The Indiana Hoosiers ended the college basketball regular season with an overall record of 18-13 and a 9-11 mark in Big Ten play. Will that be enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament? The Hoosiers are firmly on the bubble and have been floating back-and-forth between the "Last Four In" and "First Four Out" categories of Joe Lunardi's bracket projections.
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Indiana has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2023, which was the second year of the Mike Woodson era. Looking to avoid a three-year tournament drought, Darian DeVries and the Hoosiers need to put forth a solid showing in the conference tournament in order to boost their resume as much as possible before Selection Sunday.
Fans hoping late-season struggles don't doom the Hoosiers
With their tournament fate up in the air down the stretch, the Hoosiers enter the Big Ten Tournament stumbling. They have lost five of their last six games, and are desperate for answers and momentum in Chicago.
IU has missed several opportunities to impress the committee late in the season. Over the last three weeks, Indiana has faced four surefire NCAA Tournament teams: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan State, and Ohio State. They lost all four games. Furthermore, they lost by significant margins, falling by 20 to Illinois, 29 to Purdue, 13 to Michigan State and 13 to Ohio State in the regular season finale.
The Hoosiers also suffered a devastating home loss to Northwestern in that stretch. Missing all of those opportunities could be the difference in missing out on March Madness.
Indiana has faced four NCAA tournament teams in the last three weeks. Beating any of them might have been enough.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) March 8, 2026
- Lost to Illinois by 20
- Lost to Purdue by 29
- Lost to Michigan State by 13
- Lost to Ohio State by 13
Also had a home loss to Northwestern during that stretch. https://t.co/W3tUs44I6U
Lamar Wilkerson has been fantastic down the stretch, but depth scoring has been an issue. Since the start of February, Wilkerson has led IU in scoring in eight of its last nine games, and has averaged a strong 24.6 points per game in that stretch.
That follows a common theme for the Hoosiers this season, as Wilkerson has done a lot of the heavy lifting offensively. Throughout the regular season, the Sam Houston State transfer led Indiana and ranked 2nd in the Big Ten averaging 21.0 points per game. Tucker DeVries is the only other Hoosier averaging double-digit points per game with 13.9. If Indiana wants to go on a run in the Big Ten Tournament and leave no doubt about their NCAA Tournament resume, it will be vital that depth scorers such as DeVries, Sam Alexis, Tayton Conerway and others step up to chip in.
With plenty to prove and a lot to gain, Hoosier fans are hoping the cream and crimson find the answer necessary to go on a run this week in Chicago.