Indiana basketball fans finally decided to come out of the woodwork and be fans of their historic basketball program once again. There are too many proclaimed Indiana fans that haven't really been fans through the tough times the program has been through in recent seasons. It all has come to a complete head this past Saturday night in Bloomington with then-#1 ranked Kentucky in town.
Hoosier basketball fans haven't really been the support group that a program needs in times that they've had, especially the three seasons before this 2011-12 campaign that we're well into now.
Indiana basketball fans were never a fan of former head coach Mike Davis and how he coached the Hoosiers. That was quite evident during his tenure in Bloomington. Davis made four NCAA Tournament appearances in his six seasons at IU. His biggest highlight at the helm of the Hoosiers was guiding the 2001-02 team to a National Runner-up finish, falling just short to Maryland in the National Championship game, 64-52. Coach Davis was 114-79, winning just 59% of his games at IU. The one big problem that I, and most IU fans have with that season, is that Davis blazed the NCAA Tournament trail looking like a great coach. What he was doing, was winning games with Bob Knight's recruits. The players that made a difference during that NCAA Tournament run were all brought in by Knight, so Indiana fans really don't give that much credit to Davis. It could go either way really. Knight's players and Davis' coaching both almost added up to Indiana's 6th National Championship in the university's history. It was quite a feat for Davis, who was in his second year as head coach at IU.
After Davis was let go after his 2nd Round NCAA exit to Gonzago (90-80), despite going 19-12, former Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson was brought in to hopefully get the Hoosiers over the hump.
Sampson's hiring was questioned from the get-go by the board of trustees, fans, students and the world of college basketball. He had been reported to have made 611 illegal phone calls to basketball recruits while coaching the Sooners. Those violations were reported to the NCAA and they followed Sampson to Bloomington. Though he was a successful coach in his brief stint coaching the Hoosiers to a 46-19 record, he got no further than the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament in those two seasons. Sampson exits after the 2007-08 season, despite a 25-8 record.
Enter Tom Crean. Most IU fans that I know have actually given Tom Crean a fair shot without criticizing his recruiting too much. Hoosiers are giving Crean a chance to "bring in his players" to help bring Indiana basketball back to the dominance that it once had. Crean came from Marquette University in Milwaukee. His highlighted moment as head coach of the Golden Eagles was leading them to the 2003 NCAA Final Four. Dwyane Wade was the star on that team for Crean.
Crean has done what it takes to start a basketball program over from scratch. Here's a quick look at IU's previous three seasons before this current undefeated start:
2008-09: 6-25
2009-10: 10-21
2010-11: 12-20
Just by looking at the records, his teams have made only slight improvements in his first three years. The administration at Indiana University has been very patient and I think they're figuring out that patience is a virtue and it's starting to pay off for their basketball program.
Let me get this out there. I am not an Indiana fan. I grew up a Notre Dame fan. I'll admit it as a college basketball junkie that I was pretty skeptical about this past Saturday's game against #1 Kentucky. Only a couple minutes into the game, it was obvious that Indiana wasn't going to lose. I give them full credit for continuing their pursuit to defeat #1 and make the college basketball nation realize that these Hoosiers were for real.
Prior to Saturday's upset of #1 Kentucky, Indiana's schedule wasn't highlighted with too many marquee opponents to start the young season. Before the season started, a Sunday night matchup on Thanksgiving weekend with back-to-back defending National Runner-up Butler looked like a much bigger game on the slate. Butler lost two of it's stars, guard Shelvin Mack and forward Matt Howard, to the NBA during the off-season. Their first big road test was at North Carolina State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, taking down the host Wolfpack, 86-75.
Scheduling teams like Stony Brook, Chattanooga, Evansville, Savannah State, Gardner-Webb, Stetson, Howard and Maryland-Baltimore County aren't really going to help that much when it comes time to start the Big Ten conference schedule after Christmas. There's nothing like a true road test than heading to East Lansing to play Michigan State at the Breslin Center.
The next test for Indiana shouldn't be that tough. I'm going to be embarassed how badly IU will beat my Notre Dame Fighting Irish this Saturday. The two will play in the second game of the "Close the Gap: Crossroads Classic" at Conseco Fieldhouse. Purdue and Butler square off at 2 p.m., followed by the Hoosiers and Irish at 4:30 p.m.
Indiana is a team that's just deep enough and could get deeper if need be throughout the season. With a starting lineup of guards Jordan Hulls (11.2 pts, 52.9% on 3's), Verdell Jones III (50% on 3's) and Victor Oladipo (12.3 pts), Christian Watford (11.4 pts, 48.1% on 3's) and freshman phenom Cody Zeller (15 pts, 7.4 reb, 65.8 FG's) man the frontcourt. Will Sheehey just might be one of, if not, the best sixth men in the country. Daniel Moore, Derek Elston, Tom Pritchard and Matt Roth also provide plenty of depth.
Crean's squad entered the Top 25 for the first time in quite a while this week at #18 in the Associated Press poll and #20 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll.
Things are on the rise for Indiana basketball. This is a great thing for IU, the Big Ten conference and college basketball as a whole. Such a storied program deserves to be back at the top of its game and be a headline again. Tom Crean is 9-0 here in 2011-12, but began his journey as the IU head coach with a three-year record of 28-66.
As big of a college basketball fan that I am, I can honestly say that I'm glad to see Indiana back to their winning ways. I wish that Notre Dame could pull off the upset this Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse, but the odds of that are pretty small. Notre Dame has no one to matchup with Zeller and the Hoosiers' quickness overall might stymie the Irish and turn the game into a straight up blowout, unfortunately.
To all of my friends that are IU fans and graduates, you all should be proud of what you witnessed Saturday for 40 minutes of basketball. Your hearts were pounding as Verdell Jones III drove just inside the three-point arc and dished to Christian Watford. Watford sails a three from the left wing with 0.7 left, erupting the Assembly Hall. Game, Hoosiers. Indiana 73, #1 Kentucky 72.
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