The End is Near

Well, tonight will more than likely mark the end of a 3rd consecutive season without postseason play for the Hoosiers of Indiana.  While this season was somewhat more interesting than the past few have been because they actually were in a few games, their win total was again dismal against an absolutely brutal non conference schedule which had to be one of the worst in the NCAA. Pitiful.  But, this season was more about growth as a team and growth in the recruiting pipeline.  Crean did not get a whole lot of help this  year as he saw his starting center, Guy-Marc Michel get tossed off the team before it even started for a ridiculous violation when he played for a European Junior team and then to make matters worse have Mo Creek blow his other knee out. Tough beats, but despite that the Hoosiers started to get on a little roll after beat Illinois which is always sweet, and Minnesota before they fell off the map.  They followed that little2 out of 3 run, with a close loss to MSU in OT mixed in, with a nice 8 game losing streak.    This team played extremely hard for the most part this season, but things will need to change next year.  I am counting next year as the first year of the Tom Crean Era.  If he does not get this team to a post season tournament, I think he officially gets himself on the hot seat.  Crean has Mickey D's All-American  Cody Zeller coming in, and the year after that a top 5 recruiting class with all 4 and 5 star players.  If he cannot get this team to learn how to win next year, these quality recruiting classes will not continue and you will see kids that are signed for later years de-commit because they will think this program is still stuck in the mud. Well, all we can do is hope for the best and hopefully Crean can turn things around. If I were him, I'd start with a haircut because that dew has got to go. 

As far as the tonight goes and the rest of this weekend, Hoosiers get bounced tonight promptly ending their weekend.  Obviously the big 3 can all win this tourney, but I would watch out for Penn State to make a possible run to the championship game. They are my sleeper pick to win this thing out of the 6 hole. Until next year, I leave you with this Hoosier fans.  Just remember, it can happen again.