With rosters still in a state of fluctuation, it’s remains a bit too early to be talking about preseason rankings for the next college basketball season.
But the first look at 2026-27 from an analytical perspective proved to be irresistible.
Popular college basketball analytics site barttorvik.com published its first 2026-27 projections based on what we know about rosters to this point.
Indiana is ranked 25th overall in Torvik’s 2026-27 projection, with the No. 18 offense and No. 38 defense. That’s good for seventh in the Big Ten, behind Michigan (No. 2), Michigan State (No. 7), Illinois (No. 13), Nebraska (No. 15), Ohio State (No. 17), and UCLA (No. 21).
Indiana was No. 41 and No. 11 nationally and in the Big Ten, respectively, ahead of last season.
25th for IU is fairly consistent with the various human too-early guestimates out there thus far.
Torvik’s preseason model is influenced by the recent success of the program, along with the returning production and experience on the teams. Those are factors seemingly dragging the Hoosiers down quite a bit in the computation.
The Hoosiers finished No. 32 in Torvik in 2025-26, and haven’t ended a season in the top-25 since 2016. And from an experience standpoint, Indiana ranks just No. 157 for next season.
But there’s something interesting about Indiana in Torvik’s projection for next season.
While IU wasn’t a top team a year ago and returns just 6.7% of its minutes, the Hoosiers rank No. 4 nationally among all teams in “projected effective talent,” trailing only Duke, Arizona and Michigan.
What is projected effective talent? Since it’s separate from experience, one would have to assume it is influenced by recruiting rankings. Can you say potential over production (gulp). But since Torvik is also heavily influenced by efficiency, it’s likely also a byproduct of how well a player has done with the opportunities he has been given, however limited.
Is the talent on this upcoming IU roster really that good?
Indiana has the No. 3 team transfer portal class at 247Sports, and the No. 3 net improvement via the transfer portal (weighing transfers in and out) at On3.
Indiana has added six players via the transfer portal who are arguably all capable of starting in the Big Ten. They return a contributor in Trent Sisley. And they’ve got three top-100 4-star freshmen arriving in a month.
So there is talent. And it does seem clear, if Indiana can overcome its lack of continuity and experience, it has the potential to compete at a higher level than what we’ve witnessed over the last few years.
How could more experience and greater continuity be achieved?
An offseason international trip could help bridge the gap. Stay tuned on that front.
Here’s a snapshot of the top-25 and talent rankings from Torvik.
Overall top-25:
Top-15 projected effective talent:
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