Indiana Hoosiers: Why Tom Crean Deserves One More Year

That isn’t a game you fire Tom Crean on.

That’s was the first thought that crossed my mind as the final horn rang on the Indiana Hoosiers first round NCAA tournament game and the season. Crean’s Hoosiers squad battled Greg Marshall and the Wichita State Shockers all the way to the final minute before the Missouri Valley regular season champions pulled away.

It’s certainly not a loss you can be disappointed in. Aside from already being the underdog in the fight, the Shockers squad came into the tournament underseeded and motivated for a potential second-round match-up against in-state rivals Kansas, a match-up they’ve been clamoring years for.

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Upon browsing the web for Big Ten conference previews, I found some interesting quotes. CBS Sports predicted a 9th place finish in the Big Ten and sub-20-win season. NBC similarly predicted a 9th-place finish and commented the program was in disarray (they weren’t necessarily wrong at the time). Athlon Sports slotted the Hoosiers 8th and in the NIT. Bleacher Report projected a 10th-place finish for Indiana.

Without a doubt, Crean exceeded expectations with this squad. No one expected an NCAA tournament bid, yet he had the Hoosiers securely in the tournament (regardless if you believe they should have been or not).

This isn’t a season you fire Tom Crean on.

The common sentiment around Indiana University fans is that this isn’t what Hoosier basketball is about. IU fans shouldn’t be bubble-watching on Selection Sunday, but debating as to whether they’re a one-seed. Bob Knight never had teams that were on the bubble, and neither should Crean. IU is a basketball power that should be competing for national titles year after year.

Unfortunately, many of those fans seem stuck in the past. So much has changed in the game since Knight could choke one of his players and not be fired. He could berate fans, players, officials, and anyone he disagreed with, but he won games and that’s all that matters to Indiana fans. Unfortunately for Crean, he hasn’t won the games so that fans will ignore his off-the-court issues.

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To be fair, Indiana fans were very patient during the early years of Crean’s tenure. However, a lot of expectations changed the moment Indiana’s Christian Watford hit a buzzer beater to beat the #1-ranked Kentucky Wildcats. And fans jumped from the rational to the irrational within two seasons. After Crean’s squad was upset in the 2013 NCAA tournament to Syracuse, his job has been on rocky standing since. Last season, with an incredibly young squad, Crean was unable to get them dancing.

This year, with a similarly young squad and under similar expectations, Crean exceeded them without a doubt, and now fans want him fired. Were fans clamoring for his firing following Indiana’s blowout victory over Maryland? Sure, the final two months of the season were ugly, but the end result was a tournament berth, something few expected.

Crean has earned one more season with the Hoosiers. He will likely have a talented roster returning, with point guard Yogi Ferrell entering his senior year and fellow key contributors James Blackmon Jr. and Troy Williams returning for their sophomore and junior seasons, respectively. All three have had their names mentioned as candidates who could leave early for the draft, but none would be a first-round pick and it seems unlikely for any of the three to declare. On top of that, the possibility of bringing in a center-recruit like Thomas Bryant (likely) or Thon Maker (far less likely) remains intriguing.

However, make no doubt about it, this Hoosier team would have high expectations. More importantly, Crean would have high expectations. It would be a Sweet-16-or-bust type of season, and even that might be low expectations.

On top of all of this, the potential replacement list for Crean is barren. The Hoosier can have their pipe dreams like Marshal, Shaka Smart, or Brad Stevens, but none of them are leaving. The far more likely replacements are Archie Miller of Dayton and…..? That’s about the extent of the list, and with all due respect to Miller, he’s not the type of coach you hire as soon as possible.

No, you give Crean one last shot. To put it simply, he’s done nothing this season to lose the job. Don’t fire him now.

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