Indiana will host Creighton as part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games

Indiana's non-conference schedule strength has been talked to death over the years, as year-in and year-out the program seems unwillingly to play true road games and, since the discontinuing of the Kentucky series, unable to bring top-notch opponents into Assembly Hall.

With the announcement of the Gavitt Games, there was hope that at least one of those problems would be solved and provide the Hoosiers with a tough test early in the season.

BUT INSTEAD:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Indiana will host Creighton as part of the first ever Big East-Big Ten Challenge, source told <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSports">@CBSSports</a>. Date and time is TBD. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/iubb?src=hash">#iubb</a></p>&mdash; Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/590158951574036481">April 20, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Creighton finished 85th in the KenPom ratings last season and is bringing in the 50th ranked recruiting class in the country for next season. The Blue Jays would have been a wonderful selection to play in their house, in my opinion. Creighton usually shows well at home and would certainly provide an incredible atmosphere for Indiana to experience early in the year. Instead, they will come to Assembly Hall, and the Hoosiers will, again, find themselves in a situation where if they win, it does nothing for their résumé and if they lose, it will hurt them.

It's interesting that the decision-makers for these games passed on such matchups as Indiana at Marquette, or at Butler, or even a game with Xavier to do Indiana-Creighton instead, but whatever.