Only one of you gets to stay.
Waaaaaaaaaay back in March of 2011, IU basketball players Bobby Capobianco and Derek Elston both expressed their undying love for their Dear Leader and the family that they were both a part of (then).
While lobbying for the final spot on Tom Crean's IU Basketball Idol, Elston pleaded,
“These guys are my brothers. I am going to go out there and fight with them everyday until my four years are up.”
His teammate and (now former) pal continued,
“Of course. Derek said it the best — these are our brothers. This is a family. We’re here to battle and we’re going into it the same way next season.”
If you've played sports, you know that bond they speak of...bleeding, sweating and working together toward a common goal. Selling out for the guy next to you, because you know he'd do the same for you. You might run through that proverbial brick wall for your coach because...You know he's got your back and your best interest at mind and heart.
Bobby thought so, anyway.
Capobianco followed his coach from Marquette to IU. His recruiting by Coach Crean had began years earlier by the Forehead up in Milwaukee...but ended in Bloomington. He decided to play for IU instead of Marquette, West Virginia and St. Louis. IU fans hailed him as a guy that every team needed- he'd stick his nose into the middle of a fight, get tough rebounds and be a lunchpail player. He was the perfect compliment to the highly-touted players that were later added in Crean's top-10 class from 2009.
His Frosh year looked promising as he pulled double-digit boards down in a few games...and scored in the double digits a couple times too. But '11 wasn't as promising. Both he and Elston's minutes dipped and their production did the same.
As IU fans grasped for reasons why Tom Crean's team might be struggling, they found a few.
Verdell Jones doesn't execute Coach Crean's perfect plan effectively, Derek Elston just isn't as good as recruiting mags said he'd be, and Capobianco and Roth are underachievers that don't belong a team full of elite talent that Crean's putting together.
Indeed. The Hoosier faithful had found the problem...and it wasn't the guy up top...it was all of the guys he had brought in...but not the guys about to come in, mind you.
So as the Forehead continued to get verbals from a star-studded group this Spring, some began asking, "How can IU sign this many players?" Not to worry, we were assured, there was room. So, after the dust settled, IU had a class of 5 for 2011...and a damned good one too. In the fall, Crean will sign the top recruiting class in America. The problem was, they only had room for four with the roster moving forward as it stood at the end of the season.
Those pesky NCAA rules only allow teams to have 13 scholarship players, but they'd have 14 (come 2012) unless something changed...and in a hurry. Thank God, now it has. Bobby Capobianco has had a change of heart and will be heading out of Bloomington.
Thanks to the guidance of his caring coach, Capobianco has figured out that the best place for him next fall will be someplace else...anyplace else but IU.
So, as Tom Crean brings in his second nationally-recognized class during his short time at IU, the newest guys can rest assured that they'll have a place in Ass Hall along with their family and forehead that oversees it all from high above, Tom Crean...unless they don't, of course.
Crean knew what was best back in '10 for Muniru...and once again, he knows what's best for Bobby in '11. Three cheers for Coach Crean who will most-assuredly know what's best for Elston or Etherington come 2012 as Harris makes his decision.
Didn't work hard enough.
8 comments:
I'm wondering how this is different than what painter has done? He's oversigned as of right now for next year..
My beef isn't really with oversigning, it's with how players leave.
Kids transfer all the time...kids back out of verbals often too. It's just bothersome when kids are forced to leave as they were in these cases. If Painter makes a kid change his mind in the period of a month or says something along the lines of, "As a staff, we think the best thing for 'player X' is to go to a program where he can play and continue his education" Then we'll be bothered- that's forcing someone's hand.
We should note that IU is still over the NCAA limit for 2012. The Big 10 allows for teams to sign an extra player (bringing the total to 14 per squad) over the limit set by the NCAA, but by the time the season starts, there can only be 13 players on scholarship. So IU is now at the Big 10 limit but by the start of the 2012 season they will have to either send one of their kids to prep school (like we did with Hale) or something will be "arraigned".
If IU thinks they're going to sign McGary or Harris (both 2012 recruits; McGary was 2011 but reclassified) then they'll have to let another kid go to make room.
To clarify my last comment, even with Capo's decision to leave (or Crean's decision to pull his scholly, depending on how you look at it), IU is still at 14 scholarship players for the 2012-13 season, meaning they still have work to do to get down to the NCAA's limit of 13.
The most common theory floating around my IU friends is that the oft-injured Peter Jurkin will go to prep school in 2012 and will reclassify as 2013 (IU is currently sitting at 12 scholarships in 2013). Pure speculation however.
The thing that's really amazing is that it seems IU's fans kind of drive the bus with who gets the boot.
Why stay if you aren't going to play?
If you are a player who has seen his playing time diminish (Bade in our case) why stay? I guess for the love of the school and free ride but if you love the school so much give up the free ride. Or if you want the free ride so much why not transfer to somewhere with more playing time and the full ride?
I say this year after year, what kinda of chicken voodoo does Cream do every year to get these guys....
Cream: I suck, and I plan to have you play anyway you want.
Idiot: Sure...sign me up.
LOL! Love it Michael R.!!!
Seriously, this is Crean throwing good players under the bus for his lack of proper recruiting (they don't have big men!) and lack of developing talent (don't forget that IU's classes have been higher ranked than Purdue's for the last 3 years).
Crean is terrible coach, and I LOVE him at IU. It makes the continued drama all that much more interesting.
Post a Comment