After falling completely out of the votes last week, the IU men nearly climbed all the way back into the AP Top-25 after finishing off their third straight double-digit win over a Big Ten opponent.
Indiana is receiving the second most votes of teams outside the top-25, placing them effectively at No. 27 in the poll.
As strange as it may seem, that also gives IU the second-highest vote total in the Big Ten, behind Purdue, who returned to the No. 1 spot.
The Boilermakers are the only team in the league in this week’s top-25. A look at the Big Ten standings highlights why, as 11 teams are two games apart from second to twelfth place, with record spanning from 5-3 to 3-5. IU is right in the middle of that pack at 4-4.
Three of Indiana’s high major non-conference foes — Arizona, Kansas and Xavier are in the top-13 at No. 6, 9, and 13, respectively. Meanwhile North Carolina (14-6) is playing better of late. They’ve won three in a row and five of six and are moving up in the votes.
Ultimately, Indiana’s NCAA Tournament fate will be decided by the NCAA’s NET rankings tool. The Hoosiers are currently No. 19 according to the NET, a 13 spot improvement over last week. Their win over Illinois was a Quad 1, and they are now 2-5 in Quad 1 games, but they are 3-1 in Quad 2, and have no bad losses in the eyes of the NCAA with an 8-0 mark in Quad 3 and 4 contests.
Indiana’s game at Minnesota on Wednesday carries some risk because it would be a Quad 3 loss. A win over Ohio State on Saturday would currently be a Quad 1.
According to Bracket Matrix, a site that aggregates and averages the most popular bracketology sites, Indiana is currently a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Last year’s No. 19 in the NET on Selection Sunday was No. 5 seed St. Mary’s, the team that eliminated IU in the round of 64.
You can always find links to all of the latest rankings and advanced metric sites on our IU basketball drop-down menu, or by CLICKING HERE.
Meanwhile the IU women remained No. 6 for a fourth straight week.
But they almost certainly won’t be in that spot by this time next week. They have three games this week, including a pair of top-15 showdowns.
The Hoosiers face No. 13 Michigan on Monday (BTN) evening before hosting No. 2 Ohio State on Thursday (BTN). IU closes out the busy week by hosting Rutgers.
Joining Ohio State, IU and Michigan from the Big Ten in this week’s AP Top-25 are Iowa and Maryland, who are tied at No. 10, and Illinois at No. 22.
Six of Indiana’s final ten games will be against Big Ten opponents ranked in the top-13, with two games against each of Ohio State, Michigan and Iowa.
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