What's your take on the status of the IU hoops program? Are we headed in the right direction? Does CTC know what he's doing? Would you rather see him get a raise or his walking papers? What's the outlook for this season, and for the next 4 or 5? Should he be recruiting Indiana more, or less? Too many 1-and-dones, or too few?
And Now For Something Really Important!
- Thread starter Buzz123a
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He's a pretty good coach for a high major (taking into account all that being a coach of a high major entails). But his idiosyncrasies, among other flaws, compromise his results and leave him short of the expectations of both traditionalist fans and the win at nearly all costs crowd.
I suppose I'm a traditionalist fan: I want to win regularly (though I don't require as much as the win at all costs folks), I want the program to show integrity, and I want to see a strong traditional culture. If those are the criteria, Crean probably gets a B-, a B+, and a C.
I think he's failed as a leader the past couple years in a number of ways that have undermined the likelihood of a long future at IU. But he'll win at a decent clip and continue to land talented kids to make any departure a difficult one. That's a tough road at IU.
Great to see you back and I wish you well.
My expectations are low for Crean. He's an average coach at best. If Indiana wants to return to an elite level, they'll need a better coach.
I agree with a lot of that, Thyrsis, although I'd rate his win regularly a C given that his wins are generally against teams that his team should beat with even a few disappointments there.
My beef with the product on the floor is the defensive philosophy. Seems to me that CTC values deflections more than defensive structural integrity; kids gamble to get a turnover and get beat FAR more often than I like, which gives up an easy bucket and/or an offensive rebound and a bucket. For me that's a failure that's going to continue because it's a choice that CTC is committed to . . . and I don't like it at all.
One more thing I don't like is that the guards - especially Yogi - plays "flat" on defense. Yogi's feet are more often than not parallel (rather than one foot deeper than the other) and at 90 degrees to the offensive player, which allows the offensive player full range of the floor, and also gives away good defensive position immediately upon the guy getting just even with Yogi's feet. Maybe if you're intensely quicker than the other guy you can get by with that, but I don't think Yogi's that quick on the college level.
Yep to all that, but I'm presently influenced by the second dysfunctional year in a row. I suspect Yogi is part of that and Crean is definitely part of Yogi's accountability.
That aside, I like several of the players, find them easy to root for, and hope they do well. I just think Crean has a flawed sense of temperament and doesn't elevate the right players. That's part of the culture I think is flawed. I'm not sure if that's worse than the defense, but it's at least equally unpleasant to me.
Oh, and on the wins, his teams have beaten plenty of really good teams and then been slayed by lesser opponents. Here and there, that wouldn't be an issue, but I think it's more pronounced than that. That's raised eyebrow inducing.
Deflections are not just "deflecting" the ball. I spoke once to a player a couple of years ago. Yes, if you get your hand on the ball, you get a point. If the opposing team has a 35 second violation, all 5 players get a point. A charge taken is 2 points for that player. An offensive rebound, 50/50 balls etc. It is more than gambling and getting out of position. A number of teams, including Pitino's teams, do similar things.
Now, don't get me wrong, I thought their D was atrocious last year, but not due to the deflection stat.
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