Tom Crean held his weekly press conference today with the media. Junior guard Devan Dumes and freshman forward Nick Williams also stopped by before practice. Here are some of the highlights:
* Despite the best efforts from a group of reporters, the media could not get a starting line-up out of Crean Wednesday. He said he has an idea in his head, but hasn't settled on a starting five just yet. He also indicated that the line-up will most likely change throughout the season.
* As you could expect, Crean is "anxious" for Friday's arrival. He said he read a story about how the coaches at Kansas were complaining because they had two or three freshmen who didn't play well in their first exhibition. "When I saw that I said 'wow,' we've got a whole team of newcomers."
* Kyle Taber could play as soon as next week. Crean said the doctors are evaluating him closely and he could potentially scrimmage and go through some contract drills very soon. Crean said he doesn't anticipate Taber playing Friday.
* The team is still holding tryouts for walk-ons. Yesterday, Crean was forced to multi-task at practice. On one end of the court, he was working six prospective walk-ons through a tryout. On the other end, he was coaching some of the Hoosiers through individual work outs. Crean said Wednesday that he expects to continue try outs through the season, as he has said many times before.
* The first-year coach didn't want to give any names of the players he was trying out, but did indicate that his team has enough guards. He said he is looking more at the wing/forward position. Unfortunately, there isn't a plethora of centers roaming the campus.
* Coach said Williams is emerging as a "very consistent, vocal, energetic guy." Since he'll primarily be playing the 4 this season, Crean said Williams has to improve his rebounding. But overall, Crean said he's been very impressed with Williams. "I think our fans are really going to enjoy watching him," he said. "He gives it his all everyday."
* A prediction for Friday? -- "I have no idea how we're going to play," Crean said.
* Dumes listed off a slew of players he know on Anderson's roster and said he's looking forward to playing against some guys he faced in high school. Dumes joked that he can't get enough tickets for his family for Friday's exhibition game and estimated he needed "probably over a hundred"
