Fans’ feelings mixed about upcoming basketball season

Tom Crean doesn’t have any patience.

The IU men’s basketball coach can’t wait to see a winning product in Assembly Hall lead to championship banners in the rafters above the building’s north entrance.
That gives him something in common with IU fans.

Although the Hoosiers are on the heels of a 6-25 season, fans’ expectations for the traditionally successful team haven’t swayed. Scores of students and Indiana residents have said they would like to see IU win half of its games in the 2009-10 season.

Junior Jessica Clark pushed those expectations even further.

“I’m hoping for a national championship my senior year,” she said. “That may be pushing it, though. It’s a bit of a stretch, but we have a top-10 recruiting class and many more players coming in.”

Sophomore Cameron Daboll isn’t on his way out of IU and can exercise a bit more patience than Clark. He simply wants the Hoosiers to chart 15 wins in the upcoming season.

IU lost 10 games where they were within 10 points, and Daboll said they should be capable of pulling those out this season.

“I think a lot of the new recruits will help win the close games we lost last year,” he said. “I don’t expect to be a top-10 team next season, but I do think we’ll win a lot of the games we lost last year.”

Crean was well aware of the expectations when he spoke Wednesday at the IU Auditorium.

As the coach of a team that won only one Big Ten conference game a year ago, Crean tried his best to shrink forecasts just before he left the stage.

“I want you to spread the word that we aren’t back,” he said. “But, I’m telling you, the process has been sped up by the support of the fans.”

Whether that message will resonate with them come Nov. 28 when IU takes the court for its first home game of the regular season is debatable. Yet it was definite Wednesday that followers of IU men’s basketball appreciate the heart shown by IU’s 2008-09 team.

“Surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad,” Clark said. “When you see a team put in that much effort, it really didn’t upset me, because I thought they put in a lot more than they did two years ago.”

But don’t anticipate that to mean they’re willing to settle for more of the same this season.  

IU alumnus Scott Wallace knew he was in for a tough season when he saw bundles of IU players electing to transfer in 2007 following former IU coach Kelvin Sampson’s final season at IU.

“From right then, I knew it was going to be hard,” Wallace said. “When Kyle Taber is the most experienced player returning, that tells you something.”

He said he understands the rebuilding process, and knew he was in for one, but Wallace would like to see some improvement on the stat sheet come next March.

“I think, with this team, I could expect twice as many wins,” he said. “I’d like to see a dozen wins.”

Rebuilding IU’s fan base was a goal of Crean’s on Wednesday.

He bragged about IU’s student attendance in the past, and said those who remained in the 2008-09 season helped IU sustain its passion.

“They helped us make that intensity what it was,” he said. “The only thing they could do was give you hope.”

The suspense felt last season is still there. And fans are even more eager for wins this season.

“I think we’ll win more games,” Clark said. “I don’t know how many, but I was thinking about .500. That would be nice.”