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Over the past few weeks, I have been trying to figure out what has made this Indiana basketball team so different from teams prior. After pondering the concept for a rather extensive period of time, it hit me. This Indiana basketball team is something special. It feels almost magical. It feels different.

That is because this season, Tom Crean has quite simply, found his inner SAVAGE.

Yup. You heard it here first. This Indiana basketball team is successful because Tom Crean has become a pure savage. The correlation isn’t obvious, but if you give it good thought, you will soon realize that this basketball team can only go where Tom Crean’s confidence will take it.

Now, what is a “savage?”

According to Urban Dictionary, a savage refers to someone that often displays ruthless and brilliant behavior, going beyond the normal scope of a given situation. A savage is willing to do or say anything without care for the consequences.

Just from my own personal experience, a savage is someone that has a remarkable amount of confidence in their abilities. A savage doesn’t care about how his opponents or peers think of him.

Why is being a savage important?

A college basketball coach can’t ever be reluctant in his or her actions. He or she must always act without fear for either losing his or her job or receiving mass amounts of criticism. A coach must exude confidence, because when playing the role of leader for young men, that confidence will have a direct correlation with the confidence of his or her players.

Tom Crean’s journey to savagery

Tom Crean looks like a math teacher. He does not look like an individual that can relate to college-aged men. He doesn’t in any way look like an individual that could get in your head or intimidate you. For all of these reasons, Tom Crean has been one of the easiest to ridicule during his tenure at Indiana. Since taking the job in 2008, Coach Crean has been under one of the largest microscopes in the country. With a fanbase so rabid and thirsty for success, every action Tom Crean has taken has lead to criticism.

With constant rumors of hot seats and potential firings, it was clear that the criticism would get to Coach Crean. Crean even had to delete his Twitter to try to get away from it all.

As Crean became affected by the criticism, so did his players.

In years prior it had almost appeared that Crean was coaching in fear. Fear for his job. Fear for his career.

It would all build up game after game with this program, and the criticism reached its peak on November 25th, 2015.

Leaving the Maui Invitational with a 1-2 record meant an entire fanbase gunning for his head.

There were only two options.

Continue to coach in fear, or have trust in your abilities, and become a savage.

We first saw Crean’s potential to be a savage on December 31st, 2014. As shown below, Crean and Nebraska Head Coach Tim Miles seemed to get into a heated exchange over a foul on Hanner Mosquera-Perea.

Actually, let me rephrase that.

Tim Miles lost his marbles over a foul and Tom Crean quite simply stared down Coach Miles’ soul.

Tom Crean did not even utter a word. He just stood there. Stood there like a savage…

The amount of hope in that moment is hard to quantify. Now that I think about it, how does one even quantify savagery?

Oh wait, I know…

Savage.

Savage.

HOLY SAVAGERY.

Yes, Tom Crean has officially become a savage and there is nothing you can do about it.

Throughout this season moments have continued to come along which have expressed this great savagery, but it genuinely took time to fully comprehend their importance. There is the time early on in the season when Tom Crean raised up the arm of Yogi Ferrell like he had just won a title fight. There is the moment where Tom Crean called a timeout against Maryland with two seconds left just to let Tim Priller check into the game. There is Selection Sunday, where Tom Crean decided to bring along the Big Ten Conference Trophy for the seeding announcement, just as a reminder to his players to not get frustrated or upset with their seeding. Or there is simply the fact that Tom Crean has apparently become the school mascot as seen above.

There have been so many moments throughout this season, and they can’t be overlooked.

Just look at last weekend. His savagery is even finding its way into gameplans. Coach Crean dared Kentucky to utilize its big men. He dared the Wildcats to score with anyone other than Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray and they couldn’t.

The success of this game plan then resulted in one of his most savage moments of all…

For if you weren’t aware, Young Crean don’t trust you Coach Cal.

Tom Crean has officially stopped caring. He doesn’t care for any of your negativity, because he knows he is a damn good coach.

This confidence has even started to find itself in his players.

Tom Crean has taken freshmen like Juwan Morgan and OG Anunoby to places they couldn’t have gone without the confidence instilled by this savage. Anunoby now “raises the roof” after big dunks. Harrison Niego no longer passes up open shots. Thomas Bryant even made sure to inform the Kentucky bench on Saturday, that he chose Indiana over Kentucky for good reason by stating “this is why I’m here.”

Indiana basketball is a bunch of savages, led by the king of the savages. There is no better way to put it, and there is no better way to explain this team’s success.