Buying into the upside

Jim Cramer had his turn.  

On April 4, 2007, the CNBC “infotainer” brought “Mad Money” to IU, where he taped an episode at Assembly Hall.

He speculated about the stock market, he gave advice on where to invest money – the whole nine yards.

As a journalism major, that kind of talk isn’t my forte. But I do know a general strategy for playing the stock market, and that is “Buy Low, Sell High.”

After taking in Monday’s exhibition game, that’s my advice from Assembly Hall. Invest in the Hoosiers now. They might still be a bit down, but they’re definitely on the way up.

Following its national runner-up finish in 2002, IU had its share of fluctuations under then-coach Mike Davis.  

In 2002-03, IU went 21-13 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Then came a 14-15 campaign in 2003-04 and a 15-14 season in 2004-05 that culminated with an opening round loss to Vanderbilt in the NIT.

Davis managed to right the ship and return to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2005-06, as did Kelvin Sampson in his first season.  

IU stood at 20-3 in 2007-08, but then, of course, the wheels started to come lose and the Sampson fallout pretty much speaks for itself at this point.  

After getting a second look at IU on Monday, it should have been encouraging for IU fans to see the way the team played from start to finish.

Looking at the big picture, there is a tremendous upside for this program over the course of the next few years.

That’s why, if you haven’t completely bought into IU coach Tom Crean and the team he is running, now is a great time. Buy them now that they are low, because they are quickly getting better.

From a statistical standpoint, which certainly does not tell the full story, 16 points from freshman guard Maurice Creek, 15 a piece for junior guard Jeremiah Rivers and sophomore guard Verdell Jones and 13 from freshman forward Christian Watford immediately jump out.

Creek played a rather strong game Monday, Watford continues to impress and has shot 16 of 17 from the free throw line in two games and Rivers has really been a spark plug for the team.

Jones seems to have picked up right where he left off last season, as well.

Most noticeably, the team was very impressive from the start in pushing the ball up the court and playing an effective, fast-paced game. Crean has brought an exciting brand of basketball to IU, and it will only get better as the team matures and also brings in the right players.

“When Jeremiah Rivers is playing at that speed, when these guys are getting out playing that way, it’s showing a sign of things to come,” Crean said after the game. “I want recruits to be able to see that.”

Former Hoosier guard Errek Suhr, who played on the 14-15 and 15-14 Mike Davis squads while also going to the NCAA Tournament twice, sees the upside of what is being built now with Crean.  

“When I played at Indiana, we weren’t always young. We were up and down, but we weren’t young,” said Suhr, who was the color commentator for the Big Ten Network’s broadcasts of the two exhibition games. “We (now) have young guys that are really good and they’re the ones that are making good first impressions. In my opinion, as they get older, we’re going to see nothing but improvement.”

Yes, the Hoosiers will have their ups and their downs this season, but a long-term upward trend is in the works. 

Forget Wall Street. What’s starting to go down over on 17th Street will have a lot of folks saying, in the borrowed words of Cramer, ‘boo-yah.’