Indiana Women’s Basketball Bracketology: How Much Did 0-2 Road Trip Hurt?

Indiana lost at Minnesota and Michigan, two schools near them in the NCAA Tournament bubble chase. What effect did it have on the Hoosiers’ chances?

Todd Golden | Feb 15, 2025

Indiana's Karoline Striplin (11) shoots over Nebraska's Alexis Markowski (40) during the Indiana versus Nebraska women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Indiana Hoosiers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The worst-case scenario for Indiana’s women’s basketball team was to go 0-2 on a road trip this week that involved trips to fellow Big Ten middle-of-the-pack schools Minnesota and Michigan.

That’s exactly what happened, although neither game was a blowout. Minnesota made free throws late to extend a close game to a 66-56 victory Sunday. On Wednesday, Michigan rallied past the Hoosiers for a 70-67 win.

Close losses won’t hurt the NET much, but a loss is a loss. Indiana has put itself in a tough position as far as sorting is concerned with the NCAA Tournament bracket.

The losses didn’t immediately kill the Hoosiers in ESPN’s bracketology. Their bracketologist, Charlie Creme, only moved Indiana one spot down in his bracket updated on Friday. The Hoosiers are among the last four teams to avoid the play-in round in his field. He has Indiana as a No. 10 seed playing No. 7 seed Louisville in the Baton Rouge Regional at No. 2 seed Louisiana State.

However, closer inspection reveals potential problems for the Hoosiers if they can’t get some quality wins to bolster their resume. Creme currently has Indiana ahead of Nebraska, presumably based on the Hoosiers’ head-to-head win.

However, directly below Nebraska is Oregon – the Hoosiers lost to the Ducks 54-47 on Jan. 24. So if Nebraska has reason to pass by Indiana, what’s to stop Indiana from also dropping below Oregon?

The same principle applies to another school Indiana lost to – Harvard. The Crimson defeated Indiana 72-68 in overtime in November. Harvard is among the last four teams in the field. Indiana will not want to be involved in any head-to-head tiebreakers with the Ivy League school if it can avoid it.

Indiana gets a sunnier outlook from herhoops.com’s bracketology. They updated their prediction on Friday and had Indiana as a No. 8 seed playing No. 9 Creighton at the South Bend Regional hosted by No. 1 seed Notre Dame. Herhoops has Indiana ahead of Oregon (No. 10 seed), Illinois (No. 11 seed) and Minnesota (No. 11 seed) – teams that beat Indiana. That seems an unlikely outcome for the Hoosiers.

Indiana has two games in the next week. The Hoosiers host rival Purdue at noon on Saturday. The Boilermakers have only won two Big Ten games, so a home win is expected and wouldn’t affect Indiana’s situation much in a positive manner.

A loss to Purdue would be devastating. It would be considered a Quad 4 loss, the worst defeat a team can have on its resume.

Indiana then hosts No. 9 Ohio State at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday. The Buckeyes are well inside the range for this to be a Quad 1 victory for the Hoosiers. Indiana only has two Quad 1 wins, and another would be very valuable.

A loss to the Buckeyes would hurt less in terms of it being a “bad loss” resume-wise, but more in a cumulative sense. It would drop Indiana’s record in Quad 1 games to 2-7 – not a convincing record to present to the selection committee.

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