Below are some comments from Tom Crean, Indiana Head Men's basketball coach on rebuilding the basketball program. Tradition never leaves, but it's about embracing it, respecting it, but more importantly understanding it and making your own mark on it. Coach Crean is the best of the best when it comes to re-building programs, he did it at Marquette and now he's doing it at Indiana and he's doing it the right way! It's about spirit, energy, belief and getting better every day. Changing culture requiresToughness, Belief and Pride along with the 3 C's : Courage; Confidence; Commitment.
"Right now, we are just focused on getting the spirit and energy back, and really the believability that you can play and win. That's what I think we have lost in these games and it's a product of not having the leadership not anywhere near where it needs to be and guys that are truly confident that they can make a difference. That's where we have to continue to build, every day in practice. I don't want to say it has been back to the basics, but it has been back to those defensive drills that are really easy to lose sight of when you are preparing for game after game. If our preparation had to wait until last night and not at practice yesterday morning, that's one thing. But I think the preparation to understand what we are trying to do and getting the spirit back is more important than anything.
"We have a lot of ebbs and flows with the youth of this team, and it's really not just the youth, but the team. We have to continue to grow through that. Like I told the team, there are things that have to be there in order for us to improve and move forward. Number one, there has to be energy on defense. Number two there has to be toughness in the rebounding game and number three there has to be unselfishness in the offense. That means some guys are going to score more than other guys and some guys are going to distribute more than other guys. It's not about playing a role, it's about understanding what it takes to win and that is what we are locked into.
"I may get angry and irritated, but I am not going to get frustrated because I cannot allow frustration to creep into this team. That is what happens when immaturity rears its head. I just don't believe that you can get anywhere with frustration. If there is going to be negative energy, I want it to come from the coaching staff or me. But my focus every day has to be on `Let's just go get better.' "
"We have a lot of ebbs and flows with the youth of this team, and it's really not just the youth, but the team. We have to continue to grow through that. Like I told the team, there are things that have to be there in order for us to improve and move forward. Number one, there has to be energy on defense. Number two there has to be toughness in the rebounding game and number three there has to be unselfishness in the offense. That means some guys are going to score more than other guys and some guys are going to distribute more than other guys. It's not about playing a role, it's about understanding what it takes to win and that is what we are locked into.
"I may get angry and irritated, but I am not going to get frustrated because I cannot allow frustration to creep into this team. That is what happens when immaturity rears its head. I just don't believe that you can get anywhere with frustration. If there is going to be negative energy, I want it to come from the coaching staff or me. But my focus every day has to be on `Let's just go get better.' "
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