What Indiana Basketball Got Wrong with Syracuse Game

Syracuse is coming to the take on the Hoosiers - In Indianapolis

Nov 30, 2021; Syracuse, New York, USA; Syracuse Orange guard Joseph Girard III (11) drives as Indiana Hoosiers guard Xavier Johnson (0) defends during the second half at the Carrier Dome. | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

Indiana basketball has a new opponent for the 2026-27 season, and from afar, it seems like a no-brainer.

The Hoosiers and Syracuse will square off in the great state of Indiana on Nov. 9 of next season, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.

Even if Syracuse has fallen off a cliff since the end of the Jim Boeheim era, it's still a solid matchup based on two big-name programs looking to get back to blueblood status.

However, there is a catch, as it's a trend in college basketball that Indiana has long participated in, but that I don't particularly enjoy.

Indiana and Syracuse to Play in Indianapolis

The part I don't like about this is the fact it's not on a college campus.

Yes, the trend has only grown across college basketball in recent years and it's nothing new to the Hoosiers, but it doesn't mean I like it.

Indiana Hoosiers and Louisville Cardinals players warm up before a game Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. | Christine Tannous/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Indiana vs. Syracuse at Assembly Hall one year and in the venue formerly known as the Carrier Dome the next? That'd be great. It'd be what college sports are supposed to be: played on a college campus.

But instead, it's to be played at the home of the Indiana Pacers and Fever. Yes, plenty of Indiana fans will easily be able to attend, but that's not the point.

Disliking This Trend in College Basketball

College basketball seems like a sport full of scared programs these days.

Even the best programs come off as nothing short of scared to go on the road and play big games.

Yes, Indiana went on the road to play Kentucky this season but took on Louisville in Indianapolis and Marquette at the United Center in Chicago.

That's hardly unique. A quick look at the Illinois team who is participating in this weekend's Final Four shows a program that played plenty of neutral-site games in recent years, including against Alabama (Chicago), Tennessee (Nashville), and UConn (New York City) this season.

Credit is deserved for playing the games, and it's better to play them on a neutral floor than not at all, but why is getting a big-time opponent on a college campus so hard?

Indiana has long played major opponents on neutral courts, but that trend only continues to grow across the sport.

It's not so much an Indiana problem as it is a college basketball problem, but the Hoosiers certainly play a part.

I don't know, but maybe playing more of these in true opposing venues would be good preparation for a team that didn't win a road game the final six weeks of this season.

I'm old, and I understand that, but in a world where loyalty to a college choice only goes as far as the latest NIL offer, and where students' interest in attending games continues to fall because of the lack of big games on campus, perhaps getting more of these games in college arenas early in the year would be good for the sport.