Indiana basketball: Big Ten/ACC showdown with Florida State a nice diversion

The Hoosiers have never played the Seminoles in the annual event, so this matchup — though very difficult — is a welcomed change.

For the past two-plus decades, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in early December has often provided the first magical moments of the regular season. It's a fun event, with the first big batch of basketball eyes tuning in.

For Indiana, that's usually meant a blueblood showdown of various hues with either Duke or North Carolina. This year it's different, with IU hosting Florida State for the first time in this event. That's good. That helps this event from getting stale.

Florida State has never played at Assembly Hall, and the two teams have only met four times ever, most notably in the NCAA Tournament in 1991 and 1992, both Indiana wins. The Hoosiers also won games in the undefeated 1975-76 season and in the preseason NIT in November of 1992. 

This is the first game in the series actually being played on campus. A trip to Bloomington has the Seminoles excited, and rightly so.

“We are very excited about playing Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton. “They are always a very well-coached and athletic team. Indiana obviously is one of the historic programs in college basketball. Playing on their campus, in their gym with their knowledgeable and enthusiastic fans is going to be very tough. I am confident our players will embrace playing Indiana on the road, and we’ll be ready to play.”

After playing — and losing to — Duke three times in the last four years, this might seem like a nice break, but Florida State is really good right now. The Seminoles won 29 games last year, beat national champion Virginia and finished ranked No. 10 in the country in the final AP poll. They reached the Elite Eight a year earlier, losing to Michigan and missing out on a long-awaited trip to the Final Four.

Indiana doesn't have much of a history in this event. There have been some great wins —my favorite was the blowout win over North Carolina in 2012 by the No. 1-ranked Hoosiers — but overall Indiana is just 7-11. They are 0-5 all-time against Duke. The Hoosiers are 3-1 against North Carolina, and that's half of their games against Duke and UNC,

That's what makes the Florida State game fun. It's something different, and it will still be a huge challenge. That's the idea, right?

RELATED: Indiana's game-by-game history in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge

RELATED: Indiana's history by opponent in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge