So at these media days some people have specific stories they're working on and ask the same questions to every coach who comes to the podium.
Because of this format, there was a lot of talk about the importance of scheduling for different Big Ten teams. In particular, the issue of playing each team twice came up. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo called the days when everyone played each other twice a time when there was a "true champion."
The Big Ten has six teams ranked in the CBS sports top 25, so in-conference game be just as tough in a year that many has said might be best the best for the Big Ten in years.
Given that this was such a topic today, lets explore the out-of-conference and Big Ten schedule of IU.
With a young team, as many coaches said, adding some of those tough out-of-conference games can hurt your team's confidence if they are still young and feeling things out, as IU currently is.
With many out-of-conference contest coming against lesser competition -- Northwestern State, North Carolina Central, Loyola(Md.) -- one could say that Crean took the safe approach. This seems to be a vaild way to go with how loaded the Big Ten is from top to bottom in 2009-10.
In fact, he said he had to think twice about scheduling Pittsburgh in the Jimmy V. Classic. Factors Crean said swayed him toward
The most interesting one, however, was that he said keeping IU in the national spotlight as one of the five or six programs who have sustained through decades as premier places to play basketball played a part in his decision.
Crean and his wife participate in the Jimmy V Classic and have a personal attachment, but Crean talked about that visibility, and how I probably would not have gotten a Maurice Creek or Christian Watford without the Indiana name.
