How far can talent alone take a team? That's something to ask John Calipari about his 2010 team (a team that featured John Wall, Demarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe that fell short in the Elite 8). How far can pure genius, from an in-game coaching perspective, take a team? That's something to ask Brad Stevens about his 2010 and 2011 teams (neither team had high pre season expectations, but in hindsight his 2010 team was legitimately good).
One thing is for certain, Indiana has enough talent to make a run at both the Big Ten and National championships. And up until this point, Coach Tom Crean has lived up to any and all expectations placed on him when he took the head coaching position. He inherited a program with nothing to offer aside from its tradition and rich history and built it back up to where it used to be from a personnel stand point. It is now "cool" to go to Indiana to play basketball once again. However, for three years he was able to hide behind the fact that there just wasn't a lot of talent on the roster. Now that the talent has arrived, fans have finally gotten the chance to see what the Crean system looks like.
It's fast paced, it's exciting and to use a term that Stephen A. Smith coined to describe RGIII, it's "box office"... when shots are falling, that is. What seems to be occurring more and more frequently are long periods of stagnant offense. This was never more apparent and more glaring than last night at home in Assembly Hall against Wisconsin. Sure, the Hoosiers went into halftime with a one point lead, but our offensive struggles were overshadowed by Cody Zeller's 8-8 from the field for 18 point performance. Take Zeller's statistics away and the Hoosiers shot in the 25-27% range.
During his interview heading into the visiting locker room, Bo Ryan made it clear they were willing to allow Zeller to score at will, as they were trying to take away the Hoosiers three point shooting. This was abundantly clear all game with how the Badgers swarmed Jordan Hulls every time he touched the ball. I was expecting the Hoosiers to come out and run some set plays to free some of their shooters up, but they never came. At each timeout, as the offense continued to struggle, I kept telling myself that adjustments were coming, but they didn't.
An offense that is predicated on taking place primarily in transition was stymied by a disciplined Wisco defense that forced the Hoosiers to play in the half court. Their set plays, if you want to call them that, rely on the defense not being completely set and with enough ball movement, usually leads to wide open jump shots or easy baskets. But when the transition game isn't effective, what is the Hoosier's Plan B? I honesty don't have an answer to that.
Don't get me wrong, I would put Crean up against any coach in the country when it comes to recruiting (I've mentioned in a previous post that he is 3-0 in head to head recruiting battle with Roy Williams) and player development (Victor Oladipo, unranked high school recruit to top 30 prospect in most NBA mock drafts). As far as in game adjustments? That's where the uncertainty for this team lies.
Call it an over reaction and I can admit that I'm still not quite thinking clearly after the loss, but could it be that Indiana's ceiling is based on Crean's ability (or lack thereof) to adjust to the flow of each game? I know some people will say that some of the blame has to lie with the players and that he can't control how they play, I get it. But much like the quarterback position in football, the head coach in college basketball has to call audibles to get his team in the best position to win. I didn't see that from Crean last night and it's not the first time I haven't seen it from him this season.
I'm not an expert. I don't claim to be. I am, however, an avid fan that has an opinion based on what I have been seeing. That doesn't mean my support for Crean has diminished in any way, shape or form, but that doesn't mean I'm not concerned.
Consider this post my opinionated-driven, amateur-esque attempt at a call to action. Shut me up Crean. Shut up those that are having doubts, whether they're over reacting or not, and the Hoosiers will be just fine.
