The 3-Year Pass for Crean is a joke

[Let 'er Fly]

I'm still tired of hearing about how the first 3 years of CTC's coaching era should not count. I'll give you the first year expectations should not have been to win or even place in the top half of the B1G, but good coaches at solid program do not take that long to turn it around. Phonegate was not that big of a scandal and was not the reason for the setback for those 3 years or past 9 years.

Roy Williams took over for Larry Brown amidst the paying scandal. His conference standing at Kansas in the first 5 years: 6th, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st. Roy took over from Doherty at UNC when they sucked for 2 years (no Dance). Roy's conference standing at UNC: 6, 1, 2, 1, 1.

UK: after the Gillispie Debacle in '09, Calipari came in and fared well in the Dance in his first 3 years: Elite 8, Final 4, Champs.

Our guy's first 4 years: 11, 9, 11, 5.

 

[bailey777]

I will give him two years but year 3 should of been much better

 

[TommyCracker]

You should look at what Pitino did at Kentucky, or what Gregg Marshall did at Wichita State.

Those are rebuilds.

When you have the facilities, history and fertile recruiting ground it doesn't take four years to be competitive.

Finishing last in his third year was atrocious.

 

[Tasmanian Devil]

Finishing last in his third year was atrocious.

"But we lost Mo Creek to an injury (again)! And Guy Mark was ruled ineligible!" <rolleyes>

 

[bsmitty08]

Even without those years his record still sucks here as @Paterfamilias pointes out

 

[.Gerdis]

As has been mentioned before basketball is a much easier sport to turn around as all it takes is one great player.

We regressed in year 3, going from 4 BT wins to 3, and from 9th to 11th. Bo Ryan gets that squad (those players) in the NCAAS.

Talking about turnarounds, how about coach Knight taking the Red Raiders to 23-9, 10-6 in the conference in his first year? That was a patched together team. The year before they were 9-23. I should mention that he did that at a school with little to no tradition, that is in the middle of nowhere and is very difficult to recruit to. The exact opposite of IU.

when has a Crean team exceeded Expectations? Even if you take his best seasons, they seem better than they really were because expectations were lowered. The lowering of expectactions is not because of the talent on the team, its because of him. Look at last season. Yes, we won an "outright" BT title. But we were a 5 seed. Is that seed indicative of a team that exceeded pre-season Expectations?

Creans teams have a history of having the wheels fall off, with big losing streaks. I will suggest that last season we were very close to that happening.......the come from behind win vs ND saved that season, and Crean (for at least one year), IMHO.

 

[snarlcakes]

when has a Crean team exceeded Expectations?

That question says it all and the answer is 0.

 

[HoosiersChamps]

"But we lost Mo Creek to an injury (again)! And Guy Mark was ruled ineligible!" <rolleyes>

Don't forget the "we were young" crap.

 

[IDontWannaLargeFarva]

It's not college football. 2 recruiting classes can completely change everything. He never should have been given more than 1 or 2 season of slack.

 

[TommyCracker]

"But we lost Mo Creek to an injury (again)! And Guy Mark was ruled ineligible!" <rolleyes>

I know, it drove me crazy that year. Mo Creek was hurt the year prior (some talk like he was hurt initially that year). Yes, that top ten recruiting class were sophomores in year 3.

They had a SOPHOMORE high four star 6'10" power forward.
They had another SOPHOMORE borderline 3/4 star 6'10" power forward.
They had a SOPHOMORE borderline 3/4 shooting point guard.
They had a JUNIOR 3 star shooting guard.
They had a JUNIOR serviceable 6'10" power center who made the all big ten freshman team.
They had a SENIOR all purpose guard that played major minutes on a final four team.
Then they had two FRESHMAN 3 star players, one who statistically was our best player that year (see Deron Davis this year) but never got extended minutes who turned out to be the #2 pick in the draft just two years later.

Was that team expected to win the conference...Hell no.

Was it expected to go a putrid 3-15, which is historically awful for the conference? Hell, hell no!

That team was a little more talented and had around the same experience as this year's Minnesota team.

Baby Pitino has them in the NCAA.

 

[birdforpar]

I will give him two years but year 3 should of been much better

This.

 

[Tasmanian Devil]

I know, it drove me crazy that year. Mo Creek was hurt the year prior (some talk like he was hurt initially that year). Yes, that top ten recruiting class were sophomores in year 3.

They had a SOPHOMORE high four star 6'10" power forward.
They had another SOPHOMORE borderline 3/4 star 6'10" power forward.
They had a SOPHOMORE borderline 3/4 shooting point guard.
They had a JUNIOR 3 star shooting guard.
They had a JUNIOR serviceable 6'10" power center who made the all big ten freshman team.
They had a SENIOR all purpose guard that played major minutes on a final four team.
Then they had two FRESHMAN 3 star players, one who statistically was our best player that year (see Deron Davis this year) but never got extended minutes who turned out to be the #2 pick in the draft just two years later.

Was that team expected to win the conference...Hell no.

Was it expected to go a putrid 3-15, which is historically awful for the conference? Hell, hell no!

That team was a little more talented and had around the same experience as this year's Minnesota team.

Baby Pitino has them in the NCAA.

That team was very comparable to what Northwestern is this year in regards to talent.

 

[jsig]

Exceed expectations? I'd be happy if he lived up to them.

 

[mohoosier]

I'm still tired of hearing about how the first 3 years of CTC's coaching era should not count. I'll give you the first year expectations should not have been to win or even place in the top half of the B1G, but good coaches at solid program do not take that long to turn it around. Phonegate was not that big of a scandal and was not the reason for the setback for those 3 years or past 9 years.

Roy Williams took over for Larry Brown amidst the paying scandal. His conference standing at Kansas in the first 5 years: 6th, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st. Roy took over from Doherty at UNC when they sucked for 2 years (no Dance). Roy's conference standing at UNC: 6, 1, 2, 1, 1.

UK: after the Gillispie Debacle in '09, Calipari came in and fared well in the Dance in his first 3 years: Elite 8, Final 4, Champs.

Our guy's first 4 years: 11, 9, 11, 5.

I do believe we magnified our situation to be worse than everyone else's only because it was up front and personal. There have been a lot of tough challenges that coaches have had to overcome like the ones you've mentioned. I think a lot of people forget that Sampson didn't inherit a masterpiece when he took over on March 29, 2006.

But, in his first year we went 21-11, got a 7 seed in the tourney and won our first game over Gonzaga and lost the second to eventual Regional Champion UCLA, 54-49. He had us rolling in the second year - on Feb 22, 2008 when Sampson was let go, we were 22-4, 11-2 in conference, #12 nationally and had wins over Georgia Tech (ACC/B1G Challenge), #22 SIU (at Carbondale - my nephew and I were at that game - what an amazing atmosphere that was!), Kentucky (70-51), road wins at IA, MI, MN, IL, OSU, and NW. Also, wins over #9 MSU and #15 Purdue.

 

[The Vid]

I blame Moses Abraham.

 

[fpeaugh]

Where was everyone at 6 years ago when myself and about 2-3 other posters were being crucified for saying this? The cult-like mentality behind Crean for years helped to create this mess. It's the reason Brad Stevens isn't the IU coach. Just saying...I've never seen a fanbase defend a coach as fiercely as IU fans defended Crean...almost to a weird level. It was a big part of the problem.

 

[bailey777]

I'm still tired of hearing about how the first 3 years of CTC's coaching era should not count. I'll give you the first year expectations should not have been to win or even place in the top half of the B1G, but good coaches at solid program do not take that long to turn it around. Phonegate was not that big of a scandal and was not the reason for the setback for those 3 years or past 9 years.

Roy Williams took over for Larry Brown amidst the paying scandal. His conference standing at Kansas in the first 5 years: 6th, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st. Roy took over from Doherty at UNC when they sucked for 2 years (no Dance). Roy's conference standing at UNC: 6, 1, 2, 1, 1.

UK: after the Gillispie Debacle in '09, Calipari came in and fared well in the Dance in his first 3 years: Elite 8, Final 4, Champs.

Our guy's first 4 years: 11, 9, 11, 5.

You have no idea what he inherited. Ladies and gentlemen we are back!

 

[rockout1]

I hope you guys don't have to continue to suffer through another year like this. I knew Crean wasn't the right coach for you when he and the university made such a big deal out of beating UK when they were #1 (the year we won the championship) as well as having "the shot" on popcorn boxes and cutting down nets after a loss. Elite teams don't celebrate these type of things as it breads lower standards and those standards soon become acceptable which is what I think has happened to your administration or they wouldn't have kept Crean this long.

 

[Fro]

Where was everyone at 6 years ago when myself and about 2-3 other posters were being crucified for saying this? The cult-like mentality behind Crean for years helped to create this mess. It's the reason Brad Stevens isn't the IU coach. Just saying...I've never seen a fanbase defend a coach as fiercely as IU fans defended Crean...almost to a weird level. It was a big part of the problem.

I think everyone was disappointed with Crean's 3rd season, but that was tempered by Cody, et al coming in.

The hope was that a combination of much-improved recruiting, Crean improving as a coach, and Crean hiring some assistants who were strong in areas he was weak in would lead us to where we'd want to be.

Clearly we can do better.

 

[fpeaugh]

I think everyone was disappointed with Crean's 3rd season, but that was tempered by Cody, et al coming in.

The hope was that a combination of much-improved recruiting, Crean improving as a coach, and Crean hiring some assistants who were strong in areas he was weak in would lead us to where we'd want to be.

Clearly we can do better.

I don't remember most people being disappointed. All I heard was "look what he inherited...it takes 5 years to rebuild a program...wait until he gets better recruits...etc etc". It was a cult-like mentality.

 

[history Bill]

I'm still tired of hearing about how the first 3 years of CTC's coaching era should not count. I'll give you the first year expectations should not have been to win or even place in the top half of the B1G, but good coaches at solid program do not take that long to turn it around. Phonegate was not that big of a scandal and was not the reason for the setback for those 3 years or past 9 years.

Roy Williams took over for Larry Brown amidst the paying scandal. His conference standing at Kansas in the first 5 years: 6th, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st. Roy took over from Doherty at UNC when they sucked for 2 years (no Dance). Roy's conference standing at UNC: 6, 1, 2, 1, 1.

UK: after the Gillispie Debacle in '09, Calipari came in and fared well in the Dance in his first 3 years: Elite 8, Final 4, Champs.

Our guy's first 4 years: 11, 9, 11, 5.

The situation was more that the phone scandal. There was obviously several players
that were more loyal to Sampson than they were to IU and had a lot of personal issues
that led them to leave.

 

[Let 'er Fly]

I don't remember most people being disappointed. All I heard was "look what he inherited...it takes 5 years to rebuild a program...wait until he gets better recruits...etc etc". It was a cult-like mentality.

I agree. It was sickening and cult-like. Crimson colored glasses were worn by many.

 

[bailey777]

I agree. It was sickening and cult-like. Crimson colored glasses were worn by many.

You have no idea what he inherited. He brought us back from the abyss. Lol it was sickening.

 

[bailey777]

I don't remember most people being disappointed. All I heard was "look what he inherited...it takes 5 years to rebuild a program...wait until he gets better recruits...etc etc". It was a cult-like mentality.

It does not take five years with one or two top players you can be back in two years. What he did was no miracle job. Without zeller he would have failed.

 

[IUXC68]

It does not take five years with one or two top players you can be back in two years. What he did was no miracle job. Without zeller he would have failed.

Ever hear of Oladipo?

 

[bailey777]

Ever hear of Oladipo?

Without zeller it would not of mattered. Those would of been middle of the pack big ten teams. He would of been toast.