We graduate all of our players, we place a higher value on academics than other programs, we do things the right way, we don't hire coaches who are aggressive in recruiting, we're proud of the fact that we win championships without future NBA stars.
Basically, think of all the cultural things that Coach Knight espoused over the years. These things become part of your essence. And, to me, these things have been the single biggest reason our program has been mediocre (at best) since RMK left.
And, I should add, that an institution's culture is not just these tangible things. In other words, somebody might say "Hey, we are going after the 5 star guys who will be one and dones now...and we are doing NIL, etc." That's true, and they're steps in the right direction.
But that's the easy part. The harder part is the underlying sentiments.
Let me put it this way: I bet most IU basketball faithful would agree that we'd never hire a coach like Bruce Pearl. And they're probably right about that.
The fact that we wouldn't -- and we all know we wouldn't? That's our problem.
