Thursday, March 5, 2009

IU is Sucking Their Way Into My Heart

I get the Big 10 network, and save the random classic Purdue/Michigan games from the early 90's, it's pretty useless. Still, it does a good job of broadcasting every Big 10 game, no matter how shitty it may be.

As you know, IU is the shittiest team ever. They have six wins. They have lost 18 of their last 19 games. They have won once in conference, and 0 times away from home all year. They're abysmal.

And they're about fifty times easier to watch than UK. And, thanks to BTN, I get to see all the IU goodness I can handle! Therefore, I've gotten a chance to see them play quite often. Recently, they played MSU on ESPN for their Senior Night (farewell, Kyle Taber). They lost to the Spartans by five points, but the game was tied (or super close) down the stretch. Matt Roth, a short, white freshman guard was forced to check probable Big 10 POY Kalin Lucas. At times, that was humorous.

Clearly, MSU was vastly superior talent-wise. Lucas, Suton, Morgan--they are a Final 4 threat again. Still, watching IU--the same time that struggled to score 10 first half points against UK in December--was quite frustrating. Not because short white guys have trouble guarding tall black guys, no. But because they would probably beat us today. They play harder, they play smarter, and they have improved mightily over the last couple of months.

This is what a first-year coach's struggles should be. Crean, though, has it worse than most due to Sampson's atrocities. Still, he's coaching guys he knew nothing about in December, and most of them are either a) awful, or b) freshmen. He has still successfully taught them how to play, and they've bought into his system.

Watching IU is hard, because they truly aren't very good. But it's not really mistakes that hurt them. They have guys in the right spots; it just so happens that those guys have no business being on the floor. They run a functioning offense, they play solid defense, and their turnovers have reduced dramatically.

There's really no argument: if both coaches stay at their respective schools, IU will be much better than UK in two years, maybe next year. Crean's got a good crop of freshmen coming in, and the group he has now is getting valuable experience. And, most importantly, his team has improved more in 4 months than Gillispie's has in two years. Tom Crean is a teacher. A greasy-haired, used-car-salesmen-lookin' teacher.

Because of that, IU will continue to improve, and they'll be an NCAA team next year. UK...maybe not.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I watched the 2nd half of the IU/Mich St game and had the same thoughts. There were several painful possesions where the IU kids did everything right but just weren't talented enough to get a sniff of the basket. That is indeed the most troubling thing about UK: It is agonizing to watch a team play at a level so far below its potential. If UK executed like IU, we'd be a top 25 team.

Gillispie has earned the right to be let go at the end of the season and the argument that "it will set us back further" is not relevant. His performance warrants being fired and he doesn't deserve another year to continue to disappoint us.

Thom

Anonymous said...

If we are stuck with Krags, you guys have to keep GUI around...

A-Bomb

Anonymous said...

Does IU have one of those gimmicky, lazy, weak zone defenses. Hey, that ain't tough!

William Clyde