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“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.” – Henry Ford
Every attitude or action has a shelf life. I’m not sure anyone will understand this reference, but remember the band Blink 182. In the early to mid 90’s, Blink toiled mostly in the underground west coast punk scene, meshing some variation of punk, rock, and lyrical juvenile humor to a semi-popular stature.
In 1996, the group released “Dude Ranch,” which started to bleed some of their underground punk style with mainstream rock enough to get themselves on the radio and Warped Tour, a major step in their development. Shortly thereafter, though, they nearly flamed out and that may have been the real ceiling until they broke through with “Enema of the State” in 1999 which was totally unlike anything anyone had really ever heard at the time, at least lyrically.
The sword is double-edged, however. Enema was such a cult hero album … still iconic today in many ways … that it would have been impossible to follow it up with the same boulder-crushing weight. They did an admirable job with “Take off your Pants and Jacket” before everyone decided to do the cliché thing and go their own way.
Since then, Blink started to fade, bringing the elements of side projects into their album making, putting out the somewhat popular and maturing “Untitled” album in 2003 before breaking up, realizing they had it better back then, and coming together for the mostly unknown and un-bought “Neighborhoods” in 2011.
There’s an inherent risk in going against what you’ve always done, but at times, that’s what you must do to grow. For years at Indiana, Tom Crean has done the same thing, which is, to say, give players multiple chances after off court indiscretions.
Today, however, was Crean’s “Enema of the State.”
After a really unique comeback story in Devin Davis was emerging … Davis was cited with marijuana possession and Hanner Mosquera-Perea was in the same room but not cited … both no longer are part of Indiana’s basketball program.
It was last off season, you recall, where IU basketball was a fixture in the off-court news. Perea was charged with OWI in February. And then the biggest tragedy, Emmett Holt was driving a car drunk and dropped off Davis, only to hit him and end his season.
This was supposed to be Davis’ comeback, a brilliant turnaround that included much hard work to get back on the court after that fateful night that could have ended his life, honestly. But Davis got caught doing something he shouldn’t, and Crean gave him and his buddy in the room with him exercising bad judgment … the boot.
Don’t wax poetic about pot and college kids and how it goes over-punished. It’s like anything else … you have rules, you know the rules, and if you violate the rules, there are consequences, no matter what the hipster crowd in your class or Twitter “think” should be the punishment.
Crean at Indiana has given players plenty of rope to screw up, but this time, he had to put his foot down no matter what either player meant to the team. IU basketball has been in a Michigan-football funk over the past several years, trying to recapture the allure it had while the recruits coming in get farther and farther away from being able to recollect whatever glory days were attached to the program.
Both programs have demanding, wildly supportive fan bases, however, and the only elixir is the same every time … wins. If Crean is going to Final Fours, the folks decrying what’s going on off the court exists, but it’s a vocal minority. But Crean isn’t, and absent of that winning, Indiana wants to see the discipline off the court that will lead to the right kinds of players on it.
Crean wasn’t going to get through another off season letting mistakes off the court fly, even if he goes into next season and starts winning a bit. Indiana fans expect more.
Crean did the right thing in this case, and the players who no longer are a part of IU basketball tossed away a golden opportunity and a coach that’s been more than willing to give second chances. Sometimes, the hard way is the only way to learn.
As for Crean, “All the Small Things” tend to add up one way or another. It doesn’t change the confusion on defense, inexplicable switching to 2-3 zone, ignoring the high post against the 2-3, or a myriad of other on-court stuff, but it’s a small thing. And this small thing will be received well for him in the Hoosier State, guaranteed.
