All is not right in the state of Indiana.
One would have figured just beating a very tough Michigan team on the road to win the Big Ten championship would be reason to smile for Hoosiers head coach Tom Crean, but that wasn't the case. When Crean walked to midcourt to shake the hands of Michigan's coaching staff, things escalated into a heated exchange between Crean and Michigan assistant coach Jeff Meyer.
Crean was heard repeatedly yelling, "You helped wreck our program!" For clarification on the subject, Meyer was a former Indiana assistant coach under the old regime that ended very poorly and set back Hoosiers basketball in terms of recruiting.
We're still left wondering if there was something said before the game or during that may have sparked the fight. Was there a Jim Harbaugh/Jim Schwartz moment during the handshake that got under the skin of Tom Crean? Who knows? Maybe Meyer said something that instigated it, maybe he didn't.
On Monday, Crean spoke to the media and said he apologized to Jeff Meyer for the way he acted. "On the way to the plane, I talked to him on the telephone. We discussed a couple of things and I apologized. In retrospect, I wish I had never addressed anything after the heat of battle in a game, but I did and we move on. End of story," he said.
It was an awkward ending to what was otherwise a great night for Hoosiers fans who can now look ahead to the tournament and their teams likely No.1 seed.
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