LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Indiana University basketball fans howled about the modest recruiting success that Tom Crean and his staff delivered in the summer of 2015.
Where were the big names?
There were whispers the Hoosiers tried to get involved with prospects like Diamond Stone, Stephen Zimmerman, Allonzo Trier, Luke Kennard, Raymond Spalding, Shake Milton and Malachi Richardson.
But all the IU coaching staff could deliver was a three-player class that 247Sports ranked the 32nd best in the country.
Some tall kid from Missouri named Juwan Morgan, who averaged more than 20 points in his final two seasons at IU and left Bloomington with 757 rebounds and 138 blocked shots.
He was the No. 78 recruit in the 2015 class.
There was a more anonymous kid from Missouri named OG Anunoby, whose other primary offers were from Missouri State and Iowa. He was good enough to leave the Hoosiers for the NBA after two seasons as the 23rd pick in the draft.
He was ranked No. 221 in that class.
Then there was the late add from Huntington (W.Va.) Prep School, by way of upstate New York. His name was Thomas Bryant. Although he was ranked the 13th player in that class, Bryant was a 6-foot-10 frontcourt player with a bit of awkwardness than had to be smoothed out of his game.
Wednesday night in Madison Square Garden the Eastern Conference finals will begin. Inside the competition between the home New York Knicks and the rising Indiana Pacers, another competition will percolate:
Indiana University vs. Indiana University.
Thomas Bryant of the Pacers vs. OG Anunoby of the Knicks.
For a trip to the NBA Finals.
Turns out that Crean and his staff, headlined by assistant coach Tim Buckley, did a better job of evaluating that group than the recruiting gurus and Indiana fans did.
Like they did with Dwyane Wade at Marquette and Victor Oladipo at Indiana.
“OG fit the profile of one of those guys that we always looked for that was a little bit under the radar, that you could project that you could develop and get better,” Buckley said.
“I think that with all of the guys we had (at IU), I’m never surprised by the success they have because of the work ethic and the character were always there.
“There was character as people and then there was basketball character. They had both.
“With our guys there was always a curiosity about improvement but there was never a discussion about, ‘What do I need to do to get to the league?’
“Because I do believe this: Those guys were team guys first. They were about themselves second."
Let’s begin with Anunoby because in 2015 nobody predicted he would start 74 games for the Knicks this season and average nearly 16 points in the first two rounds of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
He did not play on the primary AAU circuit. At 6-foot-7 and more than 225 pounds, Anunoby had speed and strength as well as a father who instilled a 5-star work ethic.
“Coach Crean was the first one who saw him and liked him, and he had me go watch him at some obscure tournament in Pensacola (Fla.),” Buckley said.
“He was impressive but it was hard to tell everything that he could do because the team he was playing against played only a zone.”
After arriving at IU, Anunoby was not plug and play. After three early victories during his freshman season, Indiana played its fourth game against Wake Forest in Maui. The Hoosiers lost. Anunoby played three meaningless minutes.
The next day Anunoby was a last-minute arrival to the team’s pre-game stretching routine at the hotel before the bus ride to the arena for IU’s second game against St. John’s. When the players exited the bus, Crean told Anunoby to sit for a quick conversation. The coaches could sense something amiss in Anunoby’s attitude.
“What’s wrong with you?” Crean asked.
“I’ve never not played before,” Anunoby said.
“Well, you’re playing today and I better not see that (attitude) again,” Crean said.
By Big Ten play, Anunoby became a force. He could guard any position on the floor. He blew up on the national scene by repeatedly swatting away three-point attempts by Kentucky’s Jamal Murray when the Hoosiers made the program’s last run to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2016 with a second round tournament victory over UK in Des Moines, Iowa.
“It’s just been a gradual climb to him getting better and better and better,” said Buckley, who has maintained a relationship with both players into the NBA. “He’s become a very valued player in the NBA.”
The five-year, $215.5 million contract Anunoby signed with the Knicks last June confirmed that.
Bryant started from Game One as a Hoosier, making all 15 two-point field goals that he attempted in IU’s first three games. By his second season he added a dependable three-point shot to his game.
He averaged 12.2 points and 6.2 points on two balanced and deep IU teams. Buckley said that it was important to credit Max Bielfeldt with some of Bryant’s success. Bielfeldt transferred to IU from Michigan and accepted the assignment of playing off the bench and mentoring the freshman.
Beyond his ability to defend, drive the basketball and shoot, Bryant showed Buckley something else.
“An infectious personality,” Buckley said. “He wears his emotions and who he is on his sleeve. You always know what you’re getting with Thomas. He’s just a wonderful, wonderful person.
“I definitely always thought he had the ability (to make the NBA). When you have big guys who play as hard as he does, you know they always have a chance to be good players and your team has a chance to be successful.”
Bryant’s NBA path has not been as steady at Anunoby’s path. The Lakers selected him with the 42nd pick in the second round in 2017. They stashed him in the G-League at times. He also played for the Wizards, the Lakers again, the Nuggets, and Heat before coming back home again to Indiana last Dec. 15.
Pacers’ coach Rick Carlisle is comfortable trusting his substitutes. Bryant contributes. Bryant averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds while averaging 15 minutes over 56 games for the Pacers.
He will play off the bench against the Knicks. Anunoby will start and likely play at least 36 minutes, as he did in the final three games of the series the Knicks just won over Boston.
“Their roles have kind of been reversed,” Buckley said. “OG is the starter and Thomas comes off the bench.”
And over the next two weeks it will be Indiana vs. Indiana, with either OG Anunoby or Thomas Bryant earning a trip to the NBA Finals.
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