Indiana has one player on its squad from last year, and he averaged less than 2 points a game. The Hoosiers’ program has been built on excellence, yet even with this stat staring them in the face, the excitement and relief coming from Bloomington is almost palpable. Why? Because the IU faithful don’t have to worry about Snidely Whiplash himself, Kelvin Sampson. The artist formerly known as a cheat threatened to ruin Indiana’s name worse than the days of Bobby Knight, and before it was all said and done, the Hoosiers lost a lot of players and faced a lot of sanctions.

And then Tom Crean arrived.

Crean, which rhymes with clean, has a tough year ahead of him in terms of win-loss percentage, but Indiana fans know that this was an excellent choice in coaching and like Big Ten football fans with Rich Rodriguez, they may enjoy the faltering right now of the respective programs, but you can bet these teams will be back–with a vengeance.

The lone scoring player back is Kyle Taber, and he is decent–at best. There are too many names to list here as far as new players who could make an impact because, honestly, it’s not really known as to the extent the word “impact” should be used. I think that Tijuan Jobe, a seven foot transfer, should make offenses think twice about bringing it in the lane. On offense though, Jobe is awkward and very rough around the edges.

The backcourt should be where the Hoosiers scare a few teams this year. Frosh Verdell Jones III, who Crean picked directly from Bruce Weber’s Illinois backyard in Champaign, is actually one of those guys who on paper is solid, but he looks to be someone who could immediately turn into a leader at the point. Devan Dumes has college experience, having played at Eastern Michigan before dipping down to the juco ranks and now back to the Big Ten (what a journey, eh?) Although he obviously didn’t play for the Hoosiers last year, he will more than likely be expected to take on the scoring for this squad who will probably be extremely inconsistent over the course of the year.

Bottom line: The Hoosiers will not be good this year. That’s no breaking news. Even at the time of this writing, the mighty Big Ten program just eeked by IUPUI, a decent but far inferior program overall. If Indiana wins 10 games, fans will probably be dancing a jig. Have no fear, IU fans–it will be darkest before the dawn, and the alarm clock should be going off in about 2 years. Then–prepare for takeoff.