IU Basketball: Hoosiers Were in 89 of 90 Final Bracketologies

This would have been the night.

An entire country would have been analyzing the just released 2020 NCAA Tournament brackets, trying to figure out which No. 12 seed would pull the upset this time, and who the heck Prairie View A&M is.

For Indiana fans, tonight would have been a small celebration.

A realization that, after a four year wait, their beloved Hoosiers were back in the NCAA Tournament.

How do we know?

While any one bracketology is nothing more than a children’s show, or so we’ve heard, when you aggregate 90 of them you probably have a pretty good handle on how things would have shaken out.

That’s exactly what bracketmatrix.com does.

Rather than relying on the inherent biases, flaws, or click-bait driven methods of any one bracketology site, Bracket Matrix aggregates the findings of 90 top estimates.

When it comes to Indiana, the results on Bracket Matrix couldn’t have been more clear, with the Hoosiers in 89 of the 90 sites they follow.  Only a Sesame Street production called “Crashing the Dance” left Indiana out.

Even ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, who was the subject of Archie Miller’s ire last week, has the Hoosiers in the dance as a No. 11 seed.

On average across the 90 sites Indiana is a No. 10 seed.  All three potential first round matchups against the No. 7 seeds would have been interesting for IU fans.

According to Bracket Matrix, Indiana’s likely first round opponents would have been one of the following No. 7 seeds:

• Defending national champion Virginia,
• Former Indiana head coach Kelvin Sampson and Houston, or
• Archie Miller’s brother Sean Miller and Arizona.

The remaining No. 7 seed was Illinois — a Big Ten team that the selection committee would have tried to avoid pitting against IU.

The highest anyone had Indiana seeded at Bracket Matrix was a No. 7 seed.  That distinction belongs to Hoops HD, no doubt the most sophisticated outfit of the bunch.

Two brackets had Indiana as low as a No. 12 seed — The 17th Seed and The Game Haus — two sites obviously clinging to their seat at the adult table.

Of course the completion of conference tournament action would have changed the final results.

But with Indiana (20-12) slated to face Penn State next, a No. 6 seed on Bracket Matrix, it would have been highly unlikely for the Hoosiers to drop out of the tournament altogether after they avoided a bad loss to Nebraska on Wednesday night.

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