Crean has came to Indiana and in 4 weeks has changed that program way more than Sampson did in his tenure. It is good to see someone have the balls to come to a big time traditional power and tear it down. Billy G. could have learned a lot from Crean last year when he went to Kentucky. Not being an Indiana fan, I do look forward in a couple of years to see how great that program will be. Sounds like Holman needed a little bit of that Herbal remedy before meeting with Crean to calm his ass down.
everything that has happened with that program since Crean has entered the picture has been negative. So what good has he done since he has been there??? What Indiana did to team last year in the middle of the big 10 race was a digrace. The only message that was sent was that they didnt care about that team last year. The players didnt lose that season the athletic department lost that season.
How can you say everything he has done is negative when what he has done is remove players that wouldn't play or go to class last year.Why would anyone want student-athletes on their team that weren't students or athletes?Sampson screwed that university eight ways from Sunday and it is on his and the AD(whom should have been fired)shoulders.Crean meanwhile,is trying to create a Program and family atmosphere at IU.Stay in Wisconsin and write about what you know,not what you don't.
I agree, what Crean is doing is not a negative thing. He's just trying to get some respect back for the IU basketball program. He took a job that he knew would not be easy, and in my opinion he's doing exactly what needs to be done. If he's there long enough i believe he'll be able to turn this dismal looking future for their program into a success once again.
I agree. It's a crying shame to see a team with the basketball tradition and history that Indiana has in the state of shambles that Kelvin Sampson left it in. Right now, all they have, other than Crean, is their tradition. I doubt if Tom Crean will ever win 900 games, but he seems like a decent guy with plenty of Division I experience.
The real question that crosses my mind is, had they known how things would play out with their selections (Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson), how much of throwing an occasional chair or punching the occasional rude student would Indiana administrators have put up with for another 8 years of the occasional national championship, coach of the year, and Olympic gold medal?
Crean is doing a great job at IU. He has to get all the bad blood out of the program before he can start to rebuild, otherwise he is just going to have a negative influence and attitude there the whole time. A lot of alums seem happy with this choice, unlike a few years ago when IU hired Sampson. A known cheater hired by a program that had been clean for 40 years? Bad news.
Greenspan (IU's athletic director) should be fired, in my opinion. I'm hoping IU is just waiting until the NCAA's official hearing later this month before they can him.
And I really am sorry they fired Bob Knight. He never broke any NCAA rules, made all of his players do well in classes and graduate, and was an all around good coach. Tough, yes, but that kept the cry-babies off the court where they don't belong. I really hope he does come back and coach again, although hopefully at a better school than Texas Tech, haha.
I'd like a little more clarification on why you said that about Gillispie. I know that he made the players buy into his system, and did the practice on game days thing trying to instill toughness and show them who was boss. And apparently he wasn't going to cave to a freshman's need for more pt (Legion) and so allowed a good player to transfer to maintain control over his team. Gillispie definitely wasn't soft on his group. I know this thread isn't even about him, but I wanted some clarification since it seemed like a random barb thrown out there.
It was random, pretty much I am really disgruntled that he made the NCAA tourney after his awful start to the season(not a big UK fan). He is a great coach. Also I believe Crean may be in the tourney next year. He won with marginal Conf. USA kids back in the day. There's no telling what he can do with the guys IU has on the bench. A lot of those returning scholarship players prob could have plyed in the MVC or some other mid major.
Name one other person other than Diener or d-wade that was ever a great player(or standout) under Crean before the past couple of years. Now you understand what I mean by marginal talent. Please dont take away from the magnificent job Crean has done..
Given the generally classy and clean way Bo Ryan, and Dick Bennett before him, run their program at Wisconsin, I'm surprised to hear this from you. Perhaps you're also a closet Marquette fan who will eternally refuse to acknowledge any good from Tom Crean.
If you knew what you were talking about--if you had apprised yourself of the facts before running your mouth--you would know that Sampson was running a renegade program in every aspect, and that Crean has been faced with a huge clean-up job. Therefore his housecleaning is a positive. You would also know that forcing Sampson out immediately was the only acceptable option for Indiana this past season, if you had bothered to inform yourself.
Normally, the 'sconnies are my favorite Big Ten team after Indiana. But, if people like you make up the Badger fan base, I'm switching to Minnesota. Let's go Golden Gophers!!!
While I agree that the two Tennessee players should have been smarter about breaking rules, the rules in this case are a bunch of hypcritical BS. Our current president used coke. Our former president(s) (carter, kennedy, and of course clinton) smoked weed. As do, by Charles Barkley's estimate, some 85% of the NBA. Where do colleges get off performing drug tests on student athletes for non-performance enhancing drugs? Are they being tested for alcohol as well? Are ALL scholarship students, not just student athletes, being tested for social "drugs"? The American Medical Association and all other legitimate medical bodies throughout the world state firmly that weed is less harmful than alcohol, yet is only illegal because of politics and money. The attorney general of the US lied to congress in 1937 to make weed illegal in order to profit from his stock in petrochemical fiber companies that would have failed in the wake of new hemp-harvesting machines (look it up, its in the congressional record), and now Bush and his cronies perpetuate the lies for their continued economic gain. The rest of the world has begun legalizing it again as an economic necessity and social reality as it had been smoked by nearly all countries around the world for thousands of years and was only made "illegal" within the last 100 years. It is a plant, not a drug, and it is sad that adult-aged basketball players are having their careers and reputations sacrificed because of it.
Regardless of how it became illegal, or if it should be legal or not, currently it is illegal (and don't mistake me, I'm not saying it should be this way, that's just a fact).
These players are receiving scholarships for being student-athletes that maintain certain standards set forth by the NCAA and the universities they attend. Smoking weed is against the law. They broke the law, and NCAA rules.
It doesn't matter how many people do it. If they get caught, the universities and NCAA have every right to punish them for it.
It sounds to me like someone needs to mellow out man.
If you know the rules of your job before you take it (don't make the boss or company look bad being an important one) and you break them just because you don't like them or think they are stupid, what do you think happens to you?
That is the real world and not some smoke filled utopia my friend.
