Things are set up for an exciting run from September through March in Bloomington.
IU football is undefeated and achieved their highest ranking since the 2020 season this week.
Meanwhile, the preseason AP top-25s for basketball were released this week for both the men and women, and Indiana was included in both polls — the men at No. 17 and the women No. 25.
Indiana is one of just seven schools ranked in both men’s basketball and football, and one of just five in the polls for both basketball teams and the football team.
For IU, it is the first time ever all three programs have been ranked at the same time, with Curt Cignetti’s football program leading the way at No. 16.
“It’s always good to have your football team be good because it’s fun to watch. It’s exciting for us,” IU basketball player Trey Galloway said. “It builds more anticipation for us, because you get excited for one sport and then you get excited for the next sport, and it’s back-to-back. I think it’s really good because they’re having a great year, they’re going to end their year in a good fashion and then we’re going to come in and have a good year. So I think it’s perfect.”
It hasn’t been easy to line up success among the three programs. And of course the seasons don’t overlap to a great extent to allow for simultaneous rankings.
IU men’s basketball was a mainstay in the polls during the Bob Knight era, but they’ve been hit-or-miss since. They’ve been ranked 577 times in the AP top-25 including this year’s preseason poll, but 442 of those appearances came during Knight’s time or prior. As the historically most significant program of the three, that’s made alignment in the polls a challenge of late.
But football and women’s basketball are clearly on the rise.
The football program was ranked at the same time as men’s basketball several times throughout the Bill Mallory era in the 80s and 90s, but then went on a drought from 1995 through 2018. Cignetti’s Hoosiers have been ranked three times this season, and the program has been ranked four of the last six seasons for a total of 15 weeks over that span.
Meanwhile, women’s basketball was ranked just twice ever before Teri Moren was hired in 2014, and they didn’t become a fixture in the top-25 until the 2019-20 season. 95 of the 101 times IU women’s basketball has been ranked have come in the last five seasons plus this year’s preseason poll.
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