Court Storming Exemplifies How Far Indiana Hoosiers Have Fallen

Anyone who thought the Indiana Hoosiers were in the midst of progressing their program back to anywhere close to where it once was, you must be highly disappointed.

I am by no means a Hoosier fan, but I am a Hoosier. And for the sole sake of my Indiana pride, I wish the best for them.

I was a believer in Tom Crean. I believed he would return IU back to its once-prominent state. And though it's still extremely early in the Crean tenure, I have lost faith after the Hoosiers' 81-78 overtime victory over Minnesota.

You may be questioning my logic after that last sentence, but yes, I said I have lost faith due to an Indiana victory. And not just a victory, but IU's second Big Ten victory, one more than they had all of last season.

Despite emerging victorious at home against the Golden Gophers on Sunday afternoon, the Hoosiers (8-9) showed the nation just exactly how low the bar has fallen in Bloomington by storming the court following the sound of the buzzer.

I'll let that sink in for a moment.

Indiana fans stormed the court after beating Minnesota.

That would be the equivalent of UCLA storming the court after beating Oregon State.

I think storming the court is ludicrous in most situations in the first place, but for the Hoosier faithful to rush onto the court after beating Minnesota, that's simply preposterous.

Not only is Minnesota not ranked, they aren't even a top five Big Ten team. Perhaps IU was celebrating a victory over Tubby Smith? (Something that came as a rarity when Smith was at Kentucky.)

To Big Ten fans that don't root for IU this should be the most humorous event of the Big Ten basketball season, not to mention the most embarrassing for the Hoosiers. In my opinion this is easily the most ridiculous thing I have seen 18 days into the New Year.

In fact, I doubt I'll ever forget it. The Hoosiers could win three titles this decade but I will always remember that the state of basketball fell so far as to rushing the court after a victory over Minnesota.

Indiana has showed flashes of promise this season, especially in early December. They defeated a now-hot Big East team in Pittsburgh and battled No. 2 Kentucky hard at home for a little over a half. But since letting John Wall and the Wildcats pull away on December 11, the Hoosiers have proved that the improvement since last season is minimal at best.

They do have two conference victories early in the season, which is already better than last year. But the Hoosiers have hardly faced the class of the conference thus far. A tournament appearance is highly unlikely pending a spectacular run in the Big Ten Tournament, but then again I doubt that was expected by anyone in the world outside of Bloomington.

But no matter what happens with IU basketball this season, I'm always going to look back to Sunday's court storming as a clear example of just how far Indiana basketball has plummeted in terms of relevance to the college basketball world.