Indiana Basketball: Maturity, Not Talent, the Reason for Program's Failures

There were plenty of reasons why I decided to go to Indiana University out of high school. I was given direct admittance into the Kelley School of Business, one of the best business schools in the country, along with a scholarship.

The campus in Bloomington is unlike any you'll see in the fall, but one of the top reasons why I chose Indiana coming from a Purdue family was because of the basketball program. Christian Watford's shot to take down Kentucky and put the Hoosiers back on the map sealed the deal; I was going to go to Indiana University.

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My freshman year in Bloomington was everything I could have asked for. I got to witness the No. 1 basketball team in the nation with players like Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller try to bring Bloomington another national title. The team didn't get there, but the experiences I had at Assembly Hall are moments I'll never forget.

Then, out of nowhere, things changed.

Oladipo and Zeller went on to the NBA while Watford and Jordan Hulls graduated, leaving Yogi Ferrell to try to lead the team. Instead of a national contender, the Hoosiers went just 17-15 last season, not even making the NIT let alone the NCAA tournament.

The lack of talent I could understand. The team had lost almost its entire starting lineup and was struggling to find consistency with a ton of youth, having just three upperclassmen on the roster. Now, those young players who showed flashes of serious potential have some experience and are ready to try to make a run in the Big Ten.

But the Hoosiers aren't going anywhere if they keep making bad decisions.

The problems started in February, when now-junior center Hanner Mosquera-Perea was arrested for driving while intoxicated at 3 a.m. A couple of months later, Ferrell and then-freshman Stanford Robinson, who was 18 at the time, were arrested for underage drinking and possessing fake IDs.

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Things took an even more serious turn when freshman Emmitt Holt struck teammate Devin Davis with his car early Saturday morning after both had reportedly been drinking, according to Zach Osterman of The Indianapolis Star. Davis was hospitalized and listed as being in serious condition but is improving.

Things didn't get any better on Monday night, when ESPN's Jeff Goodman reported that Robinson and Troy Williams had been suspended for failing drug tests.

Over the past 12 months, the Hoosiers have had more players involved in alcohol- and drug-related incidents—six—than wins over Top 25 opponents, beating just four last season. Over two-thirds of the returning Hoosiers players have been involved in these incidents, as have over one-third of the entire current roster.

This isn't a talent problem. It's a maturity problem.

I understand that they're college students. I'm one myself. But there's a fine line between "boys being boys" and being plain irresponsible.

Former Hoosier Dan Dakich was not afraid to express his opinion about the team on his daily radio show on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis on Monday morning, per Matthew Glenesk of The Indianapolis Star, saying:

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I'm so tired of hearing boys will be boys. I'm so tired of hearing, 'Well kids make mistakes.' No they don't. Not when they care about their program. Not when they care about being a basketball player more than anything else. Don't give me this crap about Halloween. Halloween didn't just start. Halloween has been around forever. These guys decide it's more important to go out drinking than prepare for a scrimmage and compete for a job. Indiana basketball stands for nothing. Absolutely nothing.

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So far, head coach Tom Crean and the rest of the basketball program have done little to prevent their players from making bad decisions. Despite all of the recent incidents, Mosquera-Perea had been the only player to be suspended prior to Williams' and Robinson's suspensions, and even he missed only two games.

Right now, it's hard to believe in the program. The Hoosiers are supposed to be one of the most respected teams in the nation because of their rich history, winning five national championships and 21 Big Ten titles.

A lot now rests on Crean, who was already on the hot seat to begin with because of the team's struggles last year. If he doesn't figure out how to get his players back on the right track, he will certainly be gone in the near future.

I came to this school excited and ready to watch Indiana's program be reborn. Instead, I've had to watch it fall apart, and for students like me, nothing has been more disappointing.