Indiana Showcases Deadly Versatility Outlasting Kansas in Opening Night Classic

College basketball was absent from our lives for 222 days, so no one was complaining when No. 3 Kansas and No. 11 Indiana gave us five bonus minutes of opening-night action Friday before the Hoosiers emerged from the nightcap of the Armed Forces Classic with a 103-99 win.

In some ways, it felt like early November basketball. Both teams battled bouts of sloppy play. There were air balls and heat checks. And there were fouls. Goodness gracious were there fouls. Sixty-three of them, in fact, with a grand total of seven players getting disqualified before it was over.

But this was anything but your average November game between teams with a lot of work to do over the next four months. (That was the opener in Honolulu between Arizona and Michigan State.) Look past the whistles, and this was college hoops at its finest. It was two blue-blood programs fighting tooth and nail for every possession, playing as though the season was on the line.

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

"It really feels like March," Indiana head coach Tom Crean told ESPN's Molly McGrath after the game. "I know it's November, but that was a March game. Maybe it'll be an April game."

A decade-and-a-half has passed since Indiana last sniffed April, but the versatile attack the Hoosiers displayed was—dare we say it—Final Four-worthy.

It took all of 60 seconds for Indiana to show off how impossible it will be to guard this season when 6'10", 255-pound center Thomas Bryant drained a three-pointer on the team's first field-goal attempt of the season.

One possession later, the big man hoisted up another long ball, just in case you missed the first one. Before the first media timeout, he had already set a career high for made three-pointers in a game. There were even possessions where he brought the ball up the court and started the offense from the point—shades of Royce White's time at Iowa State a few years ago.

"He's already made two threes tonight," ESPN's Dan Shulman said. "He's made a great pass. [Bryant is] a guy who was really good last year as a freshman and with another year of development could become a great college player."

Add Bryant's emergence as a perimeter weapon to the fact that 6'8" forward Juwan Morgan started at point guard for one of Indiana's exhibition games earlier this month, and it suddenly seems silly that we were worried about who would be this team's primary ball-handler.

Everyone on this team can shoot, pass and dribble, a lethal formula for every remaining opponent.

Kansas is going to be one of the better defensive teams in the country this year. Frank Mason III and Devonte' Graham both pressure the ball well and were praised for the work they did against Oklahoma's Buddy Hield last year. Josh Jackson had a tough opening night, but defensive intensity is one of the top attributes for this 6'8" wing. Svi Mykhailiuk and Lagerald Vick both defended well, too, recording a combined four steals.

But they had no answer for Indiana's versatility.

James Blackmon Jr. was the star of the box score, finishing the night with 26 points—despite scoring just four of those points in the first 22 minutes. However, he was one of seven different Hoosiers who made at least one three-pointer as the team shot a combined 15-of-31 from beyond the arc. Factor in the one attempt that Morgan missed, and every player who logged more than seven minutes attempted at least one long-range jumper.

Eugene Tanner/Associated Press/Associated Press

It's the same type of spread offense that Wisconsin nearly rode to a national championship in 2015 and an even more extreme version of the three-point assault that carried Villanova to last year's title.

"They use the three-point line as well as any team in America," ESPN's Jay Bilas said.

Their versatility is more than just the ability to shoot threes, though. The Hoosiers also have a roster full of guys committed to rebounding, passing and defending, led by half-man, half-Swiss army knife OG Anunoby.

When Bilas and Shulman weren't marveling over Anunoby's legs being the size of tree trunks, they were amazed by his involvement in seemingly every play. The sophomore forward finished the night with seven rebounds, three blocks and a steal, but it felt like he had at least twice that many of each.

Bryant was all over the place, too, diving for loose balls and cleaning up the offensive glass en route to what figures to be the first of many double-doubles this season. It seemed like every Hoosier spent some time sprawled out on the floor after a hustle play.

Perhaps most indicative of Indiana's championship potential is that even after Bryant, Morgan and Robert Johnson had all fouled out of the game, the Hoosiers still had a strong enough lineup on the court to repeatedly rebuff Kansas' attempts to force a second overtime. These guys are deep, and they can beat you in a variety of ways.

We've all been fooled by hot starts in recent years, and this was only one game. No need to start stitching the "2017 Big Ten Champions" banner in crimson and cream just yet. But there were a lot of people doubting whether Indiana was on the same level as Wisconsin or Michigan State—let alone Duke or Kentucky.

In winning this back-and-forth, neutral-court battle against the No. 3 team in the country, the Hoosiers proved they mean business this year.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.