Indiana Basketball: Grading the 2019-20 season

Overall

B-

The November schedule was weak, December picked up and the Big Ten was brutal this year. Through all that the Hoosiers were sitting at 20-12 on the year with a date against Penn State lined up in the second round of the Big Ten tournament.

With the struggles on offense, you would think you would look at the schedule and see a few bad losses, but there wasn’t any. Their first Big Ten loss against Wisconsin looked bad at the time, but they ended up winning a share of the conference title. The worst loss the Hoosiers suffered was probably to Arkansas and they were a borderline tournament team also.

Indiana had five ranked wins this year, including beating top-ten Penn State. Michigan State wasn’t a top-ten team when they beat them but they finished the season playing about as well as anybody in the country and the win over Florida State was one of the best wins of the year.

They had one of the best freshmen in the conference on their team and they showed toughness against some really good teams this year. They showed that they could be a force next year if things come together right.

Obviously there were disappointing games including both losses to Purdue and their blown leads against the Razorbacks and Maryland, but this team grew a lot this year.

Archie Miller seems to have this team trending upward and while the Hoosiers could have done more this year, they weren’t a bad team by any stretch. If their offense would have played better this grade could have easily been a high B if not an A.

Finishing 10th in the Big Ten is not something the Hoosiers want to repeat but they weren’t that far off from being in the middle if not higher. The Big Ten is stacked and Indiana went toe-to-toe with most teams.

Contrary to some fan’s thoughts, this season was not a failure. The Hoosiers aren’t as far off as some might want to say they are, but next year is a big year for Miller and company.