Crean looks to raise stakes

With a spark in his eyes, a grin on his face and a confident tone in his voice, IU coach Tom Crean looked every bit like a man excited for the future of his program.

Crean spoke to the media  Thursday about recruitment, offseason training and what the program is doing to prepare for next season.

Crean said Assembly Hall has an odd feel to it without the rest of the Hoosiers. The team is on what he called a “well-deserved” break to see their families and friends back home before coming back to Bloomington.

“It’s really different not having the players here right now,” Crean said. “It’s an empty feeling in the sense of you don’t see many guys buzzing around the gym and things of that nature.”

Crean said training is far better, and the team’s preparation last year was “not even in the same stratosphere” as this season’s is planned to be.

Crean said he plans to put his players “on an island” so they can prove themselves individually. He said drills such as one-on-one matchups will help his players when it comes to “playing with a real purpose.” He said he wants his team to play hard on both ends of the court and work on the “absolutes” the Hoosiers need to succeed.
“That’s hard to get, but that’s what we’ve challenged them to do as they go home,” Crean said. “Hopefully, that’s going to happen for them.”

He said he is looking for increased competition in the roster as new players begin to mesh with old blood. He said he feels excited about the possibility of teammates pushing each other as they compete for minutes.

“If a couple guys have some anxiety as time goes on about where they stand, that means we’re getting competitive,” he said.

Improvement will be a necessity for the whole team as what Crean called the “minutes by default” end and competition for minutes begins. Crean is betting the competitiveness of his roster will encourage player development.

“No better way to have that happen than to know you have someone sitting next to you who’s pretty good as well,” Crean said.

He sees no excuses for his players not improving in the offseason.

“We won six games,” Crean said of the 2008-09 season. “We’re not coming off a 25-win season. There’s no reason for anyone in this program to do anything but get better.”

In a perfect world, Crean said all of his players would rise to the occasion and face their challenges in a positive way. He said that would create a stronger, more capable team with a chip on its shoulder that looks to prove doubters wrong.

But this is not a perfect world; there will be bumps in the road.

Still, Crean said he believes there will be some who decide to step up and take the reins for the young Hoosiers.

“You can’t get anything great without tremendous competition, and that’s where your leaders come out,” Crean said.

The coaching staff has also been put to work. On Thursday, they began studying film of games from Michigan State and Purdue and will continue to move through the Big Ten ranks and also take a look at other non-conference opponents.

Despite the rigor of his job, Crean said he loves what he does and can’t wait for the fall.

“It’s a great responsibility, but it’s a lot of fun to do it in Indiana,” Crean said.

The Crean recruitment plan

Crean also talked about recruitment and the changes that have occurred. Recruiting, he said, is starting at a much younger age.

“Once they become seventh graders, they’re prospects now, which is mind blowing,” Crean said.

Crean said getting to those young players is ever more crucial as high school freshmen begin to have lists of what programs they want to play for and get offers even at their young age. Visibility, both as a university and as a program, must be rebuilt if IU basketball is to return to its former prominence.

“If you’re not there, they know it,” Crean said.

That is why Crean had many unofficial visits this year, with possibly more than 286 tickets going toward visitors seeing games.

“I saw this year by far a larger number of younger players than I’ve ever seen as a head coach or an assistant,” Crean said. “I think that’s all part of what we have to do here right now.”

There are three qualities Crean said he is looking for in a recruit: talent, athleticism and intelligence when it comes to the game.

“The intelligence part has really got to be there,” he said. “You can be extremely athletic, you can be extremely talented, but if you don’t have a feel for the game and your basketball IQ isn’t coming forth, then you’re going to level off at some point.”

Crean said there are two times he wants to watch a prospect play: a rivalry game and a game his team is supposed to win by a large margin. He likes to be able to watch the player from all angles, be it opposite or behind the bench, to see how the recruit interacts with his teammates and everyone associated with the team.

It’s about more than basketball for Crean. He said he wants to get the full picture of what a recruit is like.

“When you can really lock into somebody and talk to the teachers, the counselor, the janitors, the people in the lunchroom, I think that’s invaluable,” Crean said. “I think every recruit, you build a case study on. We’ve got to find out if this is a marriage. It’s a two-way street.”