Against Purdue, Crean eyed a future of stability

IU fans might not be interested in hearing it, but Tom Crean eyed something possessed by Purdue on Wednesday.

It’s called stability.

Crean, only in his second year as IU coach, has made no secret of the fact that he won’t field a four-year player until the 2011-12 season. Of late, he has also expressed an immediate need for recruiting and development as a means of rectifying this year’s Hoosiers’ many deficiencies.

“Down the road, it’s a mental toughness you learn from having to deal with what we’re dealing with that will help you in life,” Crean said. “But it certainly isn’t helping us right now.”

Standing on the other end of the court Wednesday, handing them a 74-55 loss, was a Purdue team that has weathered a situation like IU’s, though even that didn’t border on the overhaul Assembly Hall saw in 2008.

The savvy Boilermakers were a nine-win team not long ago. They took Mackey Arena on Wednesday to face IU as the No. 7 team in the land.

That transition didn’t happen immediately. Or in two seasons.

Purdue played a team of mostly juniors and seniors against IU. And after the game, it was obvious why they’d handed this version of the Hoosiers such a blowout loss.

Sitting at the podium for Purdue post-game were three players, two seniors in their last home game and an all-conference junior.

They answered questions when Purdue was not so stable four years ago.

Even then they had two players that IU lacked, though. Veteran players Carl Landry and David Teague had sat out because of injury, but they provided leadership once added back into the lineup.

“A lot of people that played for Purdue told me that they were going to be good. ‘They got a lot of people out with injuries. They were going to come back and be strong,’”

Purdue senior Keaton Grant said.  

IU had former walk-on Kyle Taber.

Crean used Purdue players as examples of what he thinks IU needs.

He spoke at length about senior Chris Kramer, a player who lacks any particular skill that sets him apart from the competition. There’s only a muscle — his heart.

“As good as those three are who get a ton of the credit, he is the energy source,” Crean said. “There’s not a matchup he’s not going to take advantage of. He’s going to take great pride in that matchup. And he just out-toughs you, and his will is so strong.”

Those were not the only words he had to say about Kramer.

“We need to put a picture of him up in our coaches’ room,” Crean said. “Because that’s the kind of guy we need in this program. Seriously.”

Crean said he didn’t see that same willingness from his players on the defensive end.
“Early on, we just let them dribble by us too much,” Crean said. “We’re going to have to get that obviously corrected all offseason, one way or another.”

Youth isn’t the answer for every problem with IU, but the difference was obvious in West Lafayette.

It could be embodied in the actions of Wednesday’s leading scorer E’Twaun Moore, who had 21 points.

A play was run incorrectly for Purdue, and Moore visibly reprimanded point guard Lewis Jackson on the big screen. The exchange resulted in a score from Jackson on the next play.

As miniscule as it seemed, the series of events illustrated what IU doesn’t have: accountability.

It also showed why Purdue was able to outplay, outthink and out-tough the Hoosiers on Wednesday night.