Indiana University Athletics
Top-Seeded IU Not Changing Anything
3/10/2016 9:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - There was a time Indiana head coach Tom Crean would split the season into various parts to separate the regular season from the postseason, but he doesn't see a need for that anymore.
He'd rather his top-seeded Hoosiers not change a thing.
"You just keep moving forward," Crean said. "Every day when you've got a good path like these guys are on, you're going to have some really good things in the day. You're going to have some things to correct in the day. But at the end of the day, did you stay consistent and try to get better? They've been really good at that. So there's no reason to change what we're doing in that sense."
No. 1 IU (25-6) is set to play No. 8 Michigan (21-11) noon Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Wolverines knocked off No. 9 Northwestern 72-70 in overtime Thursday afternoon to advance to play the Big Ten champion Hoosiers, who earned a double-bye.
Michigan is fighting for an NCAA Tournament bid after losing four of its last five games before the conference tournament began. Earlier this year, IU defeated the Wolverines 80-67 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Crean and his players didn't yet know who they'd be playing when they met with the media Wednesday afternoon.. Assistant coach Tim Buckley was responsible for scouting Michigan, who the Hoosiers continued to prepare for Thursday afternoon before heading to Indianapolis.
"We're going to come out with the same mindset, we're going to prepare the same way," junior guard Collin Hartman said. "There's probably minor detail changes here and there for different teams, but we're going to come out the same way with the same mindset and be the same team."
Hartman's sentiment appears to be the standard throughout Indiana's locker room. The Hoosiers would rather be the ones other teams are having to radically game plan for, not the other way around.
Fifth-year senior forward Max Bielfeldt, a Michigan transfer, summed it up briefly:
"Be the team that people will be scared of," Bielfeldt said Sunday evening.
Indiana has never won a Big Ten Tournament in its 18-year history but enters this weekend's action as one of the favorites. The Hoosiers' five-game winning streak is the second longest such streak in the Big Ten, trailing only No.2 Michigan State's six-game streak into the postseason.
The tournament season brings with it the possibility of teams changing their style because of the pressure and implications that come with playing in win-or-go-home situations, but the Hoosiers said they aren't as concerned. They instead say they're entering the Big Ten Tournament relaxed with one Big Ten Championship Trophy already sitting in Bloomington.
If the Hoosiers have their way, Friday afternoon's contest won't look much different than when Indiana played Michigan back in the beginning of February.
Considering their 15-3 mark in the Big Ten, they don't see much reason to change.
"We've just got a lot of confidence in this team, confidence in each other, confidence in this staff," Hartman said. "We do have a lot of confidence in each other, and I think that's just one of the things that's carried us to where we are."
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - There was a time Indiana head coach Tom Crean would split the season into various parts to separate the regular season from the postseason, but he doesn't see a need for that anymore.
He'd rather his top-seeded Hoosiers not change a thing.
"You just keep moving forward," Crean said. "Every day when you've got a good path like these guys are on, you're going to have some really good things in the day. You're going to have some things to correct in the day. But at the end of the day, did you stay consistent and try to get better? They've been really good at that. So there's no reason to change what we're doing in that sense."
No. 1 IU (25-6) is set to play No. 8 Michigan (21-11) noon Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Wolverines knocked off No. 9 Northwestern 72-70 in overtime Thursday afternoon to advance to play the Big Ten champion Hoosiers, who earned a double-bye.
Michigan is fighting for an NCAA Tournament bid after losing four of its last five games before the conference tournament began. Earlier this year, IU defeated the Wolverines 80-67 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Crean and his players didn't yet know who they'd be playing when they met with the media Wednesday afternoon.. Assistant coach Tim Buckley was responsible for scouting Michigan, who the Hoosiers continued to prepare for Thursday afternoon before heading to Indianapolis.
"We're going to come out with the same mindset, we're going to prepare the same way," junior guard Collin Hartman said. "There's probably minor detail changes here and there for different teams, but we're going to come out the same way with the same mindset and be the same team."
Hartman's sentiment appears to be the standard throughout Indiana's locker room. The Hoosiers would rather be the ones other teams are having to radically game plan for, not the other way around.
Fifth-year senior forward Max Bielfeldt, a Michigan transfer, summed it up briefly:
"Be the team that people will be scared of," Bielfeldt said Sunday evening.
Indiana has never won a Big Ten Tournament in its 18-year history but enters this weekend's action as one of the favorites. The Hoosiers' five-game winning streak is the second longest such streak in the Big Ten, trailing only No.2 Michigan State's six-game streak into the postseason.
The tournament season brings with it the possibility of teams changing their style because of the pressure and implications that come with playing in win-or-go-home situations, but the Hoosiers said they aren't as concerned. They instead say they're entering the Big Ten Tournament relaxed with one Big Ten Championship Trophy already sitting in Bloomington.
If the Hoosiers have their way, Friday afternoon's contest won't look much different than when Indiana played Michigan back in the beginning of February.
Considering their 15-3 mark in the Big Ten, they don't see much reason to change.
"We've just got a lot of confidence in this team, confidence in each other, confidence in this staff," Hartman said. "We do have a lot of confidence in each other, and I think that's just one of the things that's carried us to where we are."
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