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Indiana freshman center Eli Holman went into new coach Tom Crean's office to inform the coach he wanted to transfer. He left after police were called as he apparantly threw a tantrum.

"His behavior took me, along with the other people in the office, by surprise," Crean said in a statement released by the university. "We saw him as a danger to himself and wanted to take precautionary measures to help him. We felt bad for Eli and, hopefully, were able to help him."

University police were called to help him from doing something really stupid. They took eyewitness accounts of what happened ... which included Holman knocking over a potted plant (the first report said he threw it, but the story changed to he just knocked it over). No one said they felt threatened and, after an hour with AD Rick Greenspan, he left calmly.

Holman leaving causes two huge problems.

One, obviously, is that Indiana needs players. The Hoosiers will probably have to replace all five starters from last year's team as well as losing two recruits. The team will be patchwork, at best.

Second is that Indiana is in scholarship hell and Holman leaving could push them over the edge. They are already down one scholarship as a self-imposed sanction from the Kelvin Sampson Era. Holman leaving could hurt Indiana's already poor score on the NCAA's academic performance report.

The Indianapolis Star reported last month that the Hoosiers' team score on the NCAA's academic progress report is 899, well below the cutline of 925. Should the Hoosiers fall below the cutline and have players leave school while academically ineligible, they could be subjected to the loss of up to two more scholarships.

I'm sure Crean knew he was getting into a tough situation when he came to Bloomington ... but the deal keeps getting worse.