3 IU players suspended; Crean is 'not even part of the problem'
BLOOMINGTON -- IU men's basketball coach Tom Crean announced Monday night that three players will be suspended for two exhibition games and two regular season games.
Sophomores Troy Williams and Stanford Robinson were suspended for failing drug tests, according to a source familiar with the situation. Freshman forward Emmitt Holt was suspended after he was cited for underaged drinking following a car accident in which he hit teammate Devin Davis, leaving him in the hospital in serious condition.
All three players will be eligible to return for Indiana's Nov. 20 home game against SMU.
"We've got to get our team to understand that there is nothing normal about being a college athlete," Crean said on his radio show, his first public comments since this weekend's accident. "We had a couple guys make bad choices."
IU athletic director Fred Glass admitted he's heard the fan frustration but threw support behind his embattled coach.
"There was some real vitriolic stuff (on the radio show)," Glass told The Indianapolis Star of the call-in portion of Monday's show. "But still, people are upset about it. I'm upset about it. I understand it. I'm upset about it. I don't like it. Tom doesn't like it. But I'm confident Tom is the solution, not even part of the problem."
Crean became emotional several times during his nearly hour-long radio show while talking about Davis.
Holt had just dropped Davis off in the parking lot of Memorial Stadium and turned back out onto 17th Street, when Davis unexpectedly reentered the roadway and was struck by the car. Police responding to the scene found him unconscious and suffering from a head injury. The crash report cited 'pedestrian action' as a contributing factor to the accident.
Davis was transported to Bloomington Hospital, where he was listed Saturday in serious condition. No further updates to his status have been given since then, but a separate Indiana press release Sunday indicated Davis has use of his extremities, and that his speech is normal.
"Devin is not only a teammate but a great friend and it pains me to know that I have caused him harm," Holt said in a statement released but the university. "I sincerely regret my actions and I understand that I must be held accountable to the high standards that coach Crean and IU have set for all of us. I want to apologize to coach, to my teammates and to the entire IU community for not living up to the expectations that this program and university deserve. I will work hard in the coming days, weeks and months to become a better man and teammate."
Holt, 18, was cited for illegal consumption of alcohol, a misdemeanor, and for operating under the influence of alcohol under the age of 21, an infraction. According to Indiana's initial press release on the crash, he registered a blood alcohol level of 0.025.
"Emmitt made a couple poor choices," Crean said. "It's not about a blood alcohol level, or what it is or isn't to me. He's underage."
Williams and Robinson, candidates for starting positions, were suspended one more game than the mandated 10 percent of the season.
Callers to the show — this season's first — were as tough on Crean as they have ever been.
One questioned whether Crean understood fans who wanted to place responsibility for Indiana's recent spate of off-the-court problems on his leadership. Junior forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea was also charged with OWI in February, less than 48 hours before Indiana's game at Purdue. Robinson and junior guard Yogi Ferrell were cited for illegal consumption and possession of false identification outside of a Bloomington bar in late April.
Both of those incidents have been resolved legally. Mosquera-Perea was suspended for two games after his arrest last season. Any internal punishment Ferrell and Robinson received because of their April incident has not been made public.
"You get to make your own choices, but you don't get to pick your consequences," Crean said. "Nothing is worse than having to prepare a family for what I was a part of the other night, so I don't have trouble laying down discipline."
Glass said he has been in close contact with Crean about the punishments handed down Monday. Glass said he largely left the decisions up to Crean, but that he agreed with and supported them.
"I support the suspensions that he's instituted," Glass said. "I think they're appropriate under the totality of the circumstances and issues, which are obviously differently from player to player.
"I grew up on IU basketball and now as the AD at Indiana University, I'm really angry at the serial bad behavior of some of our players. This program has come too far to fall back now, and Tom and I are going to make sure that doesn't happen."
Follow Star reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.