NCAA Tournament Big Ten Basketball

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.