Indiana University Athletics
IU Learning What Playing For Indiana Means
3/10/2016 4:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - At perhaps the lowest point of its season, Indiana received its most uplifting advice.
The Hoosiers were competing in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational where they lost to Wake Forest, rallied to beat St. John's and then lost to UNLV to close out a frustrating late November trip to Hawaii.
Understandably upset, Tom Crean posed a question for his team.
"Coach was mad. He said, 'Do you guys play at Indiana or for Indiana?'" senior guard Nick Zeisloft recalled during his senior speech. "And we were like, 'Kind of both, right?' But none of us obviously said that. We didn't want to say anything.
"He goes, 'We've got a bunch of guys in here that play at Indiana, not for Indiana. Not for that banner or those banners up there. You play at Indiana.' Now, that was shell-shocking to us. We were hit hard with that."
Crean's message resonated with his players, particularly the seniors. They didn't have time to reflect on what their coach was saying. They needed to act.
Following a 72-69 loss to UNLV the final day of Maui, Zeisloft and fellow seniors Max Bielfeldt and Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell organized an impromptu players-only meeting. They didn't want to wait until returning to the mainland before getting into the film room, analyzing what went wrong and discussing a plan to fix whatever they were doing wrong.
Crean had no idea. He left on the first flight out of Maui so his son, Riley, could get back to Bloomington North High School for basketball practice. When he found out, Crean said it was a sign of how committed IU was to getting better.
"I know they got a lot out of it," Crean said then. "That's good ownership."
Maui wasn't the last of Indiana's problems players would have to address. The Hoosiers would go on to lose to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium Dec. 2—another harsh reality at the time—and struggle early on against Notre Dame in the Crossroads Classic Dec. 19 before Ferrell led IU to a come-from-behind victory in the second half.
Pinpointing where exactly Indiana's season turned the corner is largely up to interpretation. Some players said it happened in Maui, others sometime after Duke and others yet inside the locker room at Bankers Life Fieldhouse facing a 10-point deficit against the Fighting Irish.
Bielfeldt said it's nearly impossible to say when, where or even why Indiana changed. But somewhere along the way, he said the Hoosiers started playing for Indiana.
"We learned the hard way what you need to do to be successful," he said.
Ask Ferrell, and he'll say his lesson was learned in the Crossroads Classic. It's a day he helped his teammates make a jump they hadn't quite been able to make up until that point even when he wasn't at his best.
"At halftime in that game, Coach Crean came up to me and said, 'Go out there and let it come to you. Play free and not reckless. And at the end of the day, I'm still going to go with you as my point guard,'" Ferrell said. "I really took that to heart. He was still rocking with me when I didn't have a great half of that game, and that transitioned into the Big Ten."
Crean, the Big Ten's Coach of the Year, hasn't budged from his All-Big Ten point guard's side. They put their faith in one another and learned what each of them had to do as individuals to make Indiana a better team along the way.
The rest of the Hoosiers have followed suit under Ferrell's guidance. When Ferrell talks publicly now, he's quick to bring up how connected he is with his teammates, how close the Hoosiers are as a team and how they've made strides defensively because of it.
Because Ferrell doesn't want it to be about him. Crean doesn't want the attention either, nor does Bielfeldt, Zeisloft or anyone else on the roster. They all tend to shy away from questions about themselves and put the credit elsewhere.
Because as cliché as it is, basketball can't be about individuals, Zeisloft said.
He said it needs to be about Indiana.
"Now after all these past months since Maui," Zeislfot said, "I can honestly say that every one of our teammates, coaches, staff, everybody plays for Indiana."
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - At perhaps the lowest point of its season, Indiana received its most uplifting advice.
The Hoosiers were competing in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational where they lost to Wake Forest, rallied to beat St. John's and then lost to UNLV to close out a frustrating late November trip to Hawaii.
Understandably upset, Tom Crean posed a question for his team.
"Coach was mad. He said, 'Do you guys play at Indiana or for Indiana?'" senior guard Nick Zeisloft recalled during his senior speech. "And we were like, 'Kind of both, right?' But none of us obviously said that. We didn't want to say anything.
"He goes, 'We've got a bunch of guys in here that play at Indiana, not for Indiana. Not for that banner or those banners up there. You play at Indiana.' Now, that was shell-shocking to us. We were hit hard with that."
Crean's message resonated with his players, particularly the seniors. They didn't have time to reflect on what their coach was saying. They needed to act.
Following a 72-69 loss to UNLV the final day of Maui, Zeisloft and fellow seniors Max Bielfeldt and Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell organized an impromptu players-only meeting. They didn't want to wait until returning to the mainland before getting into the film room, analyzing what went wrong and discussing a plan to fix whatever they were doing wrong.
Crean had no idea. He left on the first flight out of Maui so his son, Riley, could get back to Bloomington North High School for basketball practice. When he found out, Crean said it was a sign of how committed IU was to getting better.
"I know they got a lot out of it," Crean said then. "That's good ownership."
Maui wasn't the last of Indiana's problems players would have to address. The Hoosiers would go on to lose to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium Dec. 2—another harsh reality at the time—and struggle early on against Notre Dame in the Crossroads Classic Dec. 19 before Ferrell led IU to a come-from-behind victory in the second half.
Pinpointing where exactly Indiana's season turned the corner is largely up to interpretation. Some players said it happened in Maui, others sometime after Duke and others yet inside the locker room at Bankers Life Fieldhouse facing a 10-point deficit against the Fighting Irish.
Bielfeldt said it's nearly impossible to say when, where or even why Indiana changed. But somewhere along the way, he said the Hoosiers started playing for Indiana.
"We learned the hard way what you need to do to be successful," he said.
Ask Ferrell, and he'll say his lesson was learned in the Crossroads Classic. It's a day he helped his teammates make a jump they hadn't quite been able to make up until that point even when he wasn't at his best.
"At halftime in that game, Coach Crean came up to me and said, 'Go out there and let it come to you. Play free and not reckless. And at the end of the day, I'm still going to go with you as my point guard,'" Ferrell said. "I really took that to heart. He was still rocking with me when I didn't have a great half of that game, and that transitioned into the Big Ten."
Crean, the Big Ten's Coach of the Year, hasn't budged from his All-Big Ten point guard's side. They put their faith in one another and learned what each of them had to do as individuals to make Indiana a better team along the way.
The rest of the Hoosiers have followed suit under Ferrell's guidance. When Ferrell talks publicly now, he's quick to bring up how connected he is with his teammates, how close the Hoosiers are as a team and how they've made strides defensively because of it.
Because Ferrell doesn't want it to be about him. Crean doesn't want the attention either, nor does Bielfeldt, Zeisloft or anyone else on the roster. They all tend to shy away from questions about themselves and put the credit elsewhere.
Because as cliché as it is, basketball can't be about individuals, Zeisloft said.
He said it needs to be about Indiana.
"Now after all these past months since Maui," Zeislfot said, "I can honestly say that every one of our teammates, coaches, staff, everybody plays for Indiana."
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