Hoosier Basketball forecast: Recession

A week from today, College basketball teams will kick-off their season with their first practice. Coaches and players throughout the country will be excited to get back on the court and prepare for the upcoming season. However, one coach maybe wishing for a fast forward button through this season.

Newly hired Indiana Hoosiers coach, Tom Crean, isn’t excited for the outlook of this upcoming season.Since he has come on board in Bloomington, the Hoosiers have been levied their NCAA penalties stemming from all of the violations that occurred during Kelvin Sampson’s short tenure as coach. To say the penalties haven’t been difficult is a grave understatement. Crean says,

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“We’ve been hit extremely hard by this, and I hope everybody is really paying attention to it, and the people making the decisions realize how much of a detriment this is,” Crean said. “The restrictions have hurt us moving forward, especially with young players, and anyone who doesn’t understand that isn’t paying attention.”

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Not only have these restrictions hurt the Hoosiers and Crean in the future with recruiting, but it has really hurt the team this year.

Once Crean was hired, an exodus of Hoosier players followed. Some of the players transferred and others were kicked off the team, while their best player from last year, Eric Gordon, left school early and will be wearing a Los Angeles Clippers jersey this year.

The only carryovers from the team last year consist of two players. One played only 11 minutes last season and the other is recovering from knee surgery and could be out another five weeks. Ouch. The team will be comprised of 1 senior, 2 JC transfers, 1 sophomore and 8 freshman. There are only 3 players taller than 6-6 on the team. Double ouch. As you can see, the outlook on the season looks very bleak.

Although Crean may want to push the fast forward button to next year, he has an opportunity to make some great strides in the program. The 2008-09 season could end up being very rewarding for him even if he doesn’t win many games. Crean should look towards the greatest college basketball coach of all time for some direction.

John Wooden talks in his book that success does not come from wins or losses but from knowing the fact that one gave it all they could and tried their best every day. He says that some of the most successful and satisfying seasons that he had were ones that his Bruins didnt win an NCAA championship because he knew he got the very best out of his team.

Well Coach Crean and Hoosier fans, you got that going for you.