Ellis, other IU players give thoughts on surprise coaching decision

Students gawked at the basketball game on court five at the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation building Tuesday night.\nRunning up and down the floor, messing around, were five members of the IU men’s basketball team alongside former Hoosier guard A.J. Ratliff.\nOnly hours after ESPN.com reported IU planned to hire Marquette coach Tom Crean by the end of the night, freshman guard Jordan Crawford, junior forward DeAndre Thomas and freshman center Eli Holman played basketball in the HPER as IU prepared to announce its fourth head coach in eight years. But the players who most eyes in the school turned to were former junior forward Jamarcus Ellis and former sophomore guard Armon Bassett, whom IU interim head coach Dan Dakich recently dismissed from the team.\n“I never had plans to leave,” Ellis said. “It was just – Dakich being the head coach – we didn’t see eye-to-eye on things, so I thought the best thing for me was to part ways and get my academics right.\n“I never left the team, I quit,” he added. “So there really wasn’t that we got kicked off, we quit. I’m looking forward to still being a Hoosier. I never had intentions on leaving – that wasn’t even an option.”\nThomas agreed, also saying Ellis and Bassett quit the team instead of Dakich telling them to leave.\n“They went with what they believed in,” Thomas said. “They thought something wasn’t right, so they stood up for themselves. They came to me before that and wanted something to change.”\nJ.D. Campbell, IU athletics spokesman, announced Tuesday that Ellis and Bassett had been kicked off the team for missing a mandatory meeting and missing their subsequent punishment. \nWhether or not Ellis and Bassett quit or were kicked off, their removal from the team was the culmination of a year many IU students, alumni and Hoosier fans dearly want to forget.\nBut with Crean now taking the helm in Assembly Hall, Ellis and Thomas both gave positive reactions to the new coach.\n“I just know he’s a good coach and what he did with Marquette,” Ellis said. “I know he can come over and do a great job here.”\nWhen asked if he heard Crean was the new head coach, Thomas was surprised and said he did not realize a new coach had been hired.\n“He’ll be a good coach out here,” Thomas said. “He coached a couple of my friends ... I think he’ll do a good job here. We’ve got some great players and great kids, and he doesn’t have anything to worry about.”\nIn nine seasons at Marquette, Crean amassed a record of 190-96, including a Final Four trip in 2003 with current Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade. This year, Stanford ousted the Golden Eagles from the tournament in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after the Cardinal made the game-winning shot with 1.3 seconds left.\nWhile the media reported Crean was a possible coach, other high-profile coaches were supposedly considered for the job, including Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl, Louisville’s Rick Pitino and Xavier’s Sean Miller. Earlier in the day, rumors flew that IU had hired University of Nevada, Las Vegas coach Lon Kruger.\n“He’s not as much of a high-caliber coach,” a semi-enthusiastic Ratliff said, “but he’s the biggest name coach who would take the job under the conditions right now.”\nHolman did not address Crean’s hiring directly, but talked about his future at IU briefly before returning to the court.\n“I’ll know by next Wednesday,” Holman said when asked whether or not he will return to the Hoosiers next year. “I’ll give anybody a chance.”\nUltimately, Thomas said he wants the controversy to end and return to focusing on basketball.\n“We just want to get coached, that’s all,” Thomas said. “Now he’s here, so we’re going to work hard for him.”