Three Areas Where Tom Crean is Coming Up Short

Year 3 was supposed to be the year Georgia basketball head coach Tom Crean made good on his hype and promises.

After all, that's what he did at Marquette and Indiana, spending three years building the program. In Year 3 at Marquette, the Golden Eagles made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years. A year later, they were in the Final Four.

Wins were scarce through his first three years at Indiana, but he recruited well. The team he built over those three years became a Sweet 16 squad in Year 4.

There is no such optimism about Georgia basketball in 2021. The program appears to be in no better shape today than it was when Georgia hired Crean in 2018.

There are three areas where Georgia hasn't improved as was promised. Crean's shortcomings to build the program in these areas are why the Bulldogs have only nine SEC victories through Crean's first three seasons. For the record, Georgia had seven conference wins in Mark Fox's final season before he was fired.

Recruiting

Crean touted his recruiting prowess when he accepted the job. Crean claimed he would turn Athens, Ga. into a destination for recruits, especially those in the state. Initially, Crean made good on his claim by signing Anthony Edwards, the top guard prospect of the 2019 class.

Since then, recruiting has not yielded any major successes. Meanwhile, Auburn of all programs, is poaching the best players in Georgia. Crean isn't even losing the recruiting battles to blue-blood programs. Schools like Alabama, South Florida and LSU are recruiting Georgia better than Georgia right now.

Leadership

Georgia has a real leadership problem. Say what you will about Fox and his legacy, but at least everyone knew who the leaders were. Who's settling the team down when opponents go on runs? Who is making sure Georgia finds its identity? Is there anyone constantly picking up their teammates?

Sahvir Wheeler is a very good point guard and is the best distributor in the SEC, but he's still a sophomore. The three seniors on the team are all graduate transfers. Leadership starts up top, so this is unquestionably a Tom Crean issue. He's yet to instill any kind of identity or culture in Athens that can breed success.

Size

If there's one area where Georgia has gotten worse, it's size. The Bulldogs are a small team. Toumani Camara is the "big man" on the team at 6-foot-8 and 220 pounds. He's a small forward asked to be Georgia's de facto center. As a result, the Bulldogs have gotten bullied on the boards in SEC play. Recently, Florida outrebounded Georgia 41-27 and had 16 offensive rebounds.

This issue goes back to recruiting, but it also goes beyond recruiting. Not only has Crean failed to sign a true big man out of high school, he's also failed to bring in any as transfers, and the big men who were on the team are no longer around.