Thank You, Tom Crean: Indiana Laying the Foundation of a True Winner

Last year at about this time, Indiana fans were waiting for the other shoe to drop. The Hoosier 2007-08 basketball season, going full steam into a Big Ten season where they were championship contenders, was about to go belly-up.

The players showed their true colors and had no allegiance to anyone but themselves, their coach turning his nose up at those who blindly believed in him. As fans, they expected us to overlook their lack of morals for the victories they played for.

Since when was college basketball about being selfish? Save that for the No Brainer's Association, where you don't need an education to survive. You just need to act like a thug.

Outside of the players who were graduating, the remainder of the team turned their collective noses up at the school who supported them for their educations and their opportunity to serve Indiana and waste a season they could have made special.

In retrospect, all I can say is, who needed you anyway?

Those of you such as Eric Gordon, who went to IU not because of any loyalty but wanted to start some publicity to highlight his one season in Bloomington, enjoy getting those Benjamins you don't deserve as you ride the pine on the worst team in the NBA.

Those of you such as Jordan Crawford and Eli Holman, who attempted to gain eligibility this year after transferring simply because "of hardship," enjoy sitting out a year as the rest of college basketball simply forgets you.

Sure, there were players who left in previous seasons, such as Ben Allen, Xavier Keeling, Robert Vaden, and Joey Shaw, but they left on their own accord and not this gang-like, thug mentality...the "what have you done for me lately" philosophy. And these players had some semblance of a loyalty, to Coach Davis.

After the foul stench of a once-promising season turned nightmarish dissipated, we enter new terrain with a team that believes, with players and coaches who both want to be here and who care. The Hoosiers have certainly shown intense moxie through the ups and downs of the season so far and have jelled better with the coaching staff and among themselves better than any recent IU team in memory.

Tom Crean is the coach Indiana should have had the whole while, the epitome of a coach—the caliber of Bob Knight with the grace, kindness, and patience of Mike Davis. One could make the argument that they should have hired him before selecting Kelvin Sampson. Whereas hindsight is 20-20, the timing now was right, and thankfully the powers that be made it so.

As a Hoosier fan, it helped to rest my mind at ease when his first move was to embrace tradition, something no one since Bob Knight had the thought or care to do. Wins and NBA players do not make a storied program...tradition does. Ask anyone, and most will agree...tradition is all about running a clean program and playing the game to represent the team and the school in the best way possible.

To all the naysayers, including clueless coaches such as Illinois' Bruce Weber, whose empty-headedness leads him to speak and act before he ever thinks, two things to remember: All teams have their share of good times and bad, including the best teams, and before putting your foot in your mouth, look at your own team before they start stinking it up during conference play.

Anyone who follows college basketball can see that down times and rebuilding can happen anywhere...no one is immune and that includes the likes of you, Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, Louisville, Florida...I can go on and on. Heck, you have a similar rebuilding situation out west with the once proud Arizona Wildcats. Ohio State and Florida, once among the nation's elite, are turning that corner to respectability once again.

Some teams who really aren't that deep in traditional basketball seem to have a easy go in the non-conference part of the season, only to tank when the real meat and potatoes of the season hits. Not too long ago Illinois had a PERFECT SEASON even through the Big Ten schedule, and they couldn't hold it together to truly see success at its peak.

Coach Crean understands that and also understands human nature...that college players especially are basically good...all he asks is 100 percent effort, and the players ask for him to be 100 percent behind them in their efforts, regardless of the score or the stat sheet.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is what is the foundation of a real winner...a coach who is here for the school and his team, and players who are here to represent their school and to fight for their coach.

Simply put, watching this team is kinda fun...certainly helps wash the superficiality and horror of Indiana's recent past out of my mind.