Crean vows for stronger players, season in 3rd year as coach

Just call Tom Crean the IU basketball CEO.

In his third annual lecture Thursday at the IU Auditorium, the IU men’s basketball coach laid out the parables between his athletes and each of the at least 1,000 people
in attendance.

Like the top man of any company, Crean only wants great teammates and men who hate to lose.

In his most passionate point of his 40-minute speech, he drove home what he expects from each of his student athletes.

“We are all here to go above and beyond what people think we can do,” Crean said. “To go above and beyond what people thought we had the capabilities of back in high school. To go above and beyond what people think we should be capable of. I don’t want to be at an Indiana that’s like that. I want to be at an Indiana that’s getting ready to win championships again.”

Crean said there are phases of the Hoosiers’ game that can help turn the program in that right direction.

He started with decision making, challenging the team that averaged the most turnovers per game in the Big Ten to be one of its best passing teams.

He also wants to see an improvement in defense, especially in rebounding. IU was second in the conference in offensive rebounding last season but seventh in defensive rebounding, which Crean called “pathetic.”

But no matter how the team performs in the technical aspects of the game, Crean said there are things behind the stat line that his team has to fight through — division from within, outside forces and fatigue.

Togetherness and cohesiveness, while deflecting outside influences, are what build winning programs, he said. Even referees can drive a wedge into a team, a fight Crean admitted he lost at one point last season.

“Except for the Wisconsin game, I did OK with that,” he said about the game in which he was ejected for the first time as IU coach. “They got me that night. I couldn’t deal with it any longer.”

Perhaps the Hoosiers’ biggest factor they must work against is the low expectations they face this year.

“People have gotten used to seeing Indiana being down,” Crean said. “Our opponents, they don’t want to see it come back. The people that we deal with in this business and all the other fans that aren’t Indiana fans, they like to knock Indiana. They like Indiana coming off the losing seasons. They like the probation Indiana.”

He added that the only reason others are getting joy out of the program’s situation is because it was once so prestigious.

And although the climb back to the top will be — and has been — tough, he doesn’t want anybody who’s not willing to accept the challenge on his team.

“I can’t stomach being around someone that doesn’t want to be in that fight,” he said.