Let’s talk Hoosier basketball

Thanks to six months of preparation, Tom Crean is ready. The problem is, he’s not sure what for.

“I think, probably like every other program in the country, we’re excited about getting started,” he said, pausing for effect. “Unlike most every other program in the country, we have no idea what to expect.”

After spending the past two evenings answering students’ questions, Crean sat down Wednesday with national and local media for the program’s media day. His usual self, Crean tackled every question with his trademark enthusiasm.

He answered the same questions he’s been answering since he took the head coaching job.

Have you ever been in a situation like this? How bad were things when you got here? Can you win with this team?

But despite hearing the same questions ad nauseam, Crean spoke Wednesday with the same passion he did when he accepted the head coaching job in April.

Citing his team must work at a “fever pitch,” Crean said the team is starting to improve.

“We’re anxious to see where we’re at. The challenges (we have) on a daily basis, we just never get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “We can show them improvement, we measure improvement, and we’ll continue to put the building blocks in place to make our program successful.”

CARRYING THE TORCH
Sophomore walk-on guard Brett Finkelmeier played only 11 minutes last season.
But with the mass exodus of players this summer, Finkelmeier, who didn’t speak with the media last season, is now one of the two returning players from last year’s team.

“We definitely had problems last year, as you can see, and that’s why changes were made,” he said. “Coach Crean has made it clear that stuff won’t be tolerated. This year, we’ve been really good about getting stuff done.”

Crean has said that when he arrived this spring, the team had 19 Fs to their credit and a reputation for skipping class. Finkelmeier, a finance major, said he “knew at times” what was going on but “didn’t know the extent to which it was happening.”

“This year, it’s a whole different culture,” he said, “That’s what we’re trying to rebuild.”

A FAN FORECAST
Crean emphasized this week how much this year’s team needs the support of Hoosier fans.

When asked Wednesday if he’s worried fans will turn on the team if they struggle, Crean said he has a “great feeling” fans will stay passionate.

“I know it’s this time of the year, and I know how someone will feel in January or February could be completely different, but it can’t be. It just can’t be,” Crean said. “Not if we’re going to build this back up where people want it.

“But we’re trying to make it where people are excited about where (IU) is going. I’d be shocked, but more than that disappointed if people weren’t. I don’t look at Indiana as place where there are fair-weather fans, I think this is different, completely different.

That’s the way I was brought up to believe, and that’s what I saw coming up as a coach. And that’s what I believe is going to happen here as the head coach.”

FAR FROM HOME
When freshman guard Malik Story told his friends back home in California he was going to play basketball for IU, they were confused.

“People out there don’t know anything about Indiana,” Story said. “They looked at me like I was going to a (junior college) or something.”

Story, who grew up in California and raved about In-N-Out Burger (“I miss chicken and waffles the most”), said the biggest difference between the two states is “everything is so small and far here.”

“I’m used to seeing food places on every corner,” Story said. “No matter where you look, you see food. Here, it’s like a scavenger hunt.”