Looks like Indiana has chosen Tan Cream to be its replacement for Kelvin Sampson. Not sure how I feel about the move. I can't hate him as Marquette's coach anymore, but he will now be with one of our Big Ten rivals, so I guess he sentiment remains. He'll have his work cut out for him in Bloomington.
Not a bad hire for the Hoosiers, but I think they could have done better. Crean did a good enough job in Milwaukee, but if Dwayne Wade has better grades coming out of high school, Crean never goes to a Final Four, MU is still in a hyphenated conference, and he's got one NCAA Tournament win and a bunch of NIT bids to show for almost a decade there. It will be interesting to see who Gold fans want as their next coach. Majerus! Majerus!
The good thing about this is it saves Tony Bennett for us for when Bo retires, whenever that may be.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Indiana chooses Tom Crean
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6 comments:
Thought I read something this week that Bennett might be interested in the LSU job because his wife is from the area.
I'm kind of surprised Crean jumped for IU but perhaps he sees the ceiling at Marquette?
I heard someone speculate that Bennett may be lured to Marquette but that makes no sense. I think he can probably be more successful at Washington St.
This may turn out to be a decent long-range hire for Indiana. Crean should be able to get more talent at IU than he was able to get in Milwaukee.
That said, I share your feeling that IU could have done better. MU's oddly frantic defensive style often leaves key guys like McNeal in foul trouble, and their offense, especially in half court sets, usually ends up forcing a mediocre shot. I guess that's why they press defensively all the time-- because they struggle if they can't get fast break points?
Also, does this help UW with Jamil Wilson? I sure hope so.
I'm a little bit worried that Tony Bennett's name has started to surface with the Marquette job, in Michael Hunt's column today anyway.
Michael Hunt can keep dreaming ... if Tony turned down IU, he's certainly not going to the Gold.
The thing about Crean from an X's and O's standpoint is that his offense is limited. I think his teams play really hard and generally do well rebounding unless they're really undersized.
But his offense seems to be entirely based around having a terrific point guard, and specifically having him run pick and rolls. It is very much predicated on having supreme talents with one on one skills - James, McNeal, Diener, Wade, Henry.
In that sense it is the antithesis to the Swing, and why Alando and Kam, for all their talent and success, didn't seem like prototypical Swing players.
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