Wednesday, January 26 Homesick Crawford tests Ellerbe's patience By Rick Morrissey Special to ESPN.com

Jamal Crawford still looks like a kid, which is only natural, because that's really what he is. He has a child's mischievous eyes and smooth face.

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But put a basketball in the freshman's hands, and watch him transform himself into an adult. And watch the people around him -- on the court and off -- change, for better or worse.

When Crawford is putting the ball into the basket for Michigan, it's fun. When he's unhappy, it's not the proudest moment for Wolverine basketball or, for that matter, college basketball.

So far this season, Crawford has walked out of practice three times. Coach Brian Ellerbe has responded by benching him for 14 minutes against Illinois. After Crawford talked about transferring, Ellerbe accused the news media of taking advantage of the freshman, then severely limited their access to Michigan players the rest of the season.

If there is any doubt that college basketball now is almost completely beholden to freshmen, the Crawford situation has answered it. The message (besides "kill the messenger") is that coaches need freshmen a whole lot more than the other way around. Crawford is averaging 16.9 points a game, tops on the team and fourth-best in the Big Ten.

Let's review the Michigan mess. The Detroit Free Press reported that Crawford recently bailed out of practice again, which added up to walkout No. 3. Earlier in the season, according to the Free Press, he and assistant coach Lorenzo Neely also were involved in an altercation, and although no punches were thrown, it wasn't pretty. Neely was suspended for two weeks and demoted from coach to administrative assistant.

The newspaper recently reported that Crawford, a Seattle native, was considering a transfer to Washington. He said he was taking it "one day at a time," which was not music to Ellerbe's ears.

Neither was this:

"I'm here this year," Crawford said. "I won't predict the future. I'm not saying I'm going anywhere. I'm definitely here for the season. I signed for one year, so I'm definitely going to stick with it."

The typical freshman success story goes something like this: High school star arrives on campus, becomes a starter before first practice, scores 19 points a game and considers NBA not only his destiny, but his destination after the season.

This wasn't that story. This was the underside, the belly of the beast.

This was a combination of too much pressure. Too much pressure on the kid, too much pressure on the coach. Too much, too soon all around.

Ellerbe obviously has a short-sighted approach to dealing with reporters. Shielding players from the news media teaches them to run and hide during the tough times. But whatever happened to the notion that practice is mandatory? Crawford had violated one of the golden rules of sports: Thou shall attend practice.

	Brian Ellerbe has shown patience in dealing with his young players.

But, again, Ellerbe needs Crawford. And maybe Ellerbe, and coaches all over the country, are asking too much out of freshmen.

"I don't know if it's too much pressure put on them," Ellerbe said. "I think there are a lot of programs right now where they've had to have freshmen become a major part of their success and therefore they've been put into situations that ordinarily freshmen in the past have not had to deal with. So they're more accountable at an earlier age.

"I wouldn't call it pressure. I just think they've been to the forefront probably a little bit too much, somewhat deserved because there are a lot of good freshmen around the country."

Not long after Crawford talked to the media about being homesick and hinted at transferring, Ellerbe said that the freshman's comments had been misconstrued or taken out of context. Uh, right.

Amazingly, Crawford somehow came to his senses a few days later.

"The reason why I'm here is because of this man," Crawford said, pointing to Ellerbe after the Northwestern game on Thursday. "I wouldn't expect to find a more patient coach anywhere else. I plan on being back next year and the year after that and the year after that."

Crawford wouldn't be able to find a more patient coach? He'd be surprised how many coaches are willing to be patient with an extremely talented freshman.

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