That “L word” came up again Friday. It seems Indiana basketball can’t escape it.
Leadership, or a lack-there-of, has been a hot topic with No. 25 IU in the midst of a three-game losing streak heading into Saturday’s game against Illinois. It can’t just come from one person, head coach Tom Crean said, and it needs to come fast.
“The number of thing that’s going to put us over the hump to really, really get better is to have consistent leadership from everybody on the floor,” Crean said. “It’s not about the one or two leaders. It’s about a group of guys that really, really work together.”
The word players keep bringing up is “mindset.”
Sophomore forward Juwan Morgan brought it up after losing to Wisconsin last time out after junior guard Robert Johnson used the same phrase earlier after losing to Nebraska in the Big Ten opener.
Sophomore center Thomas Bryant said it again Friday on a couple of occasions. He said the key moving forward is being able to execute the game plan the coaches put into place and holding one another as players accountable when things go wrong.
“It starts with us,” he said. “It doesn’t start with coaches. It starts with us.”
Indiana’s season is far from lost because of two Big Ten losses to start the season. The conference isn’t as strong as it has been in recent seasons, which has helped create a deal of parity across the league.
But a third consecutive loss, all at home, would put IU in a substantial hole early on. Leadership becomes all the more important.
“Can you be the same player under pressure?” Crean said. “That’s when leadership emerges.”
At the same time, Crean agreed it isn’t right to force leadership. That defeats the purpose.
He brought up senior wing Collin Hartman again, saying he realizes just how much he misses him on the floor every time he opens his mouth in film or at practice. A guy like Hartman, Crean said, can have a direct impact on his teammates’ growth, but that’s been made more difficult be an injury that appears to have him sidelined for the season.
Crean said there are cases with some of his best leaders where they make guys on the floor more comfortable. There’s a certain element of safety that came when a player like Kevin “Yogi” Ferrrell or a Max Bielfeldt was on the floor that this current team lacks.
Without even saying a word, things change when those players come and go.
“They’re not obvious, but they happen for a player,” Crean said. “They happen for a team.”
Indiana won’t find that type of calming presence overnight. Hartman isn’t about to return to the floor any time soon, and there’s nobody else left waiting to join the roster.
The void in leadership, whatever it is, can only be filled by the guys already in the rotation. It falls on the players, and they know it.
Because right now, they’re running out of games to figure it out.
“We all want the same goal in life,” Bryant said. “We all want to win.”
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