Who’s the best point guard in college basketball?
Indiana senior Yogi Ferrell is, says Indiana legend and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas.
In a segment on NBA TV on Tuesday night, Ferrell joined Thomas for an interview.
“I think you’re the best point guard in college right now, the way you’re leading your team and the way you’re playing,” said Thomas, named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.
When the segment began and the host tossed it over to Thomas, the leader of Indiana’s 1981 team that beat North Carolina for the national championship began by gesturing to Ferrell on the monitor and saying:
“Well, you’ve got the best point guard in college, and I’ve got to sing the fight song,” Thomas said, breaking out into the IU fight song.
Thomas mentioned his 1981 team had the same early season struggles as the current IU team — the 1981 team lost to Clemson and Pan American in Maui —and asked how this team changed its season.
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“We just came together as a team,” Ferrell said. “We said we could get a run in this Big Ten tournament. We felt we had the pieces to do it. We had a rough start, like you said, in Maui, but we saw the potential. We saw what we could do if we stuck together as a unit.
“We never lost two games in a row, so we always bounced back hard. I felt like coach (Tom) Crean kept putting it on us, pressuring us to go out there and want to play for each other. I feel like when we play for each other, great things can happen.”
Ferrell was asked if there is pressure wearing the same No. 11 that Thomas wore.
“That’s a lot of pressure,” Ferrell said. “I know what Isiah has done here. I hear about it all the time from everybody. The say I remind them of Isiah Thomas.
“I just try to go out there and do what he did back here when he played. The main thing is just win. I know what he did for his team. I’m just trying to do the same thing.”
Isiah Thomas responded:
“I’m hoping people will say I remind myself of you because the way you’re playing and the things you’re doing. You talk about leadership, that’s the thing I’m most impressed with in terms of how you’ve led the team, how you’ve stayed four years and how you graduated, the person you’ve become, the man you are the impeccable record you have.”
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Thomas asked Ferrell about his relationship with Crean.
“Both of you came at a time when IU fans, IU alumni needed both of you to stay there, build the program and get it back to where it’s at today,” Thomas said.
Responded Ferrell:
“Coach Crean was hard on me everyday. He was telling me, ‘Be a leader. You’ve got to be a vocal leader. Get on these guys.’ I want to go out there and show them I’m the hardest worker. With doing that, if I’m the hardest worker, I feel they’ll respond better to the hardest worker.
“So I’m getting up extra shots, extra film, doing whatever I can to give our team the best success to win. Like I said, being a vocal leader, being on these guys, holding guys accountable.
“Me and coach Crean’s relationship is great. We’re talking every day, texting every day on different coverages, what we want to do against each team. I feel like we have the same mindset when we’re out there.”
Thomas followed up by saying:
“You wear No. 11. Dan Dakich held Michael Jordan to four points wearing No. 11. I beat North Carolina, we beat North Carolina wearing No. 11. I know you’re going to do the same, and even if you don’t, I just want you to know, Dan Dakich and I, the 11s, we love you.”
Thomas closed by saying:
“We beat North Carolina all the time. That’s a tradition.”
NOTES
A few notes on Yogi Ferrell's season and career accomplishments to date: He was on watch lists for the Wooden and Naismith Awards for National Player of the Year. He also was named one of five finalists for the Cousy Award, given to the nation’s top point guard. Ferrell is the only player in Big Ten History with 1,900 points, 600 assists, 400 rebounds and 250 3-pointers made. He is IU’s all-time leader in games started (136) and assists with 629. He joins IU greats Calbert Cheaney, Don Schlundt, Damon Bailey and Kent Benson as the only IU players rank among the top 10 scorers all-time at IU and win multiple Big Ten titles. He is the first IU player to be named First Team All-Big Ten in consecutive seasons since Cheaney, who do so in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
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