FanHouse Kyle Taber

If you want a game recap, you can check one out. Here, we focus on more than that. The one thing I will say that is left out of the recap is the six missed free throws in overtime by the Hoosiers. Those all came before a few tack-on free throws by the Wolverines. Simply put, IU still should have won, if they could just hit their damn charity shots.

What is the fallout for each team?

Indiana

This game showed that the Hoosiers, no matter how hard they play, are simply not in the same league as the rest of the Big Ten this season in terms of talent. When you have a 20 point lead at home with only 18:46 left in the game, it should be in the bag.

The problem is that Indiana doesn't have the type of player who can take over and ensure the lead doesn't get blown -- like D.J. White could have. The leadership is lacking because no one who played significant minutes last year is back -- with all due respect to my boy, Kyle Taber. The talent is lacking because Tom Crean has basically had to start over.

Everything negative that has come Tom Crean's way since taking the Indiana job was what he signed up for: being somewhat handcuffed on several recruiting fronts, dealing with the entire old team -- save for two guys who originally joined the Hoosier basketball team as walk-ons -- fleeing the scene, and throwing together the scrap-heap squad that includes an outfielder from the baseball team.

He knew the task would start out this difficultly after the mess Kelvin Sampson left behind.

So far, on the court, everything has gone just fine by Crean. Sure, they barely escaped with a three-point victory over IUPUI -- a team who is reloading themselves after losing George Hill to graduation -- but they have won four games. Two were exhibition, and two were against well below average opponents at home. None of the games have been especially pretty, but they got the job done. Crean himself even grabbed the microphone after the IUPUI victory to thank the Assembly Hall fans for their support.

There's gonna be a lot more politicking going on this season from Crean, because the on-court product is going to be awful. This is going to be the worst team Indiana basketball has ever seen.

This is Kyle Taber. If you've never heard of him, you shouldn't feel bad: He's been on scholarship for less than a year, and he only averaged 1.3 points a game last season.

But if you're an Indiana fan, you should feel bad, because he's the best player returning to the Hoosiers this year. After Jordan Crawford announced yesterday that he will not return, there are now 12 players who were on the team in November and aren't anymore.

The Indianapolis Star has a great chart detailing just how bad the exodus has been for Indiana: The players who have left averaged 81.0 points per game last season, while the two players coming back averaged 1.6. (Those two are Taber and a walk-on named Brett Finkelmeier.

Tom Crean is a good coach, and I have no doubt that he'll eventually have Indiana playing good basketball. But for now, Kelvin Sampson has left him a mess.