Summary of Player interviews

[superfan1387]

the four players made available to the media were lazar, james, matthews, and mcneal. all four seemed upset by the decision. mcneal especially said he was upset about how the players found out about the decision through the media. matthews also seemed a little mad about the whole situation, when asked if he had watched the IU press conference, he responsded pretty harshly "no, i have no interest in that". all in all the four of them were shocked and hurt by the situation, and mainly upset by the way it was handled. mcneal talked a lot about how the team is going to keep working to get ready for next year and how he was looking forward to the team they had coming back. so that was good news. in reference to the new recruits, james said he hopes they still come and since all of the current players helped to recruit these guys he thinks there is maybe still a chance they will come. All four of them described the meeting at crean's house last night, and said it was extremely emotional, and that basically they went out there and crean said he was leaving, and that was it. rabs was in the room for the whole thing and cottingham said all of the other assistants were still there and working.

[mwbauer7]

Thanks for the report.

Sounds like decent news.

The other board has several people who claim to have talked to players who seemed almost more relieved/excited to start fresh that Crean was gone. Take it for what it's worth--but thats all we've got right now, you know?

[rocky_warrior]

Thanks superfan - glad to hear they're still working, and want to keep the "team" together.  That's the spirit the need to keep.  I don't blame them for being mad.  Look at how angry they fans are - and for us it's mostly just entertainment! (albeit, entertainment that we get emotional about).

[superfan1387]

i just remembered the other thing i found most interesting, matthews discussed his long relationship with crean and how having a new coach come in for his senior would be very difficult. he said that hes going to take some time and evaluate his situation. not sure what he meant by it, but when he said it i was kind of caught off guard. i dont really know what wes has to evaluate, time will tell.

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

It's reassuring to see our leaders step up and state that they'll try and keep the team together and going strong.

It's messed up that Crean let them find out like that...but it'll be great if our guys can pull together after all the smoke clears and we have a new coach and with whatever may happen with the recruits.

[77ncaachamps]

IF anyone in the NCAA gets it right, they'd do a pre-season invitational matchup between MU and Indiana.

Ohhhh. I'd fly to watch that game and all of MU's kids gobble up Crean's Crap...er...Indiana Hoosiers.

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

IF anyone in the NCAA gets it right, they'd do a pre-season invitational matchup between MU and Indiana.

Ohhhh. I'd fly to watch that game and all of MU's kids gobble up Crean's Crap...er...Indiana Hoosiers.

I pray this happens.