Indiana has a long way to go when it comes to convincing the media that their reconstructed roster will mesh.
The Hoosiers are buried down near the bottom of the other teams receiving votes in the preseason AP top-25 for the 2023-24 campaign.
With just three votes, IU is in effect the No. 40 team to open the season in the eyes of the AP voters.
While the Hoosiers are nowhere near the top-25, they’ll face several teams that are this season, including four preseason top-10 squads.
The Kansas Jayhawks are the preseason No. 1 team according to AP voters. They’ll travel to Bloomington to face IU in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Dec. 16. That comes with a cautionary tale. A year ago North Carolina was the preseason No. 1 team. They had fallen from that perch by the time they played Indiana a month into the season, and they ended up missing the NCAA Tournament.
Indiana will also face preseason No. 3 Purdue twice during the Big Ten portion of the schedule, and No. 4 Michigan State will travel to IU in March. IU will see No. 6 and defending national champion UConn in New York in November.
The only other ranked team Indiana will face this season is the only other ranked team from the Big Ten — No. 25 Illinois.
Big Ten foes Wisconsin and Maryland are ahead of IU in the other teams receiving votes group, as is December nonconference opponent Auburn.
KENPOM GOES LIVE FOR 2023-24
Popular college basketball advanced data site KenPom.com’s preseason ratings have been published for the 2023-24 campaign.
IU is No. 49 in the new KenPom ratings. Last season Indiana finished No. 30.
KenPom is projecting slightly better defensive efficiency (No. 43) than offensive efficiency (No. 55) for IU.
Here are the complete Big Ten preseason rankings at KenPom:
- Purdue (No. 1)
- Michigan State (No. 13)
- Illinois (No. 19)
- Wisconsin (No. 20)
- Maryland (No. 22)
- Ohio State (No. 35)
- Northwestern (No. 40)
- Michigan (No. 44)
- Indiana (No. 49)
- Iowa (No. 50)
- Nebraska (No. 58)
- Rutgers (No. 59)
- Penn State (No. 85)
- Minnesota (No. 112)
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