Indiana basketball dropped from AP Top 25 after an awfully embarrassing week

For the first time in the 2022-23 season, Indiana basketball does not appear in the AP Top 25 rankings after two embarrassing losses to start the new year.

As they should be excluded from the Top 25 poll, the Hoosiers find themselves in the No. 29 spot in votes received, with a total of 30 votes. Marquette, who now stands at the No. 25 spot, tallied up 131 votes. That’s a big gap for the Hoosiers to make up to get back into the Top 25.

Of the teams that dropped from the AP Top 25 rankings that were ranked in Week 9, Indiana was the highest ranked of them all (No. 15), with No. 19 Baylor, No. 21 New Mexico, and No. 24 Ohio State also dropping out for the Week 10 poll.

Now, only two teams from the Big Ten are left standing in the AP Top 25, but both dropped somewhat significantly last week, with No. 1 Purdue dropping to No. 3 after losing their first game of the season (to Rutgers), and No. 14 Wisconsin falling to No. 18 after barely escaping a win against Minnesota and losing to Illinois on the road without Tyler Wahl.

The only celebration that Hoosier fans should be excited about from these rankings is that Purdue dropped out of the No. 1 spot! Horray! Maybe losing that number by our name will kick some fire into this Indiana basketball program.

As of this Week 10 poll, Indiana basketball holds a record of 1-2 (.333) overall against top 25 opponents, with their two losses coming to No. 2 Kansas on the road and No. 9 Arizona in Las Vegas, and their lone win coming at No. 12 Xavier back on November 18.

Starting out 2023 without a win against two unranked opponents (Iowa and Northwestern), including losing our first game at Assembly Hall to Northwestern, really puts a huge damper on our two best wins of the season (at Xavier and vs. North Carolina).

Standing at 10-5 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten, it has come to this week that the Hoosiers are in a “must-win” scenario at Penn State on Wednesday and could earn a huge Top 25 win over No. 18 Wisconsin on Saturday on CBS.

Can the Hoosiers get back into the winning column? Is anyone aside from Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino going to step up without Race Thompson and Xavier Johnson?