Where Indiana is Seeded in Media Mock Bracket For NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Tournament selection committee invited media members to Indianapolis on Thursday to create a mock bracket.

The NET rankings, along with metrics like KenPom, BartTorvik, Strength of Record and Wins Above the Bubble, are some of the factors used to create the 68-team tournament. Selection Sunday is scheduled for March 15, making the next month crucial for seeding.

Here's how it played out for the Hoosiers.

Indiana makes media mock bracket for NCAA Tournament

Darian DeVries Indiana Basketball — Indiana Hoosiers coach Darian DeVries celebrates after defeating the Wisconsin Badgers at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

It's not necessarily a surprise to see Indiana in the bracket, but confirmation from additional sources that the Hoosiers are currently an NCAA Tournament team is still notable.

The media mock bracket gave Indiana a No. 9 seed, setting up a game against No. 8 seed Texas A&M in the Round of 64. The Aggies are 18-8 overall and tied for fifth in the SEC standings at 8-5 in their first year under coach Bucky McMillan, who previously coached Samford.

If the Hoosiers were to defeat Texas A&M in this scenario, they'd most likely face No. 1 seed Duke in the Round of 32. Under coach Jon Scheyer, the Blue Devils are 24-2 and lead the ACC with a 13-1 record, with their losses coming against No. 16 North Carolina and No. 13 Texas Tech.

The other No. 9 seeds are UCF, SMU and St. Mary's, while Utah State, NC State and Wisconsin joined Texas A&M on the No. 8 seed line. Here's a closer look at the bracket, which takes into account where teams would be seeded if the season ended Thursday.

Here is the media mock bracket if the season ended today (and Miami U had one loss).

Note: The NCAA auto-filled the overall seed list from 21-68, with the exception of our bubble cuts. Definitely a couple teams whose seeds wouldn’t bear out like this in reality. pic.twitter.com/h9Sr9Iivyz
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 20, 2026

Can Indiana improve its seeding or fall out entirely?

The Hoosiers will have several opportunities to pick up resume-boosting win. That begins Friday at No. 7 Purdue, which would be a Quad 1 win.

Other Quad 1 opportunities come at home against No. 15 Michigan State on March 1 and at Ohio State on March 7. Home games against Northwestern and Minnesota currently fall in the Quad 3 category, as they're ranked No. 78 and No. 79 in the NET, but they could become Quad 2 wins if either team cracks the top 75.

If Indiana were to finish out the regular season with a 4-1 record and pick up a win or two in the Big Ten Tournament, a jump to the No. 8 or No. 7 seed line would be possible. The Hoosiers have a 97.2% chance of making the NCAA Tournament, according to TeamRankings.com, so they're likely safe for an at-large bid, barring a 1-4 finish and a first-round exit in the Big Ten Tournament, for example.

For first-year Indiana coach Darian DeVries, getting into the big dance is simple.

"You just have to keep winning games," DeVries said. "I mean, that's number one, and we've talked about a little bit of coach speak. But the only thing we're really concerned about is our next one, and right now that's Purdue. And you start to look past that, that's when you start to get yourself in trouble. And our focus will just be every night on who's next and what do we have to do to try to win that one.”