU's 1953 and 1976 teams were ranked number one and won the championship. The 1987 team never was ranked #1, although they did spend a few weeks at number two. The 1981 team spent only four weeks in the top 10, but cruised through the NCAA Tournament with a 22 points-per-game victory margin. On the other hand, the undefeated 1975 team lost in the regional final, as did the 1993 team that went 17-1 in a loaded Big Ten and swept the Fab Five. My point? This stuff is hard. I would expect Purdue people, of all fan groups, to realize this. Under Gene Keady, Purdue earned three #1 seeds in a nine-year period. Not only did Purdue fail to reach the Final Four in any of those seasons, but only one of Keady's #1 seeds made it past the first weekend. Purdue's only Final Four appearance in the seeding era came as a 6 seed in 1980. Assuming that Hummel returns to form, and presuming JaJuan Johnson returns at all, I think a championship is a reasonable goal for Purdue, but is it a likelihood? No such thing, as Kansas, Kentucky, and Syracuse can attest. But hey, Purdue hung a banner for a retroactively awarded championship, so they may as well hang one for a future championship.