KRAVITZ: Even in defeat, IU starts to show some NCAA Tournament mettle

Tom Crean wasn't unhappy. He wasn't defensive. He wasn't terse. In fact, he wore an unmistakable look of satisfaction here Friday night as he addressed the media after IU's 75-69 Big Ten Tournament loss to No. 8 Maryland. We haven't seen this kind of Crean in a while, not as his team's season circled the drain, not as the Hoosier Nation began calling for his scalp – which, in truth, happens after every IU loss at this point.

Could you blame him?

Even in defeat, IU spent the last two days here in Chicago starting to look a bit like the team that ran out to a 5-1 conference record, and not the team that spent the last month looking as if it had cashed in the season. Even in defeat, the Hoosiers looked like an NCAA Tournament team; that's not something you could have said throughout the past number of weeks. They passed the eye test.

The Hoosiers did almost everything right Friday except for making a key shot, or a monster stop, when this terrific game was theirs for the taking. They moved the ball. They played some defense, especially in the second half. They rebounded – well, Emmitt Holt really rebounded – despite the loss of Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Collin Hartman's foul troubles. And they took one of the best teams in the nation right down to the bitter end.

"First and foremost, we understand that we've got to play defense at a high level and energy and a hustle game at a high level, and I think we've come to Chicago and done that," Crean said. "Unfortunately we're walking out of here without the win today, but we're getting better. Our defense has gotten better. We got a lot of really good basketball from a lot of people. We needed to get better inside of the game in the second half, we did. The second chance points in the first half were 13-3, and we held them -- we got nine in the second half, they got none, all right, that's an improvement. We got to the foul line more in the second half.

"I'm walking out of here knowing that our defense is getting better, our energy is high.''

Look, Indiana doesn't have a team that's going to make any noise in the NCAA Tournament – assuming, as we do, that they'll make it…barely. Even if Mosquera-Perea returns, and it's looking like he will, this team is still too flawed, too small, too young to shake up the natural order of things.

But something happened here in Chicago. They started to re-discover themselves, found what it was that made them such a surprise team in the early part of the Big Ten season. Can they sustain it? That's the million-dollar question. They'd better if they hope to escape Dayton, where most bracketologists suspect they will have to compete in a play-in game early next week.

At least it's a start. Or at least a re-start.

Again, there was no grousing from Crean. He was positive. He was emboldened. He was upbeat. And again, he should have been.

All they needed was a stop Friday night. All they needed was a basket at an opportune time. All they need was a little something to get them over the hump in a wonderful game that was there for the taking. They were there all game, right there, but when they pulled within one point, or two, or three, they couldn't make the shot that would have altered the outcome.

This, though, wasn't the kind of game they could win when James Blackmon, Jr. was reminding you that he's a freshman, hitting just 2-of-12 shots for five points. This wasn't the kind of game they could win with Nick Zeisloft having his second straight quiet game in this Big Ten Tournament. This wasn't the kind of game they could win when making just 7-of-31 field-goal attempts in the second half, a half when they got some very good looks but failed to convert.

There were moments, to be sure. Troy Williams unveiled an impressive mid-range game, especially in the first half. Holt was a force of nature, grabbing 12 rebounds (six offensive), blocking three shots and getting two steals. But they weren't enough. Not against a Maryland team that got 39 points after its two backcourt star, Dez Wells (22 points) and Melo Trimble (17).

“If we're fortunate to get into the NCAA Tournament, we're going to try and ride with these two games that we played here,'' Yogi Ferrell said. “I liked the way we played. I liked the way we fought for both games, moving the ball, playing great defense, rebounding, and hopefully we've done enough to make the tournament. If not, so be it. But if we do, we feel like we can play the same way going into these next games.''

After the game, Williams and Crean met outside the Hoosiers locker room and had a very emotional conversation. There were tears in Williams' eyes. After a time, the pair retired to a side room and continued speaking.

“Coach Crean [is] just like another father figure to me,'' Williams said. “I'm away from my family, so I see him as a mentor, a father, not only as a coach or a friend. I see him as more, and we just had a father-to-son conversation.''

Said Crean: “Well, he's growing so much, and he's been through a lot, and he's been -- he's just improving so much, and to me, I know we have a special talent there, but more importantly, we have a very special young man who just needs to continue to grow in all aspects of the game and understand what he's capable of, and he's gaining so much ground. But when you have somebody like that that's as smart as he is and that's as talented as he is, you want to keep making sure you're pushing all the right buttons for him to keep improving.

“…I'm proud of his improvement, but as his coach and his leader, I want to keep pushing him to an even higher plane, just like I would with everybody else, and that's basically what it was.''

So now the Hoosiers sit and wait. The bracketologists say they're in, barely in, slated for a play-in game in Dayton. But it's no sure thing.

So Crean will get together with his team Sunday and watch. And wait. And maybe pray a little. He's never been in this position before, not as an assistant coach, not as a head coach at Marquette or Indiana. And it's an uncomfortable spot.

Whatever happens, he can feel a bit empowered by the fact his team hasn't quit on him or the season. Baby steps, you know?