The 2026 NCAA Tournament Has Been Painful For Indiana Fans

The phrase "March Madness" typically refers to the upsets, thrilling games and high stakes of the NCAA Tournament.

For many Indiana fans, it's taken on a different meaning this year, with an emphasis on mad.

Throughout the 2026 tournament, players and coaches who Indiana missed out on have had success elsewhere, while the Hoosiers sit at home for the third straight year without an invitation to the big dance.

Indiana 'What-Ifs' succeed in NCAA Tournament

Start in the East Region, where UConn defeated Duke in thrilling fashion Sunday evening to advance to the Final Four.

The hero was freshman guard Braylon Mullins, who sank a go-ahead 3-pointer from the logo just before the buzzer, completing a 19-point comeback to take down No. 1 overall seed Duke. He'll be a March Madness legend forever, and many Hoosier fans can't stand that Indiana let him out of the state.

Mullins won 2025 Indiana Mr. Basketball following a successful senior season at Greenfield-Central High School in Greenfield, Ind., a short drive east of Indianapolis and just over an hour from Indiana University in Bloomington.

BRAYLON MULLINS ARE YOU KIDDING 🤯🤯🤯

UCONN COMES BACK FROM 19 TO ADVANCE TO THE FINAL FOUR 🚨🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/GLdrvxt4wW
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 29, 2026

Former Indiana coach Mike Woodson hosted several visits for Mullins during the recruiting process, but failed to secure a commitment, letting a McDonald's All-American and five-star recruit slip away. Indiana had a nice in-state recruiting run for a bit, landing Mr. Basketball winners Romeo Langford, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Anthony Leal in consecutive years from 2018-20, but the last five winners have gone elsewhere.

It was too late for new Indiana coach Darian DeVries to jump in Mullins' recruitment last March, but clearly he made the right decision to play for coach Dan Hurley and the Huskies. Now he'll try to help UConn win its third national championship in the last four years.

Mullins' opponent in the Final Four, Illinois, also has a few Indiana ties. Starting forward Jake Davis attended Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, where he won the state championship as a junior. His Illinois teammate, Ben Humrichous, is a Tipton, Ind. native who previously played for Huntington University near Fort Wayne and the University of Evansville. Coincidentally, the 2026 Final Four takes place in Indianapolis.

Coach Brad Underwood has called Illinois his dream job, so perhaps he was never a realistic candidate for Indiana. But given that he was hired by Illinois the same offseason Indiana hired Archie Miller -– who failed miserably with four straight missed NCAA Tournaments before his firing –– it still stings.

The NCAA Tournament's biggest Cinderella story this season was Iowa with first-year coach Ben McCollum. Before falling to Illinois in the Elite Eight, the Hawkeyes defeated No. 1 seed Florida, the defending national champions, as well as Nebraska and Clemson.

Ben McCollum Iowa Basketball — Iowa Hawkeyes coach Ben McCollum speaks at a press conference during the 2026 NCAA Tournament at Toyota Center. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

McCollum was a candidate for the Indiana job last offseason, but ultimately went back to his hometown of Iowa City. The Hawkeyes had a decent regular season, going 23-12 overall and 10-10 in Big Ten play, but McCollum's team improved throughout the year and got hot at the right time. Meanwhile in Bloomington, DeVries' team collapsed with six losses in their final seven games, leaving some fans to wonder what could have been with McCollum.

Similarly, Michigan reached the Final Four in its second season under Dusty May, who also guided Florida Atlantic to the 2023 Final Four. May graduated from Eastern Greene High School in Bloomfield, Ind. –– less than an hour from Bloomington –– and was a student manager under Hall of Fame Hoosiers coach Bob Knight.

May took the Michigan job one year before Indiana fired Woodson and hired DeVries, causing many fans to question whether Indiana should have made the change a year earlier and if May would have come to Bloomington instead of Ann Arbor.

Indiana's in-state rival, Purdue, made another deep run in the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Elite Eight before falling to No. 1 seed Arizona. While some Hoosier fans were happy to see the Boilermakers' national championship drought continue, it was still another reminder that Purdue has been a far more successful program overall in the last decade-plus.

They've done so with coach Matt Painter, who grew up a Hoosier fan, and in-state recruits Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, Trey Kaufman-Renn and others. Other Indiana High School basketball players like Flory Bidunga (Kansas) and Xavier Booker (UCLA) played key roles on tournament teams this year.

So not only did Indiana miss the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in 10 years, but several Indiana recruits and coaching candidates have become March Madness heroes, adding fuel to the fire around a program and fan base desperate to win again.