Hoosier Hysteria kicks off tonight at 7:30 p.m.

IU Coach Tom Crean arrived at his “State of the Hoosier Nation” lecture Wednesday night at the IU Auditorium just after his team’s fifth practice of the 2013-14 season.

Though it’s been less than a week, Crean said he’s seen the entire spectrum of success, from signs of a contending team to one that kept him from sleeping Tuesday night.

But with Hoosier Hysteria beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Assembly Hall, Hoosier Nation will finally get its first glimpse of a team Crean said shows great promise but lacks the college game experience that had accumulated during his first five years in Bloomington.

“Right now, we’re going through a painful process, and not just cause we lost some guys who scored a lot of points,” Crean said. “Those guys got to the point where they weren’t afraid to tell guys when they wanted something done.”

Without the vocal chords of Victor Oladipo or the surprise long-shot competition performance from Cody Zeller, it will be largely up to six freshman and a grad student to steal the show and get a likely packed Assembly Hall on its feet.

During team introductions, Hoosier fans will get their first glimpses of freshmen Noah Vonleh, Devin Davis, Luke Fischer, Troy Williams, Collin Hartman and Stanford Robinson and graduate student transfer Evan Gordon.

But after injuries during team scrimmages last week, Williams, who injured his hand, and Fischer, who injured his shoulder, will likely take a seat and pass up the team skills competitions and scrimmage.

Crean said Wednesday that Williams, to some a favorite to win the slam-dunk competition, requested a meeting with him this week to ask to be a part of the judging panel for the competition.

Crean gave no indication of his role Friday night, although Williams did say last week during the team’s media day that Crean has helped Robinson brainstorm some moves to take on sophomore forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea and his other competitors.
With the favorite out, Robinson simply said he likes his odds of coming out on top.

“Just stay tuned,” he said. “Just know I’m going to win it. With Troy being out, it just made it easier for me. Just stay tuned for the dunk contest.”

During breaks in the team competition, select students and fans will get a chance to participate in contests of their own.

The events on Branch McCracken Court will culminate with the team getting in a public scrimmage to give those in attendance an honest idea of the skill and potential the Hoosiers have for this season.

Crean said Wednesday night that one of the biggest strengths of his team this season will likely be its speed, but after a few days of practice, he said it may still take a couple more weeks or even time during the season to get the defensive pressure to where it needs to be in the heat of Big Ten battles.

Crean he’s not going to sit around making excuses for the team’s youth, but asked Hoosier to be patient and give his team a chance to prove themselves and show them the team he saw during Wednesday’s practice.

“None of us were here to be patient and keep it in perspective, and we aren’t going to now, but we need everybody else to,” Crean said. “The biggest thinkg we can do right now is make sure they’re better than they were when practice started.

“You don’t build anything of substance without adversity.”

Follow reporter Nathan Brown on Twitter @nathan_brown10.