The 2025-26 college basketball regular season has come and gone, and now conference tournaments are upon us. Heading into this week's Big Ten Tournament in Chicago, the Indiana Hoosiers have a lot to prove. The Hoosiers dropped five of their last six games to close out the regular season, which put a serious damper on their NCAA Tournament hopes.
Indiana must root hard against these 3 bid-stealers in their conference tournaments
Along the losses in that stretch as a brutal home loss to Northwestern on February 24 and a road loss to another bubble team in Ohio State in the regular season finale on Saturday night. Playing poorly down the stretch, Darian DeVries' squad limps into Chicago in desperate need of a solid showing.
Indiana's NCAA Tournament hopes are fading, but aren't dead yet
Indiana has been firmly on the bubble for several weeks now, but the latest Bracketology update from ESPN's Joe Lunardi doesn't have Hoosier fans feeling too optimistic. Lunardi has IU as a part of the "First Four Out" category in his latest March Madness bracket projection that was released on Monday.
Other teams in that category include Stanford, Virginia Tech, and New Mexico. Teams included in the "Last Four In" category include Santa Clara, VCU, SMU, and Auburn.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 9, 2026
Heading into the Big Ten Tournament, the Hoosiers are the No. 10 seed and will play either No. 18 Penn State or No. 15 Northwestern on Wednesday, March 11 in the second round. The winner of that game will then face No. 7 Purdue in the third round.
Needing to impress the committee as much as possible before Selection Sunday, Indiana needs to strong together as many wins as possible this week in Chicago. Falling in Wednesday's clash against Northwestern or Penn State would be devastating to IU's March Madness hopes. If the Hoosiers are able to take care of business in the second round game and then take down Purdue on Thursday, they might just be able to sneak into the big dance.
While Indiana needs to take care of its own business in Chicago, Hoosier fans will be sure to monitor the status of other bubble teams in their respective conference tournament games. There are several potential bid-stealers out there, including Auburn, SMU, and Virginia Tech. Along with picking up a couple wins in the Big Ten Tournament, the Hoosiers need those teams to perform poorly in their conference tournaments in order to stay alive in the NCAA Tournament picture.