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Indiana’s NIT loss puts spotlight squarely on Tom Crean’s job status

Nebraska v Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, IN - DECEMBER 28: Head coach Tom Crean of the Indiana Hoosiers walks on the court in the first half against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on December 28, 2016 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

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Josh Okogie scored 24 points. Tadric Jackson had 19 points. Georgia Tech picked up a 75-63 win at home, and with that, the tumultuous Indiana Hoosier basketball season came to an inglorious end in Atlanta.

In a game that the program actively decided to play away from home. They didn’t want ESPN’s cameras getting a glimpse of just how empty Assembly Hall would be.

And that means that we enter Crean Watch 2017.

The Coaching Carousel is in full swing, and it seems like we are heading for a relatively mild year, at least at the upper echelon of the sport. N.C. State opened. Illinois opened. Missouri opened. LSU opened. Those are all pretty good jobs, but they aren’t great jobs, not ones that are good enough to force any serious movement in the coaching ranks. Maybe Buzz Williams makes a move. Maybe Cuonzo Martin makes a move. Maybe Scott Drew or Will Wade or Chris Holtmann makes a move. But even then, those openings aren’t all that much better than what already would have been on the table.

Indiana, however, would change that.

That’s a job that will target big names, and that will likely be able to hire a big name. Maybe that’s the job that convinces Archie Miller to leave Dayton or Gregg Marshall to leave Wichita State. Maybe they go out and hire Steve Alford, Indiana’s native son, away from UCLA.

In other words, this is the decision that people will be waiting on.

How long are we going to have to wait for Indiana to let us know what they’re going to do?