Fran Fraschilla Says Indiana Should Hire Scott Drew

Indiana's search for a new men's basketball coach has continued this week with few leaks, only baseless reports. As focus on the NCAA Tournament takes a breather during a few off-days, it's natural that speculation around the Hoosiers would pick back up. ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla stepped into the void and offered his two cents.

While appearing on Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre, Fraschilla said he believed Indiana should offer $5 million to Baylor head coach Scott Drew and get a deal done. He thinks it would be a home run hire, though he also said Loyola-Chicago's Porter Moser would be great at Indiana.

The full episode of the podcast is below and Fraschilla's entire interview with McIntyre is excellent, as the two discuss a wide range of college basketball topics. Check it out:

Drew would certainly be an interesting hire for Indiana. He grew up in Indiana, went to Butler and coached at Valparaiso for a year before taking the Baylor job. His father, Homer, coached at Valpo for 22 years. Drew knows the state of Indiana well and has taken Baylor to near-powerhouse status. The Bears are 50-6 over the past two seasons.

It did take Drew a while to figure things out in Waco. He didn't make his first tournament appearance until his fifth season. Since then he's reached the Elite Eight twice, the Sweet 16 five times and has been in the tournament nine times in the last 14 years, though it would be 10 times had the tournament been held in 2020.

The downside here is that Drew has a rocky relationship with Indiana and the top AAU programs along with one of the best high school programs in the state. In 2010 it was revealed that one of his assistants threatened to have top recruit Hanner Mosquera-Perea deported if he didn't commit to Baylor.

So yeah, there's some tension there. And it might be the reason Drew hasn't been mentioned as prominently in the search.

*Jason McIntyre is the original founder of The Big Lead