Indiana Basketball: Hoosiers a 7 seed in latest bracketology

The Indiana basketball team has high hopes for the 2020-21 season and looks to make it back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2016.

Joe Lunardi released his latest bracketology for the 2020-21 season and he had the Hoosiers as a seven-seed in the East Region.

Under his projection, Indiana would play the tenth seeded Arizona State Sun Devils. They made noise this offseason when they secured a commitment from top-recruit Josh Christopher who looked like he was headed to Michigan.

If the Hoosiers were to win that game then they would have an old foe waiting for them in the second round in the Duke Blue Devils. Of course, Duke hasn’t always had the most success as a two seed, so the Hoosiers could also get the Blue Hens from Delaware.

Lunardi is projecting nine teams from the Big Ten to make the tournament and three of them are in the East. Joining the Hoosiers in this region would be rivals Ohio State and Michigan. The Buckeyes are a four seed, while the Wolverines are a six seed.

Indiana would first run into Michigan in the Sweet 16, while if this were the actual tournament they could face the Buckeyes for a right to go to the Final Four.

The highest projected seeds for the Big Ten are Wisconsin and Michigan State both as two seeds.

In-state rival Purdue is also a seven seed, as Lunardi thinks both them and the Hoosiers are close to being bubble teams.

The Hoosiers have to prove they are a better team this year, but a seven seed seems a bit low for this team. WIth everyone Indiana has returning and the highly regarded recruiting class coming in, the Hoosiers look more like a top 20 team than a seven seed.

Time will tell and it will be great to have the Hoosiers back in the tournament, but it looks like Lunardi might be a little low on the Hoosiers right now.