Here's a story in today's Cincinnati Enquirer that I have been anticipating the last two weeks. University of Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin is going to be in his third year of the Bearcat rebuiliding process this winter, so he knows a little something about what Tom Crean will be dealing with the next few years. It's not so much of trying to compare IU's current state with Cincinnati's, but there are definitely some similarities between the two programs.
Before anyone goes bashing Cincinnati, realize that the Bearcats have been out of trouble and excelling in the classroom under Cronin. So there really isn't much Hoosier fans have on Cincinnati right now, with regards to the current state of each program. The classroom isn't really an area IU can joke about right now.
When Cronin took over the Bearcats, his top returning player was Cedric McGowan. McGowan put up some solid numbers as a junior, but he thrived off of his teammates and was not much of a floor leader by himself. He made more of an offensive impact than Kyle Taber likely will and the Bearcats also had 2007-08 first-team all Big East guard Deonta Vaughn from Indianapolis, but IU's roster is in better shape.
The Hoosiers have a bunch of potentially good three-star recruits and will carry a roster of at least 12 players who could see playing time this coming year (none of which were pulled from the football team), while transfer Jeremiah Rivers will be eligible to play in 2008-09. IU's core group of Verdell Jones, Devan Dumes, Nick Williams, Kyle Taber, Tom Pritchard, Malik Story and Matt Roth is, in my opinion, much stronger than what the Bearcats brought in 06-07, not to mention five of those players have four years of eligibility. The Bearcats had to look more towards the JuCo players, while they also boasted former NAIA player Ron Allen, who I'm almost certain has to be worse than fans expect Tijan Jobe to be.
The worst thing for IU is that they may still face NCAA sanctions. The Bearcats had to clean house, but they didn't have to worry about tournament bans or futher scholarship losses. The best thing for the Hoosiers is that Crean seems to have already won over 95-percent of the IU fan base, not to mention they won't have to face Big East competition. If IU can dodge any serious sanctions, look for Crean to have this program back on its feet in maybe only a couple years.
