So the big news from Indiana basketball (not involving resignations, mind you) centered on the Hoosiers’ signing of 6′5″ swingman Malik Story.
Story, who was formerly committed to USC, seems to have a rep as a good jump shooter, which is useful for any team whose roster currently consists of a walk-on and a former walk-on. However…
Okay, I’m puzzled. We’ve been pretty out-front in our support of the Crean regime at IU. He seems like the right kind of guy for the job, and his reputation coming out of Marquette was very good. But something about Malik Story doesn’t quite feel right. For instance, here’s a snippet of the Bloomington Herald-Times article on the kid (I’d link to the H-T, but they persist in this 19th Centuryesque model of requiring a subscription to read every fucking article on their site):
The California native averaged 13.0 points as a sophomore at Artesia High School and made a commitment to Southern California at the time. He averaged 14.7 points as a junior at Artesia, helping his prep team to a 66-3 record during that two-year run.
After transferring to Oak Hill (Va.) Academy for his senior season, Story played in just five games before an incident neither side is willing to divulge forced him to leave the team and school.
He transferred to Ribet Academy in Los Angeles, but was ineligible to play. Ultimately, Story chose Indiana over Oregon and Georgetown.
Uh…hold on a second there. We’ve got a kid who’s a decommit from a notoriously shady program, who got thrown out of Oak Hill (which is like getting thrown out of San Quentin for bad behavior, mind you), and then got recruited by one of the dirtiest college athletic programs around?
(I’m talking about Oregon, mind you.)
Maybe I’m reading too much into this, and maybe Malik Story is a fine, upstanding young guy who was caught in a web of prep-school intrigue. You know, kind of like how Eli Holman was just in the wrong place at the wrong time (and that he was just mad about the stock market that one time in Crean’s office).
But bear this in mind: Crean and company have quite a task ahead in trying to re-build this program in terms of basketball talent. In addition to the talent issue, one of the major issues with IU basketball the last 7 years, starting with the arrival of the Bracey Wright class, has been the culture of the team. It reached its nadir this past season, with everything from fights at Chicago parties to a complete lack of academic focus.
I’m perfectly willing to give Crean a chance to build the program his way, but given the fractured state of the program at this point, I think the Story signing is a bit of a cause for concern. I’d love to just not worry about it, but unfortunately the past 8 years have shown that you have to worry about everything going through Assembly Hall.
Eli Holman wasn’t as much mad about the stock market; rather he was angry he never invested in green stocks. Duh.
You should do more research before making a comment like “getting thrown out of Oak Hill is like getting kicked out of San Quentin”. You have no idea what you are talking about. Just because 10-12 boys at our school play basketball doesn’t mean they are “thugs”. We have standards & rules that we abide by & you have defamed the school & every player that has been here. You owe us a retraction.
Lisa,
First of all, thanks for stopping by! Good to have you here.
Second, with all due respect, I think you need to work on your reading comprehension skills. I did not compare Oak Hill to San Quentin. What I said was that a high-quality basketball player being thrown out of Oak Hill was as unusual as a prisoner getting kicked out of San Quentin FOR BAD BEHAVIOR.
Notice the difference there?
So no, no retraction will be forthcoming, because there’s nothing to retract. However, since you appear to be connected with the school, I do have a question. How do you feel about Oak Hill being widely considered a “basketball factory”?