Four in-state programs come together for the Close the Gap Crossroads Classic on Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse. Butler, Purdue, Indiana and Notre Dame. Two games, four local schools. In Indiana, a basketball crazy state, it makes perfect sense.
This isn’t a new idea by any means, just a reboot of an old classic, the Hoosier Classic. Led by the athletic directors of these four schools, the Crossroads Classic event will be a fantastic afternoon for fans and another way to showcase hoops in Indiana.
Prior to the inaugural games, below are thoughts from two head coaches:
Coach Crean and Coach Brey are very familiar with each other, going back to when Crean was at Marquette.
Tom Crean of Indiana:
“I am anxious to see it. The number one thing when that came up was `Would it be a big deal?’ And I think every team has had a week off so there is some time for a lead-up to it. `Would it sell out?’ and `Would TV be partnered in and locked in?’ The fact that you have CBS with Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery (for the Purdue-Butler game) and us with ESPN Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale – all those questions are answered. And all the tickets are sold. I think it is good.
“It’s like anything else, after it has been played a year or two, we will look at it and see if we want to continue this or do we want to change the format. I will be in those conversations when Fred (Glass) brings them to me but I won’t be bringing them up unless there was something that didn’t make sense.
“All of the particulars that have gone into it, I think they are really good. To play a game at Conseco Fieldhouse, just like at Lucas Oil, when you have Rick Fuson at Conseco and Mike Fox at Lucas Oil – those two guys and their teams are so First Class and first rate that you know it is going to be really well done. There are no fears whatsoever and we are really looking forward to it.”
Mike Brey of Notre Dame:
Coach Mike Brey is in his 12th season at Notre Dame.
“I think it’s something Tom Crean and I have talked about. Certainly, I know Tom well for a long time and we’ve talked about it on the road during the summer. This (Crossroads) Classic certainly jumps start it and I think it’s something to really analyze about playing again. What happened was, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge kind of knocked out the date we had traditionally. It was always that December week that Notre Dame and Indiana played. I’ve always been open (to the series). I think it’s a great game, I think it’s a great game in the state, so I think we continue to talk about it in a home-and-home format or maybe the Crossroads Classic continues on rotating back and forth with these four teams. Those are all things we need to discuss and evaluate after growing through two years of this.”
“You know how great Indy does Final Fours. It’s my favorite town to go watch a Final Four and this will have a little bit of that flavor with the four in-state teams. The other thing is, it’s like a weeklong lead up cause of exam week. It’s like a football week. We’ve got a week of hype, a week of buildup for this thing. I think it’s going to be a great day. It’s supposed to be a full house. I know one of the things I’ve really been excited about it is our fan base has really rallied. We haven’t always drawn well in Indy historically. When we started talking about this and reaching out to our people, (Notre Dame AD) Jack Swarbrick did a great job. Certainly that’s his neck of the woods. I’m really excited about the representation that we’re going to have in the stands Saturday.”
[via IU Athletics and the IDS]