In his first season as head coach at Indiana, Mike Woodson snapped a five-year IU streak of missing the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers won a First Four game against Wyoming before bowing out a couple days later against St. Mary’s.
With his retirement looming whenever this 2024-25 season comes to an end, Woodson’s staff wants him to finish in the same place that first season wrapped up — in the Big Dance.
“As far as our coaching staff, that’s something that we’ve mentioned and talked about,” IU associate head coach Kenya Hunter said on Woodson’s radio show Monday evening.
“Our goal is still to make it to the NCAA Tournament. I look back and I say this is our fourth year here with Coach Woodson, and our goal was to make it to the NCAA Tournament. And if we can leave Coach Woodson, he would’ve been to the NCAA Tournament three out of the four years here at Indiana, when is the last time that’s been done at Indiana? It’s been a while.”
The last time Indiana made the NCAA Tournament in three of four seasons was 2016. That was in fact the fourth year IU made the field in a run of five seasons under then coach Tom Crean.
Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson combined to make the field for three straight years from 2006-08, and Davis did it alone from 2001-03.
They’re all operating in the shadow of Bob Knight, who finished his Indiana tenure with 15 straight NCAA appearances.
When Crean missed the tournament in 2017 he was fired, and the Hoosiers didn’t make it back until Woodson’s year one. They made the field easily in 2023 as a No. 4 seed before not coming close in 2024. Can they make it three of four?
Indiana has work to do to reach the staff’s goal.
The Hoosiers (15-11, 6-9) are not currently in the field according to virtually all projections at this time. But they aren’t very far out either. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently has IU slated as his “Next Four Out.” That’s the good news. But the season is running out of runway.
Indiana surprised many with a strong push a year ago that included wins in their final four regular season games and the first game of the Big Ten Tournament. A similar surge this year could be enough to sneak into the field.
A win over Purdue Sunday would provide a significant boost to IU’s resume, while remaining games vs. Penn State, at Washington, at Oregon and vs. Ohio State appear to be winnable.
“I think if we take care of business in these last five games and we go to the (Big Ten) tournament and we’re able to make the tournament, then that’s three out of four years (Woodson) has gone to the tournament,” Hunter said. “Knowing that last year we had injuries that hampered us and still was very close to making the tournament. That’s a hell of an accomplishment for him, and that’s the way we’d like to send him out.”
Bracketology: IU basketball’s Big Ten, NCAA chances with four weeks to Selection Sunday
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