Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers basketball program have been getting the wrong kind of notoriety over the course of the last few months.

Since February, no fewer than six Hoosiers players have been in trouble with law enforcement. In addition, a handful of other players have left the program over the course of a year, leaving many to wonder if Crean can handle being the coach of such a storied basketball program.

The legal troubles began last February when forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea was arrested on drunken driving charges. In September, returning starter Yogi Ferrell and reserve guard Stanford Robinson were charged with underage drinking and possession of false identification. Each player entered a pretrial diversion program.

Now, over the last several days, the behavior issues have mounted. Early Saturday morning, forward Devin Davis was seriously injured when he was struck by a vehicle driven by teammate Emmitt Holt, a freshman. Davis, who is recovering in a Bloomington hospital, was found to be at fault for the accident, and both he and Holt were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.

Both are under the legal drinking age. Holt was cited for driving under the influence and illegal consumption. Crean announced on Monday that he has suspended Holt for four games for his involvement in the accident.

And on Monday, two more Indiana players were suspended for allegedly failing drug tests. Robinson and Troy Williams both tested positive for drug use, although no details have been released.

Citing the “bad choices” made by his players, Crean has taken action, suspending each of them four games.

"We're not a program that waits for this or that,” Crean said on Monday. “They made those bad choices. The rules say they sit a certain amount; well, I say they sit more. Stanford Robinson and Troy Williams, they're also going to sit for four games. We have to grow up, as a unit, as a group of young men. As I tell them all the time ... you get to make your own choices, but you don't get to pick your consequences."

Among those being critical of the Indiana players are several IU alumni, including Cody Zeller who Tweeted the following: "As an IUBB player you're held to a higher standard. You can't be a normal college kid but you get the privilege of wearing the candy stripes"

Verdell Jones added his own pair of Tweets: “Yes your young and make mistakes that's apart of life,but u live in a fish bowl as a hooper at IU,can't continually as a team get in trouble

“someone on the team has to step and gather them up collectively and say enough is enough..coaches can't babysit u”

Perhaps the loudest voice against the Hoosiers is former IU player and coach Dan Dakich, who expressed his embarrasment of the program on a Monday radio show.

"Gregg Doyel was dead on," Dakich said. "Indiana players, you're getting ready to get your coach fired... I love Indiana basketball down to my core. It's who I am. But not this crap...When did you fans become so soft, become so accepting of mediocrity, promotion and crap?"

While much of the blame does fall on the players’ shoulders, and rightfully so, the recent events do shed a certain cloudy darkness over Crean.

Indeed, it is questionable if the suspensions are deep enough to have any real effect. In essence, since the four-game hiatus includes two exhibition contests, the three players will miss only two games that count against the team.

Indiana opens its season on November 14 against Mississippi Valley State before taking on Texas Southern three days later. The Hoosiers will have essentially their full roster when they host #22 SMU on November 20.

It appears that while Crean wants to send a message to his players about behavior and consequences, he is not doing so at the expense of marquee games.

Certainly, with the exits of several roster players from last year’s team (Noah Vonleh entered the NBA Draft, three players transferred, and four walk-ons decided not to return), Crean has very little wiggle room when it comes to fielding a competitive squad, which may be a reason for the lighter sentences handed down to his players.

As it stood going into the fall, the Hoosiers looked to be a mid-tier Big 10 team at best. Now with the suspensions of Williams, Robinson, and Holt, and the likely loss of Davis (at 6-7, he is one of the taller Hoosier players), Indiana will struggle to keep pace in one of the deepest conferences in the nation.

If things are not cleaned up soon, Crean’s actions may be a case of too little, too late for those who hold Indiana Basketball near and dear.