In Defense of Tom Crean

We give up certain things in adulthood, like driving all night to (insert random city) or going to Taco Bell at 2 am. The list is longer if you're in a leadership position. It's even longer if your leadership position is the head coach of a major college basketball team.

So when Tom Crean went ballistic on Michigan assistant and former Indiana assistant Jeff Meyer after the Hoosiers’ win Sunday for his role in the crippling sanctions handed down on IU in 2008, Crean of course got the “you should have been the adult” treatment from writers and analysts (most notably by ESPN’s Dana O’Neil). He later apologized publicly, calling it a "professional misunderstanding", and said he called Meyer to apologize on his way back to Bloomington.

IU fans should have greeted him at the airport like a conquering hero.

Crean did everything you could ever want from a coach. While most in the profession more closely resemble mercenaries than father figures, Crean did a very adult act and stood up for IU the same way a dad stands up for his child that's been shoved on the playground. He stood up for Christian Watford and Jordan Hulls who bought into the program when in it was 6-25 and had one conference win. He stood up for the administrators who patiently stood by him while he struggled his first three years. He stood up for the fans that kept showing up at Assembly Hall.

If I'm a recruit, this speaks volumes of Crean’s commitment to the team and tells me he will come to blows if he must in my defense.

He might be the new coach everyone loves to hate, but if I’m a Hoosier fan, that’s a black hat I’ll wear any day. College basketball could use more Tom Creans.

Kentucky's Struggles and Why College Basketball Might be Okay

On the eve of last year’s Final Four, Chuck Klosterman wrote one of my favorite articles of 2012, titled “Kentucky’s Death March”. It declared college basketball, as we know it, was ending because John Calipari’s evil genius empire of stud players who should have gone straight to the NBA meant the sport was now professionalized, that the traditional, power programs would adapt, and college basketball would become “a niche sport for people like me (Klosterman)- people who can’t get over the past.”

At the time, his fears seemed plausible, if not inevitable. Fast forward 12 months, however, and his fears seem a little overstated.

(I’m not bashing Klosterman in the least. Hindsight is the easiest way to troll a writer who puts out a bold statement. Years from now he could end up being right.)

Kentucky has struggled with a collection of freshmen who have, well... played like freshmen. The team has lacked leadership and looked downright sloppy in a mediocre at best SEC. So much so it may miss the tournament all together.

Kentucky in the NIT? Think of how shocking that is. Sports writers (like any other fan) tend to exaggerate, but UK forever dominating with one-and-dones seemed like such an inevitability. Today, they’re in the “First Four Out” with Southern Miss and Alabama.

So at least for the moment, the basketball purists can breathe easy. Gonzaga may finish the season number one, the Player of the Year and Defensive POY will likely be upperclassmen (Victor Oladipo and Jeff Withey), and only two freshmen have a remote shot at being a first team All-American (Ben McLemore and Marcus Smart). Kentucky will still turn its freshmen into first round picks (even if one has a torn ACL), and this lamenting might start all over again when Cal brings in his next round of superstars. But for now, this season is for the old school.

Unless the NBA becomes altruistic and decides to change its rules, the one and done player is as much a part of college hoops as irrationally hating Duke. But UK’s struggles have at least brought us back to reality that the sport isn’t on its death bed. As exciting as this season has been, it seems far from it.

Let’s Just Scrap the Top 25 in College Basketball

I'm serious. The best argument to get rid of it is to ask for a reason why we shouldn’t. The so called “number one team” has lost so many times that Gonzaga is about to claim the top spot going into the final week of the season.

Does anyone outside the Northwest believe the Zags are the best team in the country? Of course not, but they’ll be called “Number One Gonzaga” for the rest of the season by announcers and analysts who don’t for a second believe what they’re saying.

So why do we do this? Aside from “It’s always been done”, the only reason the college basketball world holds onto this obsolete tradition is the same reason the NCAA holds onto its obsolete “amateur” label: money.

If the NCAA and conference commissioners want to keep ESPN and CBS happy and shelling out millions, then they better provide every marketing tool possible. Can you imagine this commercial for the Duke/Miami rematch without a number attached to their names? Because it’s #3 vs #5, it validates why you should spend your Saturday evening in front of the TV.

But after this season especially, shouldn’t we as fans be smarter than this? Is it necessary for a bunch of AP sports writers to affirm my decision to watch Miami and Duke, or would it make a difference if they were ranked 13th and 15th? Are ratings for Gonzaga games going to go throw the roof because our arbitrary system says they're number one?

I’ll throw it out there again. The best argument to scrap it is to ask, “Why not”?