Indiana Basketball: What Indiana needs to do to get an at-large bid

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BLOOMINGTON, IN – NOVEMBER 20: Archie Miller the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers gives instructions to his team against the UT Arlington Mavericks at Assembly Hall on November 20, 2018 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

1. Win their final two regular season games

There is no doubt about it, Indiana must win their next two games in order to remain in discussion for an at-large bid. If they lose one, they will be all but done.

Both Illinois and Rutgers sit at 7-11 in the Big Ten, one spot ahead of the Hoosiers, so not only would two wins move Indiana to 8-12, a respectable Big Ten record, but it would make them the No. 9 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, getting a bye in the first round.

With an emotional end to the season, an extra day to get their emotions in check and refocus for a huge final stretch to get another couple of wins to ensure an NCAA berth is bigger than some may think.

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No 16-loss team has ever made the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid, and only two 15-loss teams have seen their program sneak in (Vanderbilt ’17, Texas ’17), so the next two weeks, and especially last two regular season games, are extremely important.

Regardless of all of the ‘numbers’ behind it, going into the Big Ten Tournament on a four-game winning streak looks a lot better to the committee than losing a game that they should win. It’s all about hitting your streak at the end of the season and the committee seeing Indiana follow up their back-to-back ranked wins last week, with two more wins, shows that they are finding their consistency back, playing their best basketball to end the season.

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