We're less than a week away from watching our first college football games of the season, but for some reason, I'm feeling the urge to discuss some college basketball during these dog days of August.

Maybe it's the bias I've developed from working the beat last year at my former job, or maybe it's just the love I've grown to have for the game of basketball.

I mean, not everyone would work until 2 a.m. to watch Team USA recapture gold in Beijing in a thrilling game with the Spanish national team, but I guess that's what happens when you go to enough games across the country in just a five-month span. It gets absorbed into your blood stream; your life gets wrapped up in it.

One place that I unfortunately didn't happen to visit during my days as a college basketball editor was Assembly Hall, which could be playing a lot of games in silence next year.

Well, at least new head coach Tom Crean's job will be secure.

While Indiana returns only one player from last year's squad in Kyle Tabot, Crean can know that he'll have time to rebuild one of college basketball's most elite programs in history after signing a 10-year deal that's worth at least $23.6 million this week.

"I left a very special situation at Marquette when Indiana offered me this opportunity," he said. "I wanted to make sure that if I left, I would be going to a place that would be a destination for my family and allow me to build a program for the long haul with the same security."

And that's certainly the case now.

So although it might take Crean some time to turn around the Hoosiers and completely overhaul a program that was ripped to shreds in March by Kelvin Sampson's recruiting infractions (ie. making more than 100 impermissible calls while still under NCAA sanctions), he's got the support and resources behind him to eventually be successful in Bloomington, Ind.

There are plenty of incentives for Crean, too.

If he wins the national championship, he'll earn up to $685,000 in bonuses and $125,000 for both a Big Ten regular-season title and/or a Final Four appearance.

But don't expect any of that in 2008-09, Hoosier fans. Not with only two players returning from last year's team.

It's going to take three years for Crean to work his magic, get the right recruits and make IU a Big Ten contender year in and year out like it was last season with Eric Gordon.

Even Crean believes that.

"The process of restoring this great program is going take a lot of time, more than probably any of us anticipated," he said.

In the words of the great Guns 'n Roses rocker Axel Rose: "All it takes is a little patience."