Tom Crean and his wife received a text Monday night from one of his former college players, congratulating Joani — the sister of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh — on the Wolverines advancing to the national championship game with an overtime victory over Alabama.
The message came within minutes of the game ending, and it came from newly acquired Knick OG Anunoby, who played for Crean at Indiana for two seasons before embarking on his NBA career in 2017.
“OG is one of the most loyal players and people I’ve ever known, so it didn’t surprise me that we heard from him, right away,” Crean told The Post in a phone interview Tuesday. “That’s just who he’s always been. I’m telling you this right now, New York is really going to love him.”
Crean, an ESPN analyst after being let go by Georgia last season, echoed the sentiments that the former Raptors forward will be “a perfect fit” for New York and in the Knicks’ system under head coach Tom Thibodeau, with his multifaceted debut in Monday’s win over the Timberwolves “a great example of everything he can do for that team.”
“No question about it, he’ll fit into the fabric of the city and the Knicks,” Crean said. “He’s got the game, he’s got a lot of substance to his game, there’s some style to his game, he works and makes a difference at both ends, and most of all, he is who he is. New York always has embraced that combination, that type of player.
“He’s not going to give outlandish quotes, but he’s going to be a very good representative of that team and that city because of who he is. He’s an old soul in a lot of ways, a very caring person, but he has got an incredible drive. I’d almost say it’s an insatiable drive to be great and to win.”
Crean has “known Thibs for a long time” and believes Anunoby, 26, also “absolutely” is stylistically a good fit for Thibodeau’s scheme.
Without practicing with the Knicks following Saturday’s trade that sent RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to Toronto, Anunoby scored 17 points with three made 3-pointers and was the primary defender on Anthony Edwards in a victory over the West-leading Timberwolves at the Garden.
“I know Tom is going to love coaching him,” Crean said. “You could see it [Monday], and he’s gonna get even more comfortable, but he’s a very smart player. It was no shock that he picked up things fast and then just played on instincts and who he is as a player.
“But as he gets more comfortable in that system, and he gets more confidence in that role on a new team — because I don’t think it’s really even hit him yet, it’s been such a whirlwind so far — but once he gets comfortable with all of that, he’s gonna be special there.”
Crean coached at Indiana for nine seasons from 2008-17 between stints at Marquette and Georgia.
He says the London-born Anunoby was “very under-recruited and very undervalued” coming out of high school in Missouri, but the 6-foot-7 wing “definitely wanted to know when we recruited him what the plan would be and if we saw him being an NBA player.”
Anunoby’s sophomore season with the Hoosiers was cut short after 16 games by an ACL injury, which Crean believes kept him from being a lottery pick.
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But the Raptors drafted Anunoby with the 23rd overall pick, and he started 62 games in 74 appearances as a rookie for a team that went 59-23 in the regular season.
Toronto won the NBA championship the following year, though Anunoby missed the playoff run after needing an emergency appendectomy in April.
“I believe that created an incredible hunger for him because he wasn’t on the court for it,” Crean said. “It’s almost like, yeah, he got the ring and was a big part of it all season, but in his own mind, he didn’t feel the level of winning it.
“He was around the team and he’d been instrumental in getting to that point, but he wasn’t out there on the court at the end, and I think that’s what he truly wants more than anything else. That’s where that drive is for him.”
Crean added that Anunoby is “a quiet killer,” and stressed that fans or media shouldn’t confuse brief answers in interviews as aloofness or not caring.
“He’s just a quiet guy, but he’s a happy guy. He’s kind of an old soul with a young heart, if that makes any sense,” Crean said. “He’s got an unbelievable drive, and he’s always liked New York, and wanted to be in New York.”
Raptors radio analyst Jevohn Shepherd, a Toronto native who played collegiately at Michigan and professionally overseas, also believes “getting OG without a doubt is a no-brainer for the Knicks,” who face the Bulls on Wednesday night at the Garden, “most of all because he fits like a glove with the way they want to play.”
Shepherd also laughed when told that Jalen Brunson said after Monday’s game that Anunoby told him beforehand that he didn’t “know any of the plays, so I’m just going to keep cutting to the basket,” resulting in four dunks among his 17 points.
“There’s no question Thibs loves tough and gritty and defensive-minded players, and he fits that exact mold,” Shepherd told The Post. “I think you guys will find that he’s also very blunt and candid. That’s his humor, saying ‘I’m just going to cut to the basket,’ and then doing exactly that, benefitting the team right away. That’s exactly who he is.”
Added Crean: “OG is very introspective, an unbelievable mind and memory, and sometimes people are not quite sure how to take him, but it’s not an aloofness, I promise you. There’s a quietness there, but he’s unbelievably smart how he picks things up and reads things and views the game and life. I haven’t been around many people that have a mind and memory like that. He’s one of the most thoughtful and caring and loyal people I know. We were absolute basket cases at the end of that [Michigan football] game [Monday] night, and perfect timing, there’s a text from OG.
“That’s just who he is. New York is going to love him.”