It's only up from here

In a word, one could easily say IU played “sloppily.”

They struggled with their transition defense. They missed several shots from point-blank range. They dropped a lot of passes. They turned the ball over 17 times.  

But IU coach Tom Crean was rather upbeat at the press conference, and rightfully so.

“I love their mind-set, I love their attitude, I love their desire to get better,” Crean said.
It’s not an excuse that this team is very young – it’s a reality.

Eight players saw 15 or more minutes of floor time. Five were freshmen, two were sophomores and one, junior guard Jeremiah Rivers, hasn’t played in an actual game since March 2008 while at Georgetown.

Though senior guard Devan Dumes sat out with a knee injury, most of this team’s rotation will be made up of freshmen and sophomores. So they’ll have their growing pains, as Crean once said.

Grace College’s coach Jim Kessler might have said it best. Having been around the game long enough, he knows what a young team has to do more than practice and watch game film.

“Youth has to mature, youth has to grow,” he said. “And you don’t grow until you get on the court.”

After beating up on each other for almost three weeks now – and quite literally, at that –  Wednesday gave IU a chance to beat up on another opponent.

While that maybe didn’t go as planned, especially considering Grace held a lead as late as 12 minutes into the game and IU didn’t really pull away until mid-second half, it was a learning experience.

Freshman forward Christian Watford, who had 19 points, 11 rebounds and three steals – and yes, a handful of missed layups – said the attitude in the locker room was “very positive,” but he knows there is work to be done.

“We’re happy about the win, but of course we’re not overjoyed,” he said. “It went well, but it didn’t go as well as we would have liked, so we’ve just got to come in here tomorrow ready to work.”

But there are plenty of things that can be placed in the positive category.

IU had 21 assists on 35 field goals. Six players scored in double figures, including three freshmen. And the team shot a much-improved 22-of-29 from the free throw line, or 76 percent.

Freshman guard Jordan Hulls was very impressive. Watford was too, for the most part. Rivers had his moments and appears ready to carry the team on both ends of the court. And sophomore guard Verdell Jones filled the stat sheet as always.

The Hoosiers will get better, no doubt about that. But it will come with time.

They have just a little more than two weeks before they open play in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tipoff against a tough Mississippi squad, and that should be their first real 40-minute test.

For now, they just have to get back to practice and buy into Crean’s system, something they have already been doing.  

Up next is Saint Joseph’s on Monday to close out the exhibition slate, then regular season contests with Howard and USC-Upstate.

IU probably will look bad at times, good at others. But this is a process.

We’ve called it rebuilding, the game notes dubbed it “the restoration.”

It’s just year two for Crean and the Hoosiers, a program that has already come a long way back in such a short time. It might not be all that pretty here in 2009-10, but it’s only up from here.