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Indiana 80, Michigan 67: Hoosiers boatrace Wolverines in Max Bielfeldt's return to Ann Arbor

Shut up. The debate is over. Indiana's for real.

By Kyle Robbins

Indiana scores 28 unanswered in a sport that is not football and blows a Michigan team that was just one game out of the conference title race off the floor. What did we learn?

1. Indiana's good.

It's over. This is it. It's done. Indiana is good, and the discussion is over.

This doesn't mean Indiana's going to win the title. It doesn't mean Indiana's going to go deep into March. But this win, this performance, might be the most validating win since Indiana's road win over NC State in the Big Ten-ACC challenge a few years back that really set the tone for the Cody Zeller teams.

Indiana's transition from a bunch of offense-only youngsters to legit Big Ten title contender is complete. Indiana was dominating on both ends, throttling one of the conference's best offenses to zero points for a long, long stretch of basketball.

Indiana's not fake. Indiana's not fools gold. Indiana's now played somebody, and absolutely ran them out the gym.

2. Tom Crean kinda owns John Beilein, man.

I've got a tweetdeck column open for the #iubb hashtag during games. For the first few minutes of tonight's contest, the refrain was familiar: CREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN.

Of course, Indiana's start probably had little to do with Crean. It was a team playing a good Big Ten opponent on the road, in a tough environment, and they looked a bit rattled. They trailed 15-4 shortly into the ball game. A majority of Indiana fans, including the person writing this article right now, thought we were headed for a Michigan boatrace.

But then Crean called a timeout. And it was off to the races.

If Indiana goes on to make something of this season, that run and that timeout might come to completely change the tone of how Tom Crean is viewed and discussed at Indiana. And that's probably hyperbolic coming down from a big win, sure. But I don't know in all my years of watching basketball I've ever seen a team completely flip a switch at one timeout like that. I don't know that I've ever seen a stretch of basketball like that. I don't know what to ever write or say about this. This recap is mild garbage, because I'm still in relative euphoric shock.

Oh, and yeah -- basketball genius John Beilein is now 1-5 in his last 6 against Tom Crean.

3. OG Anunoby's gonna be real good.

Like, real good. Real good. Offense, defense, both ends. Anunoby turned in his career high on the night, tossing in 11 points for the Hoosiers including a BIG 'OL BOFA DUNK late in the game. He's good. Really good. I have nothing else to say right now as my stomach hurts because...

4. Indiana is now 2-0 and 45 points better than opponents when I eat KFC Nashville Hot Chicken before the game.

OH GOD THIS STARTED AS A JOKE NO WHY NO NOW IT'S GOTTA BE A THING MY BODY HURTS LOOK AT THIS STUFF IT IS NOT FOOD WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I'm going to vomit in the middle of the night tonight, and I'm gonna do it while smiling. Not all heroes wear capes.

OTHER STUFF

We'll have full coverage of this one tomorrow. Go to bed happy.

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