First, as a Hoosier, Crean did something I wanted to do in shouting at Meyer. The state of IU basketball was that bad. Losing Indiana products Greg Oden and Josh McRoberts under Davis was one thing. But the mess of Sampson, was something else.

Had Sampson stayed, IU would have been the next UConn to miss a tourney for academic reasons (assuming he didn’t get them banned for his phone calls).

That being said, I do agree with the posters that Crean needs to be better behaved in situations like that. For the image and for the sake of the players who truly deserve this.

IU is clearly one of the best teams in the country. And who doesn’t enjoy watching Oladipo play the game? That guy makes the college game exciting. And Zeller plays downlow like big men should play downlow.

But the main point is, Crean was out of line as a leader of young men. He is the HC of IU basketball, the spotlight is on him always, he needs to set an example,he needs to teach those that watch him how to be respectful with his actions, he needs to respect the game. And anything directly not related to the game on the floor needs to be taken care of behind closed doors. There is no hate for Crean, but IU and himslef should set an example that all actions have consequences, take ownership of your mistakes and learn from them.

Sampson and Staff (Jeff Meyer) basically took a historic program and drove it into the ground through mismanagement and ineptitude. Just a few years removed from a Final Four, that staff that took over and immediately allowed the Grades / Team GPA to plummet, reports of drug use on road trips, questionable recruiting targets with baggage, and then lied once caught leaving IU Fans, the new AD (Glass), and Crean to clean up the mess.

Tom Crean had to come in and instantly assess the mess that Sampson & Meyer left while figuring out the best course of action forward. He realized it was better to completely wipe out anything they touched and started over. Crean has earned some right to be vocal about where they came from and the mess he inherited.

A Mich coach was on BTN calling IU “soft” and “like an egg”…a few weeks ago and MSU players were calling IU players “overrated” and to “expect a bloodbath” on twitter and in interviews leading up their game. But when Tom Crean tells Jeff Meyer the obvious… is that really a problem?

These coaches live this everyday. 3 years of an uphill climb to even reach respectability as he put the pieces back together. Tom Crean has completed one of the most impressive rebuilding jobs in modern sports and he let one of the men who was responsible for the mess he had to clean up know about it.

Alot of these coaches are becoming a-holes, it might be because their is too much media, and its not all “real”media, but it comes with the job in todays landscape of coaching. They have to adjust, their programs are in the big business of college sports and its a fair target. They don’t get to say what media can talk about or cover.