FanHouse TomCrean

In an effort to talk about something college basketball-related other than scandals in the summer, let's talk best current coaches. We'll attempt to order the top 25 current coaches in the nation. This is about the present and the future, not the distant past. What a guy did in the mid-90s doesn't matter near as much as the direction his program is currently headed. Past pedigree also matters, to an extent. For the perfect mix of past accomplishments with present achievement and a paved road for future success, look no further than the man atop the list.

In 2008, the Big Ten sent only four teams to the NCAA tournament. None reached the Elite Eight The Big Ten toiled down with mid-majors in conference RPI and were nationally maligned as the "Average 11." This past season, however, the league enjoyed a resurgence. It ranked only behind the ACC in conference RPI. Seven schools earned a berth into the NCAA tournament, and Penn State won the NIT. Michigan State toppled the defending national champions and two number one seeds en route to a national runner-up finish.

As the buzzer sounded in Conseco Fieldhouse early Thursday evening, the Indiana Hoosiers had lost to Penn State by a count of 66 to 51. Tom Crean's first season as head basketball coach had mercifully concluded. The Hoosiers will miss the NCAA Tournament for only the third time since A Season on the Brink was published. They will miss any sort of postseason play for the second time since 1977. In fact, this was -- statistically speaking -- the worst team in Indiana basketball history.

The funny thing? I was much more relieved when last season ended, and I guarantee I'm not alone among Indiana alumni.

A few weeks ago I did a halfway point roundup for the Big Ten, in which I buried Wisconsin and hailed Penn State to no end. Boy, do I look like an idiot now. Since then, Penn State crumbled, while Wisconsin has done a 180.

The Nittany Lions were embarrassed by Michigan, lost at home to Wisconsin, and handily lost at Purdue. They now sit just 6-6 in conference play, and their RPI has plunged into the 80s. With road trips to Illinois and Ohio State -- not to mention hosting Illinois and Minnesota -- it would appear they are fading back into obscurity.

Tom Crean won his first Big Ten conference game Wednesday night (It's a Swingers moment, "Our little baby is all growsed up") and, understandably, the guy was a little excited. Although, perhaps tackling the leader of Indiana's band was a bit much, no? Seriously though, while I want to criticize him for being overly exuberant, as Ryan Corazza said, it's hard not to love the guy for being enthusiastic. And besides, he's not Kelvin Sampson. So that's an immediate plus.

In their ninth try, the young Hoosiers finally gave Tom Crean his first Big Ten win as the head coach of Indiana University. This was the first win for Indiana in nearly two months, as they had tied a school record with 11 consecutive losses. Still, this seemed like a natural progression, as they had been keeping games close for the past three weeks.

Behind the hot shooting of Devan Dumes, the Hoosiers built a 20-point lead early in the second half. Down the stretch, however, Iowa closed the gap, coming within three on a few different occasions.

It's no secret I'm an alumnus of Indiana University. I went to every single home game for the four years I was there, and again attended every single game the season after I graduated -- I used my student ID to purchase season tickets at the discounted student price; how savvy is that? Since then, I've always made it down to Bloomington for at least one game per season.

This past Saturday -- against Penn State -- was that one game for this season.

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.

Last season, the Indiana Hoosiers pulverized the Kentucky Wildcats at home, and this year UK returned the favor. In fact, this non-conference rivalry hasn't meant a lot in quite some time. Sure, there was a Mike Davis-running-on-the-court-like-a-mad-fool with some Dane-Fife-ties-the-game-with-a-three instances, but for the most part this annual game has lacked drama or national interest in recent memory.

This season, the Wildcats are looking to improve in their second year under Billy Gillispie, and the Hoosiers are in a serious transition as Tom Crean attempts to pick up the scraps left by Kelvin Sampson's sabotage of the once-mighty Hoosier program.

As Indiana failed to score a single point for about the first seven minutes yesterday, and Kentucky eventually opened up a ridiculous 32-6 lead, it was evident just how unimportant this game presently is. Give it time.

There is a teleconference scheduled for 4:00 today, in which the NCAA will announce their findings against Indiana University. The investigation centered around model citizen Kelvin Sampson and the squeaky clean job he did in his short time at Indiana. Taking down a program who had never even been under suspicion in terms of NCAA rules violations in less than two years is a pretty bang-up job, you know. Regardless, the albatross is gone, and Tom Crean is picking up the pieces in a massive rebuilding effort.

That effort should not be impeded any further than it already has been, because the NCAA will impose three years of probation and nothing more. No postseason ban -- which doesn't really mean much short-term, since the team isn't sniffing the postseason this year anyway -- and no further sanctions in terms of being handcuffed in recruiting. What probation means is that the university will have to regularly file reports with the NCAA, detailing how they are following the rules.