Indiana Basketball: Hoosiers moving up in latest bracketology
By Adam Childs
The Indiana basketball team is rising in the view of the experts since the announcement of Khristian Lander joining the 2020 class.
It is still very early to be talking about the bracketology for the 2021 NCAA tournament, but it is still fun to debate and examine it. Especially when you are moving up in the eyes of certain experts.
In the latest bracketology by Joe Lunardi of ESPN, the Hoosiers are a six-seed in the South Region. They join fellow Big Ten schools Michigan and Rutgers on that seed line. In his projections, the Big Ten again leads the way with nine teams in the field with Wisconsin and Michigan State leading the way as two-seeds.
The Hoosiers would be matched up with San Diego State who went 30-2 last season but showed some cracks at the end of the year. Get by that and Lunardi has Creighton waiting in the next round. The Blue Jays look to be bringing back a loaded team that was a top-ten team at the end of the year in 2020.
Indiana could run into their first Big Ten team in the Sweet 16 with Michigan State also in their region. The Hoosiers have a three-game winning streak against the Spartans despite Michigan State winning two straight Big Ten titles.
Indiana Basketball: Hoosiers move up after Lander reclassifies
When Khristian Lander announced he was joining the 2020 class, the Hoosiers jumped up the 13th best-recruiting class in the country according to 247Sports. They also climbed in the way-too-early preseason top 25 rankings and now they moved up in Lunardi’s bracketology.
A month ago the Hoosiers were a seven-seed and while they moved up just one line it is still a big jump. While there are still some really good three-seed teams out there, it is still a better draw than having to play a two-seed in the second round.
If this region would actually come to be, it would be rough. In the top half of the bracket is Baylor as the one seed and also includes Kentucky and Louisville. Although it would be one of the tougher brackets it could be a lot of fun with so many teams from the midwest together.
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Regardless of where the Hoosiers are picked to finish it looks like this will be the year they make it back to the tournament after missing out the last three years.