Indiana Basketball Edges Its Way Into the National Rankings

For Indiana fans, it has been a long time coming.  For the first time in nearly two years (January of 2017), the Indiana University men’s basketball program finds itself back in the national rankings.

To be sure, it is a tenuous spot in the polls at best — but you take what you can get after such a long drought.  Indiana is in a three-way tie at No. 25 in the latest AP poll released today.  The appearance in the poll marks the first time under head coach Archie Miller that Indiana has earned a national ranking.

Indiana (8-2) sits at 25th in the AP poll (8-2) in a tie with Syracuse (7-2) and Kansas State (6-2).

After an ugly loss at Duke, three consecutive wins over reputable programs surely helped IU’s cause in eyes of the national media.

For the season, Indiana has four wins over opponents rated in the KenPom Top 50 — Marquette (35), Northwestern (47), Penn State (42) and Louisville (40).

Indiana is one of six Big Ten teams ranked this week including:

• No. 5 Michigan
• No. 9 Michigan State
• No. 15 Ohio State
• No. 16 Wisconsin
• No. 22 Iowa

Nebraska and Maryland are the next two teams listed among the other programs that also received votes.

Indiana is also ranked No. 25 at KenPom, and the Hoosiers come in at No. 21 in the NCAA’s NET ranking system, which is one of the primary tools the NCAA Tournament committee will use to evaluate at-large teams.

Indiana will have until Saturday to relish their new found home in the national poll.  The Hoosiers face Butler at 3:45 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.  The Bulldogs (7-2) are not ranked but received votes in the latest AP poll.

Notes:

• IU is still in the “other teams receiving votes” group in the latest USA Today Coaches Poll.  They are effectively ranked 31st in that poll.
• The IU women’s program is also still in the “other teams receiving votes” group, despite a 9-0 start and a 15-game overall winning streak.

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