Indiana entered Saturday's matchup with Michigan State winning three out of its last four games and looking up.
It was a game that wouldn't necessarily 'help' Indiana in terms of boosting its resume, but it was one that could hurt the Hoosiers. And that's exactly what it did.
Now sitting at 12-10 (7-8) on the season, four games remain for Indiana, including three against tournament teams, and then a rescheduled matchup from earlier this season now slated against Michigan State.
Those other three against tournament teams include; Rutgers (Wednesday, Feb. 24), Michigan (Saturday, Feb. 27) and then Purdue (Saturday, March 6).
One would guess that the Hoosiers would have to win a bare minimum of two games out of the remaining four to feel good about an NCAA Tournament berth heading into the Big Ten Tournament.
As it stands today, IU would be slated to play Maryland in its first matchup in the conference tournament, with a matchup against Michigan awaiting.
The one thing on Indiana's side is the amount of games against power opponents. Just two games against low and mid-major opponents (Tennessee Tech and North Alabama), most of Indiana's wins are against projected NCAA Tournament teams as of now, or teams right on the bubble.
A lot of weight is held on the results of how a team does against the NET rankings. There are four quadrants, with Quad 1 results holding the most weight, especially for wins.
As a refresher, here is how the quadrants are determined:
Quadrant 1: Home 1-30; Neutral 1-50; Away 1-75
Quadrant 2: Home 31-75; Neutral 51-100; Away 76-135
Quadrant 3: Home 76-160; Neutral 101-200; Away 136-240
Quadrant 4: Home 161+; Neutral 201+; Away 241+
Indiana currently ranks No. 52 in the NET rankings. Here is its record against each quadrant:
Quadrant 1: 3-7
Quadrant 2: 5-1
Quadrant 3: 2-2
Quadrant 4: 2-0
*As a note, Indiana has played the 15th most quad 1 games*
Indiana's opponent on Wednesday, Rutgers, was originally a quad 1 game, but with its loss to Maryland at home on Sunday, fell from No. 29 to No. 31 in the rankings, making it a quad 2 loss. Maryland's win, moved them into quad 1 territory at No. 30, making IU's win over the Terrapins now a quad 1 victory.
Three of the final four games will come against quad 1 opponents, with Michigan State being a quad 2 opponent, unless it can move up six spots between today and next Tuesday. The Spartans are currently No. 81 in the NET rankings and would need to move up to No. 75 in order for it to become a quad 1 game for the Hoosiers.
How does Indiana compare and matchup with some of the other bubble teams as of right now?
Below are just five bubble teams to keep an eye on. Here are those teams with their NET ranking, with their remaining schedule and opponents NET ranking.
1. Maryland (No. 30): vs Michigan State (No. 81), @ Northwestern (No. 98), vs Penn State (No. 40)
2. Syracuse (No. 47): @ Duke (No. 56), @ Georgia Tech (No. 51), vs North Carolina (No 34)
3. UConn (No. 54): vs Marquette (No. 100), @ Seton Hall (No. 49), vs Georgetown (No. 96)
4. Stanford (No. 57): vs Oregon (No. 42), vs Oregon State (No. 121), vs California (No. 181)
5. Minnesota (No. 60): vs Northwestern (No. 98), @ Penn State (No. 40), vs Rutgers (No. 31)
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