Indiana Basketball Misses NCAA Tournament
Faced with slim odds to begin with, Indiana was not invited to "The Big Dance" and will miss the NCAA tournament for the third straight season.
As one of the First Four Teams out of the NCAA Tournament, the Hoosiers are expected to earn a No. 1 seed in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). That seeding would allow it to host all of its games leading up to the tournament's semifinals and finals which take place at Madison Square Garden in New York should it advance.
The NCAA selection committee said St. John's was the last team in, and are playing Arizona State in the play-in game in Dayton. Indiana joined UNC Greensboro, Alabama and TCU as the First Four Out and was the fourth of those four to miss the field, according to NCAA Director of Media Coordination/Statistics David Worlock.
Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir, who was the NCAA men's Division I Basketball Committee chair, said the determining factor this year was multitude of losses rather than the quality wins like in years past.
IU's six Quadrant 1 wins were most among the bubble candidates, but it also finished 17-15. The field of 68 has not included a team that finished over .500 since 16-14 Georgia in 2001.
"That's totally fair to say," Muir said of the multitude of losses having a greater impact. "They had so many opportunities, what did they do with those opportunities?"
The Hoosiers dealt with a rash of injuries during the months of January and February. Muir said it was something the team considered when evaluating teams' statuses.
"We certainly discussed them, but we wanted to see how teams played out," Muir said.
Indiana has made five appearances in the NIT, most recently 2017 when it fell to Georgia Tech in Atlanta after declining to host the contest at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Prior to that, IU also played in the NIT in 1972, 1979, 1985 and 2005. They're 8-4 overall in the annual postseason event.
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