LAHAINA, Hawaii – First came the standing ovation, then the requests for autographs and pictures as he walked toward the team bus.
“I’ll be here again tomorrow,” a fan told Tom Crean as the Indiana coach signed his T-shirt. “And I’ll be cheering the whole time.”
A 10th-year head coach who’s advanced to the Final Four, Crean had felt this kind of warmth before – just never after a 38-point loss.
But that was the case Monday at the Lahaina Civic Center, where Crean and the Hoosiers were the story of the afternoon thanks to a gutsy performance in the opening round of the Maui Invitational.
No one was surprised that Indiana’s 88-50 loss to eighth-ranked Notre Dame came in such lopsided fashion. With the exception of two seldom-used reserves, the Hoosiers are an entirely new team following an offseason riddled with player dismissals and transfers in the wake of the NCAA infractions committed by former coach Kelvin Sampson.
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Even with Crean taking over the program, the joke over the summer was that tradition-rich Indiana would be lucky to finish anywhere other than last in the Big Ten.
After Monday, people might begin to have second thoughts.
Indiana might have been blown out by the Fighting Irish, but they hardly looked lost or incompetent in defeat. Inexperienced and lacking talent and depth? Definitely. But scared, soft or confused? Not even close.
That’s a credit to Crean, who averaged 21 wins in nine years at Marquette before taking over at Indiana last spring. Five years after leading Dwyane Wade and the Golden Eagles to the Final Four, Crean is coaching a team that on Monday started four freshmen, including point guard Daniel Moore, and a walk-on whose only significant scholarship offer came from Boston University.
As overmatched as the Hoosiers were against Notre Dame, they didn’t seem to know it. Forward Tom Pritchard didn’t shoot fallaways against 255-pound All-American candidate Luke Harangody. He attacked the basket.
Guards Malik Story and Devan Dumes dove for loose balls while Moore and Verdell Jones sliced into the lane before firing a pass that led to an open three-pointer.
The problem was that Indiana missed 11 of those 12 shots. But the point is that they got them. The point is that, three games into their college careers, against a Fighting Irish squad that might be ranked too low at No. 8, they didn’t back down.
“Indiana has a heck of a coach,” said Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, whose teams had some classic battles with Crean’s Marquette squads. “I thank [Indiana] for getting him out of my league. It’s good he’s gone.”
Indiana’s moxie didn’t go unnoticed by the hundreds of fans who made the trip to Maui for this week’s tournament.
The section of Crimson and Cream-clad supporters behind the Hoosiers’ bench was animated from start to finish, giving standing ovations when their players came in and out of the game and cheering wildly for hustle plays and made baskets – even when their team was down by 30.
“Their fans were so good that they fooled the scorekeeper into giving them a three-pointer that was actually an air ball,” Brey joked.
Among the most vocal were brothers David and Joe Meisenhelder, who traveled from Indianapolis and Minneapolis, respectively.
“The pride is back, baby,” Joe said after scoring an autograph from Crean. “We’re putting the pieces back together. We know it’s going to be a long season, but the way [Crean] is going about things is why people are cheering.”
David explained.
“You can just watch how he handles himself and tell that this program is back on track,” he said. “I’ve been to Indiana basketball games for years and years, and there was some coaching going on today – some teaching – instead of just yelling and screaming the whole game.”
Indeed, during the past two weeks, Crean might have been as animated as he’s ever been during his head coaching career. Not because he’s yelling at the referees, but because he’s explaining things and situations to a group of players who are learning on the go.
During the last two minutes of Monday’s game, Indiana had four walk-ons on the court.
“It’s not going to do me any good to go in and [yell] and raise all kinds of noise,” Crean said. “We have to learn. We need to keep playing, we need to keep experiencing. We need to keep practicing. Guys are going to get it at different times.
“When you know you’re walking into a program and it’s at zero, I mean … that’s where it’s at. We’ve got to keep taking steps. Every team has a certain amount of steps they take. You can’t to skip any of them.”
Crean’s wife, Joani, said her husband is usually in good spirits when he comes home after practice each night.
“He’s energized,” she said. “They’re all listening to him, they’re all practicing hard and going to class. They’re doing what they should be doing. He can’t help but be encouraged.”
Not that there aren’t downtimes. After Monday’s game Crean stared at a stat sheet that showed his team had just 13 defensive deflections against Notre Dame. The Hoosiers (2-1) averaged 43 in victories over Northwestern State and IUPUI.
“We won’t sniff a win when we have a number that low,” Crean said.
Crean also admonished the Hoosiers for failing to communicate on the court, which caused them to commit turnovers or miss bunny shots. Indiana’s players also had Captain Hook hands at times, often getting the ball slapped away from them as they came down with a rebound or when they were looking to pass.
“I don’t think we’re soft,” Crean said. “I just think our lack of experience is glaring. It is what it is. We’re a brand new program again. It’s unprecedented in Indiana history. I don’t think there will be anyone younger than us in the country.
“We’re obviously in a learning process, and we learned a lot today.”
