Indiana opens the 2018-19 men’s basketball season at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday on BTN.
We could do an in depth analysis of IU’s first opponent Chicago State. Yes, we could do that. We doubt that you would really want to know that much about the No. 344 (out of 353) team in the country according to the KenPom rankings. For games like this, you are likely much more interested in your first opportunity to see what IU is all about rather than the opponent.
If you know nothing about Chicago State, here is what you need to know about the Cougars in just a few sentences. First, a few scores from last year’s 3-29 season for context:
- Purdue 111, Chicago State 42
- Notre Dame 105, Chicago State 66
- Northwestern 96, Chicago State 31
There’s that, and then the fact that Chicago State’s new head coach has been on the job for just three months and the Cougars lost their top four scorers from last year. New coach Lance Irvin is well respected, but with so little time and so little talent, this should quite clearly be the worst team IU faces all season.
PREDICTING THE SEASON
While talking about Chicago State isn’t real interesting, making predictions is always fun.
The 2018-19 season is one of the most anticipated for IU basketball in recent memory, and we believe it will be a major improvement over Archie Miller’s first season in Bloomington. With a young team, it won’t be seamless, but the Hoosiers should give IU fans the kind of season that they expect.
Here are our predictions for every game this year:
| Date | Opponent | Result | Overall | Big Ten |
| 11/6/2018 | vs. Chicago State | W | 1-0 | |
| 11/9/2018 | vs. Montana State | W | 2-0 | |
| 11/14/2018 | vs. Marquette | W | 3-0 | |
| 11/18/2018 | at Arkansas | W | 4-0 | |
| 11/20/2018 | vs. UT Arlington | W | 5-0 | |
| 11/23/2018 | vs. UC Davis | W | 6-0 | |
| 11/27/2018 | at Duke | L | 6-1 | |
| 12/1/2018 | vs. Northwestern | W | 7-1 | 1-0 |
| 12/4/2018 | at Penn State | L | 7-2 | 1-1 |
| 12/8/2018 | vs. Louisville | W | 8-2 | |
| 12/15/2018 | vs. Butler | W | 9-2 | |
| 12/19/2018 | vs. Central Arkansas | W | 10-2 | |
| 12/22/2018 | vs. Jacksonville | W | 11-2 | |
| 1/3/2018 | vs. Illinois | W | 12-2 | 2-1 |
| 1/6/2018 | at Michigan | L | 12-3 | 2-2 |
| 1/11/2018 | at Maryland | L | 12-4 | 2-3 |
| 1/14/2018 | vs. Nebraska | W | 13-4 | 3-3 |
| 1/19/2018 | at Purdue | W | 14-4 | 4-3 |
| 1/22/2018 | at Northwestern | W | 15-4 | 5-3 |
| 1/25/2018 | vs. Michigan | W | 16-4 | 6-3 |
| 1/30/2018 | at Rutgers | W | 17-4 | 7-3 |
| 2/2/2018 | at Michigan State | L | 17-5 | 7-4 |
| 2/7/2018 | vs. Iowa | W | 18-5 | 8-4 |
| 2/10/2018 | vs. Ohio State | W | 19-5 | 9-4 |
| 2/16/2018 | at Minnesota | L | 19-6 | 9-5 |
| 2/19/2018 | vs. Purdue | W | 20-6 | 10-5 |
| 2/22/2018 | at Iowa | L | 20-7 | 10-6 |
| 2/26/2018 | vs. Wisconsin | L | 20-8 | 10-7 |
| 3/2/2018 | vs. Michigan State | W | 21-8 | 11-7 |
| 3/7/2018 | at Illinois | W | 22-8 | 12-7 |
| 3/10/2018 | vs. Rutgers | W | 23-8 | 13-7 |
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