Purdue head coach Matt Painter created a national stir on Sunday when he offered a critique of Indiana (and his own) fans.
Basically, the vocal minority in the fan base should try to be more positive and support the team, he said.
That’s a reasonable take, even if it’s perhaps an incomplete view, and cuts a little deeper coming from the coach of a rival.
But IU assistant coach Yasir Rosemond says his team needs to take some ownership in the situation.
Of course the atmosphere was electric on Sunday in Bloomington when Indiana dominated Purdue in the second half and won by 15 points. But Rosemond says he noticed something unique about the fans and the coverage of the team the first time Indiana and Purdue played this season — a game the Hoosiers lost 81-76.
“You think about it, we’ve had some games like the (first) Purdue game. We didn’t win that game, but everybody was like ‘They played hard,'” Rosemond told Don Fischer Monday evening on the Inside IU Basketball radio show. “I think our guys are starting to understand that (they just need to) play hard. Fans just want to see us play hard. They want to see some effort out there.”
Rosemond is from Atlanta, he played a key role in recruiting multiple out-of-state players to Bloomington from the transfer portal, including fellow Georgia products Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle. He says it has taken a while for some of the new out-of-state players to realize the outside noise and attention was cranked up a couple levels at IU.
“We’ve had some bumps in the road with some of the stuff that went on with the crowd,” Rosemond said. “Those are the things that I think people that don’t grow up in Indiana, or guys that when you’re in the transfer portal, they don’t really understand about Indiana. It’s a place where they’re big on basketball. Basketball is king in Indiana, and if you don’t really understand it, sometimes that stuff can get to you. I think that happened to a couple of our guys.”
There’s no doubt about it, an Indiana team ranked in the preseason national top-20 has been through a lot of adversity this season. It started with a disappointing week in The Bahamas, and came to a head when it was announced coach Mike Woodson was stepping down at the end of the season. At some point along the way, just about every player has gone through a tough stretch.
After the Woodson news broke, it was reasonable to expect the team might not be entirely focused on the remainder of the season, and the results on the court might not improve.
But to their credit, Indiana has pulled out their two best wins of the season in their last three games, with a win at Michigan State, and then the home win against Purdue. They’ve played their way back on to the NCAA Tournament bubble.
And Rosemond sees the team becoming more cohesive through the challenges of the last few months.
“I think they’ve become closer. I think some of the adversity has helped this team,” Rosemond said. “It’s hard for guys that haven’t been in Indiana. They don’t understand Indiana basketball. Sometimes it’s not about the wins and the losses, sometimes it’s about playing hard all the time.
“That crowd (at home against Purdue) was great. And the people are great. Everybody has their crowd, everybody has people that are Debbie Downers or whatever the case may be. But at the end of the day, if you’re playing hard at Indiana, if you’re playing hard at Assembly Hall, the crowd and the fans at Indiana are going to always appreciate it.”
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