The first time I ever saw the Hoosiers practice was in high school. Assembly Hall tends to be pretty quiet when games aren't going on with the exception of basketballs being dribbled, sneakers squeaking and coaches barking orders. The bleachers were pushed up and extra hoops bordered the court for players to shoot on. It was a chance to observe players and coaches (then Mike Davis) in a different setting than you're normally accustomed to.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen the Hoosiers practice since. Kelvin Sampson never opened practices and Tom Crean has yet to open the doors to one of his. But a few local reporters (including myself) did get to see the tail end of a practice today when Crean, Devan Dumes and Nick Williams answered a few questions on the floor.
Instead of giving you the normal run-of-the-mill highlights, here are five things that stuck out to me from the quick Q&A:
1. Calbert Cheaney is in the house The Big Ten's all-time leading scorer is spending the week with the Hoosiers. He's telling stories, giving advice to players and helping where he can.
"He's been great," Dumes said. "His wisdom, period, is monumental.
Williams said Cheaney has been helping the players through drills, giving them a couple of teaching points and telling them what it was like to play under Bobby Knight.
"We knew a lot about him," Williams said. "He just told us about what he did when he was here and we've just been listening to him and following him."
2. Michigan will play small Crean said he expects the Wolverines to essentially play a four-guard line-up with their five man resembling a small forward more than anything.
He said their line-up would be pretty difficult to match up with. Then again, Crean said he expects Michigan to face the same problems with IU's line-up.
3. Tom Crean is very quotable
"I always get a chuckle when a coach talks about how young his team is. Well, there are some young teams and then there's Indiana."
4. The plays keep rolling in... Dumes said Crean has continued to implement additional sets into IU's offense as the season has progressed.
"Coach is a set playing kind of guy, so we get a lot (of new plays) all the time," Dumes said. "He's giving us a ton, mainly just focusing on the things we need to get better on."
5. Keeping it simple on offense The Wolverines play a complex 1-3-1 defense but Crean is hoping his team doesn't try and over think on Wednesday. Crean said he wants his team to come down the floor and attack, but keep it "very, very simple."
"We want to try and do the things to start the offense and play from there," he said.
