One of the few constants of this Indiana men’s basketball season has been the team’s fight.
The Hoosiers have had so much go wrong this season, from injuries to ineffective play. But even when facing lopsided deficits, they’ve shown resolve in nearly every game. IU’s made second-half runs in so many games that still ended up double-digit losses.
Against Wisconsin on Tuesday, that fight extended through the entire contest. With the way things turned from bad to worse in February, there were plenty of reasons the Hoosiers could’ve packed it in and just gone through the motions for the rest of the season. But that didn’t happen.
During a media availability over Zoom on Friday, sixth-year guard Xavier Johnson said the team’s resolve has been driven by postseason hopes.
“Honestly, placement. Placement in the league. The job’s not finished,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to get polished for the Big Ten Tournament, because that’s probably going to be our last shot at making the NCAA’s.”
Defeating the Badgers kept Indiana from falling back into the bottom four of the Big Ten standings. If the Hoosiers avoid the bottom four, they’ll get a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
But with three games left on the schedule — some teams have two — things could change. IU plays at Maryland on Sunday, at Minnesota on Wednesday, and then hosts Michigan State for senior day on Sunday, March 10.
Indiana’s 7-10 in league play, currently putting it in 10th place. But Rutgers, at No. 11, has the same record. And IU is just 1.5 games behind seventh-place Iowa, and only a ½-game ahead of 13th-place Ohio State.
The site
bball.notnothing.net has an interactive standings predictor with all remaining Big Ten games, making it easy to see what seeds IU could get for the Big Ten Tournament.
The Hoosiers could finish as high as the No. 6 seed, if they won their last three games and got help via Penn State, Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan State losses. On the other end, if IU lost out, it could fall as low as the No. 13 seed — Michigan, currently 3-15 in Big Ten play, has already clinched last place.
If KenPom’s projected scores for the remaining Big Ten games came to fruition, IU would finish in 13th — the Hoosiers are projected to lose all three contests. If they win one or two of those games, there’s a good chance of a multi-team tie involving some combination of IU, Ohio State, Rutgers, Penn State, Iowa, Maryland, and Minnesota. Head-to-head record is the tiebreaker for two-way ties, and for ties with three or more teams, it’s the records against that group of teams.
That could make IU’s road games next week a bit more important than the Michigan State game — though the Hoosiers have little margin for error, regardless.
As Johnson said, Indiana’s only chance at making the NCAA Tournament would be to run the table and win the Big Ten Tournament. The Hoosiers might need some wins in the conference tournament to secure even an NIT bid. So their positioning heading into Minneapolis will be critical.
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