Tom Crean hopes to bring the Hoosiers to better days

The Indiana Hoosiers’ hunt for a new head coach is over. When rumors started to circulate that former Chicago Bulls head coach was next in line for the job, a deal did not seem far off. However, the IU athletic department was hesitant to make an abrupt, desperate decision.

Tom Crean will take over as the new head coach for the Indiana Hoosiers, and according to him, accepting the job was a “hearty” decision.

"This was a heart decision," Crean said, his voice cracking. "This was not a business decision or a legacy decision. I'd had other opportunities to walk away [from Marquette], and none of them felt like this. I'm going to miss those people a lot, but I'm excited to be here."

Crean grew up a passionate Hoosiers fan, and now he will now get the opportunity to lead the team he followed as a child. For Crean, it only seems like days ago when he attended his first coaching clinic with future Hall of Famer Bobby Knight. It is obvious that he is looking forward to the job, but he unquestionably has some work ahead of him in cleaning up the mess that former coach Kelvin Sampson left behind.

In addition to earning his lifelong dream job, Crean will also be bringing home a happy paycheck. Indiana has agreed to an eight-year deal worth over $18 million with Crean, making it clear that the Hoosier organization was willing to pay whatever price necessary to bring in someone to take the organization out of the hole that Kelvin Sampson put it in.

"I'm going to look for people who understand why we wear the candy-striped pants and why we wear Indiana on our jerseys," he said. "It's going to take time."

The unfortunate part is that Crean is literally getting everything thrown his way that still remains regarding the whole Sampson scandal. Two players, Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis, who were dismissed from the Hoosier team, are expected to meet with Crean sometime soon to discuss their future with the organization. Crean will also have to be present for the scheduled hearing that the Hoosiers have coming up this June with the NCAA infractions committee.

The players are also ecstatic to hear that they will now have a long-term coach. Crean has been their third in the past two months, and it was evident in the Hoosiers play at the end of the season that they were struggling under the circumstances.

"It didn't seem quick enough, it's been horrible for us," Crawford said of the search. "It was a very long season, a lot of stuff happened, so it's good to start it over and have a better season."

After the first weekend of the NCAA tournament there has been a handful of stunning surprises. Several teams, including Davidson, Western Kentucky, and West Virginia, have eliminated some of the top contenders, filling the next few weeks with uncertainty. However, one thing is for sure: two #2 teams will not be participating in the sweet 16.

Let’s begin with Georgetown. Entering the tournament as a #2 seed, many fans (including myself) considered the Hoyas a final-four caliber club. The Davidson Wildcats proved these fans wrong. On Sunday, Stephen Curry, son of former NCAA superstar Dell Curry, led the Davidson Wildcats to a 74-70 victory over the Georgetown Hoyas. Before this weekend, very few people knew that Davidson even existed, and even less thought that a school of just 1,700 students would be able to overcome the Hoyas. While the win over Gonzaga on Friday was viewed as an upset, Sunday was even more dramatic for Davidson given the unfavorable circumstances.

"Never. That thought never crossed our mind," said Davidson senior point guard Jason Richards when asked if he and his teammates thought that the Hoyas, at one point hitting better than 70 percent of their shots, were simply too good on this day. "You can never think about that. We stayed focused, stuck to our system, and I mean like I said before -- you can't think you're not going to win the game, to fight the full 40 minutes. And that's what we did."

On Friday, the Wildcats will have their hands full against the Wisconsin Badgers, the Big 10 champions. There is no question that it will take a strong effort from Davidson to pull off another upset. Either way, Davidson has left its mark, being the first team from the Southern Conference to earn a victory in the March tournament.

But that wasn’t the only surprise this weekend. Coach Mike Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils were unable to surpass the Mountaineers of West Virginia, who held off Duke’s championship hopes until next season. Though this upset was probably not as shocking as Davidson’s victory over Georgetown, it is still difficult when trying to figure out what actually went wrong. It seemed as if Duke was under pressure the whole game, and with roughly 10:00 left in regulation it was as if Coach Krzyzewski hit the panic button. Some of the Duke youngsters, including Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer, started tossing up three-point shots left and right without getting any good looks. This is the second year in a row that Duke has failed to make it to the sweet 16. From 1997-2006, Duke always made it through the first two rounds. What was the problem? Coach Krzyzewski felt that the struggles were due to a lack of leadership from their senior star DeMarcus Nelson.

"I think he probably struggled with trying too hard," Krzyzewski said. "He's the only senior on our team and really one of the main reasons we've won 28 games this year. I think sometimes at the end, a person who cares sometimes puts too much on themselves. ... The last couple of weeks I think he's done that. It's just the fact that -- he's had a great year and he didn't have a real good game (against West Virginia). But the kid cares as much as he can. It's one of those things. I feel badly for him."

The NCAA Sweet 16 is finally here!

Now is when things really start to get serious in the tournament, the match-ups get harder as top seeds start playing each other. The field is narrowing and fans are stressing to see if their brackets will play out. This is where dreams are won and hearts are broken.

Probably the biggest surprise/talked about team in the Sweet 16 is Davidson, led by Stephen Curry. Davidson had flashy wins over Gonzaga and Georgetown.

Probably the two best games to watch in the Sweet 16 are North Carolina vs Washington State and Stanford vs Texas.

North Carolina, a typical faced paced team, has never really played a team like the WSU Cougars and it could stump them. WSU's defense has held teams to record lows this year and has one of the nations top defenders in Kyle Weaver. The fact is, they take away the fast break and can drain the three. North Carolina, although tournament favorite, better be on their toes!

Stanford, another PAC-10 team faces off against a Solid team in Texas in another classic Sweet 16 match up. Look for both PAC-10 teams to play solid in these two match ups.

Get your updated Sweet 16 tournament brackets here:
Sweet 16 PDF Bracket
Sweet 16 Excel Bracket

Stephen Curry shoots the 3

That is a popular question being asked by NCAA tourney watchers who aren't fully engulfed in College Basketball.

Stephen Curry is definitely the talk of the tournament so far. He has lit up both Gonzaga and Georgetown and has made quite a Cinderella story out of Davidson, who is in their third straight tournament appearance. He is a pure shooter who can drain the three with his opponent in his face (as we have seen), and can lead his team back from large deficits.

Against the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Stephen Curry scored 30 points in the 2nd half alone to help Davidson come back and win after being down by as much as eleven. Curry finished the game shooting 8-of-10 from three point range.

Is he ready for the NBA?

There is no doubt that Curry can shoot the rock, but so could J.J. Reddick, and we all see how pretty non-existent he has been in the NBA. J.J. is a pure shooter as well, but struggles in the NBA have really had an effect on his confidence.

Curry has proved himself to be clutch over the last couple of tournament games but critics have pointed out that he needs to bulk up more for the NBA. The kid is a bit of a pencil neck who is the son of former NBA player Dell Curry, so it’s in his blood to play basketball. Dell was also a great 3-pt. shooter.

Listed at 6 foot 3 inches and weighing 185, Stephen Curry is currently a Sophomore averaging over 25 points per game. Last year (2006-2007 season), Curry was second to Kevin Durant in scoring for all freshman.

Coming out of high school, Curry went virtually unnoticed from major ACC schools in the area. Most ACC schools thought Curry, given his slender figure, couldn't handle the physical nature of ACC basketball, so they all passed on him.

Stephen Curry has made great statements this year in College Basketball and I am sure any coach would love to have a player such as him on their team.

Notable accomplishments:
NCAA freshman record for 3-point field goals with 113