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2013-2014 B1G Men's Basketball

But you know what? Crean's coaching would suddenly look much better if Zeller and Oladipo didn't turn pro.
Would it?

Last year's team should have been about as complete as any team in basketball- a good big man (Zeller), 2 skilled and athletic wing players (Sheehey and Oladipo), a stretch 4 (Watford), and a sharp-shooting point guard (Hulls). The bench had an up-tempo PG (Ferrell), and another good wing player (Remy Abell, another player Tom Crean has run off in his time in Bloomington...go ahead and check out Mo Creek's stats this year, too). Also, a gritty senior PF in Elston.

Bounced in Sweet 16.

He's done nothing else of note since he arrived, is a terrible game-manager, terrible motivator (despite his sideline antics), cannot prepare a team for the road, a ruthless roster-manage, a pretentious brat to the media, and generally been a self-centered jerk in all other aspects, both from first-hand and second-hand accounts.

Painter played him like a fiddle today.

Just gotta disagree with you on this one, DZ. Like I said...#Witness (Crean and I arrived at IU the same year, so I've been a pretty close watcher of his)
 
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Would it?

Last year's team should have been about as complete as any team in basketball- a good big man (Zeller), 2 skilled and athletic wing players (Sheehey and Oladipo), a stretch 4 (Watford), and a sharp-shooting point guard (Hulls). The bench had an up-tempo PG (Ferrell), and another good wing player (Remy Abell, another player Tom Crean has run off in his time in Bloomington...go ahead and check out Mo Creek's stats this year, too). Also, a gritty senior PF in Elston.

Bounced in Sweet 16.

He's done nothing else of note since he arrived, is a terrible game-manager, terrible motivator (despite his sideline antics), cannot prepare a team for the road, a ruthless roster-manage, a pretentious brat to the media, and generally been a self-centered jerk in all other aspects, both from first-hand and second-hand accounts.

Painter played him like a fiddle today.

Just gotta disagree with you on this one, DZ. Like I said...#Witness (Crean and I arrived at IU the same year, so I've been a pretty close watcher of his)
But it wasn't perfect. He still had Jordan Hulls as his starting 2-guard and limited talent on the bench. Now, you could say that that was partially his fault for not getting some better players, which it was (with the caveat that it was hard to recruit from the abyss and that's where they were when guys like Hulls joined them). But at the same time it was not a perfect team, that's why they were beatable down the stretch - other teams had more room for improvement than they did. Sure, the "Creaning" of guys and his sideline antics are not desirable. But he did a good job to get them to where they were in 2012 and 2013, and he'll get IU back to having more strong teams in the future.
 
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But it wasn't perfect. He still had Jordan Hulls as his starting 2-guard and limited talent on the bench. Now, you could say that that was partially his fault for not getting some better players, which it was (with the caveat that it was hard to recruit from the abyss and that's where they were when guys like Hulls joined them). But at the same time it was not a perfect team, that's why they were beatable down the stretch - other teams had more room for improvement than they did. Sure, the "Creaning" of guys and his sideline antics are not desirable. But he did a good job to get them to where they were in 2012 and 2013, and he'll get IU back to having more strong teams in the future.
So in order to win the BTT and also get out of the Sweet 16 and compete for a National Championship it takes a perfect team? Since UCLA and Wooden stopped buying their teams back in the 60's and early 70's how has any team been able to win a championship?
 
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So in order to win the BTT and also get out of the Sweet 16 and compete for a National Championship it takes a perfect team? Since UCLA and Wooden stopped buying their teams back in the 60's and early 70's how has any team been able to win a championship?

Well, as much as other coaches in the Big Ten get praise for being great coaches none of them have won a national title since 2000. Kind of a high bar to hold Crean to when nobody else in this league is getting the job done. Many opportunities and the same failure with many good coaches having plenty of opportunities tends to suggest more is at work than just coaching. Most of the time it's really hard for just about any team from the Big Ten to get past the Sweet 16, although sometimes there are teams that get lucky draws there that is not something you can expect.
 
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Figures the day I root for the team up north they choke a big one...was hoping we could land #4 seed in the Big 10 tourney and get a 1st round bye and hope Wisky somehow fell down to #6 seed. Looks like we are going to end up #5 seed unless we can win out and Wisky loses 1 game.

The one good thing is this makes our win over Wisky look that much better a road win over RPI 6 team currently looks really nice. If only we could have won at home vs the team up north we would be looking really good right now both for Big 10 seeding and NCAA seeding.

It is what it is I guess though this year is going to be a painful struggle to the end.
 
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It is too bad that we will have to play MSU when they are at probably full strength with Dawson and Appling in all likelihood. All of these other teams are getting a little bit of a pass without those two guys and Payne before that.
We sure got back luck on this one we played them in Payne's last game and they were basically full strength and we play them when they have the entire team likely back for the final game......had we played them both times during this span where the players are out maybe we sweep them instead we might get swept...the bright side could be if we beat them to end the year at full strength it would give us a more credible win in the eye's of the committee a week before Selection Sunday though if we then lose in the conf tourney early it will probably just wipe it away anyway as far as seeding goes.
 
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Figures the day I root for the team up north they choke a big one...was hoping we could land #4 seed in the Big 10 tourney and get a 1st round bye and hope Wisky somehow fell down to #6 seed. Looks like we are going to end up #5 seed unless we can win out and Wisky loses 1 game.

The one good thing is this makes our win over Wisky look that much better a road win over RPI 6 team currently looks really nice. If only we could have won at home vs the team up north we would be looking really good right now both for Big 10 seeding and NCAA seeding.

It is what it is I guess though this year is going to be a painful struggle to the end.

Henry, I was kind of hoping Wisky would lose so OSU could get a #4 seed in the Big Ten tourney but we might end up with OSU at the #5 seed instead. And a #5 seed in the NCAA tourney appears likely as well. Not a bad spot for a team that has struggled at times this season.
 
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Wiscy takes down Sparty at the buzzer, 60-58. Jackson hits the game winner. So many B1G games are basically toss ups this year.

Sparty and scUM, sitting atop the B1G, both lost at home today. Don't assume any conference game is a gimme this season.
 
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When I told my wife that Nebraska beat Sparty in East Lansing, she said, "Big Ten basketball is wackadoo this season."

I blame it on climate change. If we don't all reduce our carbon footprints, B1G hoop will be below the water line before you know it.
 
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Well, as much as other coaches in the Big Ten get praise for being great coaches none of them have won a national title since 2000. Kind of a high bar to hold Crean to when nobody else in this league is getting the job done. Many opportunities and the same failure with many good coaches having plenty of opportunities tends to suggest more is at work than just coaching. Most of the time it's really hard for just about any team from the Big Ten to get past the Sweet 16, although sometimes there are teams that get lucky draws there that is not something you can expect.
And what does any of that have to do with my post in response to your post about Crean not having a perfect team (a term you used twice) last year?
 
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