Indiana women’s basketball has won three games in a row, since their last loss 54-47 loss in Eugene at Oregon (16-7, 7-5) on Jan. 24th but will they win enough down the stretch to make the 2025 NCAA Tournament?
Indiana’s 81-60 win over Rutgers inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Thursday night, was a gut check but showed this team can dominate at time when they absolutely need too.
Indiana enter their contest with the Minnesota Golden Gophers with a 15-7 overall record and a 7-4 conference record in what feels like a must win matchup against the a Minnesota team that is also in the middle of the pack in confernce but has lost three in a row to date.
On Friday, ESPN’s Charlie Creme updated his new bracket for the women's basketball tournament and Teri Moren's Indiana Hoosiers were among the last eight teams in the field.
Indiana was posted as a No. 9 seed, and projected to play against No. 8 seed Mississippi State in the South Bend Regional. No. 1-seeded Notre Dame would play No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson in the other game in the projected field. Notre Dame versus Indiana in the playoffs would be sweet revenge versus the Fighting Irish, who eliminated the Hoosiers in the College Football Playoff earlier this year.
This game on Sunday feels like a must win to keep their momentum going for Indiana WBB. The Golden Gophers are ranked No. 29 in the NET rankins, while Indiana is No. 38 in the NET. A win over Minnesota would be a Quad 1 victory for the Hoosiers to close out the week.
Indiana still has a tough schedule remaining and a 0-2 record against the Gophers and Wolverines would be deadly to the Hoosiers’ resume. Beating Minnesota and then Michigan who they play Wed, Feb 12th are a must. The Hoosiers also have No. 8 Ohio State, No. 20 Michigan State and No. 16 Maryland on the schedule so things will not get easier.
Selection Sunday on March 16th, will Indiana make the cut? We sure damn hope so.