NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. – A little more than a year ago when Indiana hired Bronx native Chuck Martin to fill the assistant coaching position vacated by Kenny Johnson, Martin’s familiarity with the New York basketball scene was viewed as a positive.
“It certainly factors in, but I think it would factor in if there were a player in Bloomington that we were recruiting,” Tom Crean said at Martin’s introductory press conference. “Because I think if you can deal with people, geography matters because maybe you’re more comfortable there, you have more contacts. You know the streets. You don’t need a GPS or a map maybe.