Crean and Crimson

There was a lot of buzz in Indiana this week because IU signed two top recruits for next year and has a load of others lining up for the coming years. The media wanted to have a press conference to talk about signing new recruits Zeller and Etherington and Crean walks in with every player on the current team behind him and lays this out...

"When these players came, especially a couple of years ago, they didn’t have anybody to look up to. They didn’t have anybody in here to teach them the way. They literally, when you look at Verdell, and you look at Tommy and you look at Matt, they didn’t have anybody to even recruit them. They were recruited by driving around in a golf cart or going to a spring football practice, or something like that. And a long the way these players have become the face of the program. That’s why it is so important to me and to all of us here, that they are successful. What they mean to the present day Indiana family and what they mean to the future family is really, really important. These guys have done a phenomenal job of building this program. They recruited some of the ones you see back there like Victor and Will, but most importantly what they just did in this recruiting class. Without a doubt, one of the greatest selling points that we have at Indiana University is our players. And these guys have (inaudible). And that’s why I want to see them be successful here and for so many years down the road because it’s so different for them. They’re the ones that are bridging the gap here and we just need to make sure that we keep working toward the fact that they leave a legacy here on the court as well as what they’re doing to make this program better. We would not be recruiting to the level that we are right now without our players. And I can’t make that any more definitive than that. Players can spearhead part of this, and certainly through prior relationships that can be very helpful, but it’s the way the team has come together. There’s a lot of different ways to form leadership but this group is forming leadership. You may not get to see a lot of Kori Barnett on the court but there’s not a much more valuable guy to this program in the sense of bonding his teammates and making them better. And I single him out because he does not get singled out on the court just yet. But that’s the kind of stuff that makes this program what it is. I’m proud of it and I hope you find places in your videos and I hope you find places in your stories to make sure that the headline reads “We would not be doing this without them, without these current players.” They did not have anybody in here to teach them the ropes. And we wouldn’t have wanted anyone (from before) to teach them the ropes. You know that and I know that that. I’ve said this privately before but now I want to say it publicly to the players. Thank you for what you do and let’s keep it rolling.”

Echoes of Norman Dale... I love that guy! Let's keep it rolling Crean!!