For the first time since 2016, Indiana men’s soccer will not be playing in the Big Ten title game. Sunday marks 2,926 days between Big Ten Championship games that won’t feature the Cream and Crimson after the Hoosiers were upset by Michigan in the quarterfinals. Instead, it will be the No. 7 seeded Wolverines and No. 1 seed Ohio State playing for the trophy in Columbus.
Here’s what Indiana’s resume looks like heading into Monday’s NCAA Tournament selection show.
The computer numbers
We all love the computer metrics, right? While there’s no KenPom or NET rankings for men’s soccer like there are for basketball, there are RPI rankings we can use. Indiana sits at 19 through Saturday's matches, just outside the national seed spots.
The Hoosiers are 10-4-5 overall (remember, wins-losses-draws), 7-1-2 in the Big Ten (which ranks second among all conferences in the RPI), 4-1-2 on the road, and 6-2-3 at home with a neutral-site postseason loss to Michigan. Indiana is 3-4-1 against Quad 1 opponents, 2-0-3 against Quad 2 opponents, 3-0-0 vs Quad 3, and 1-0-1 vs Quad 4. The Trine match does not count in the RPI as the Thunder are not a Division I opponent. Indiana’s strength of schedule is 30th and the Hoosiers are first in Opponent Schedule Strength. In its last eight matches, Indiana is 6-1-1. Hope you got all those numbers memorized, there may be a quiz at the end…
RPI Update: Men's Soccer: Indiana
The eye test
Alright, for those of you who aren’t as good with numbers, here is what the “eye test” would say about Indiana. It was a tale of two seasons. We know about the October run and the seven straight victories heading into the Big Ten Tournament. Everyone is also familiar with Indiana’s slow start in non-conference play, which did feature two Quad 1 losses in Saint Louis and Dayton, who ironically enough face off Sunday at noon in the Atlantic 10 Championship. Indiana only beat Kentucky and Yale in non-conference play (again, excluding Trine), both of whom will not be in the NCAA Tournament field. Draws to Butler and Evansville look poor on the resume, but Evansville did win the Missouri Valley Conference Championship Saturday night.
This was the same deal a year ago, as Indiana went into the Big Dance without a win against a fellow team in the 48-team field, considering the Hoosiers were the only Big Ten school selected for the tournament.
The conference was a LOT stronger than last year, as five teams are locks to make the NCAA Tournament (IU, Ohio State, Washington, Maryland and Michigan) with UCLA squarely on the bubble. The Hoosiers’ resume in the conference is unmatched, with four true road wins (all Quad 1) and a road draw against Ohio State, the top team in the nation in the RPI and the Selection Committee’s top 16 rankings.
Indiana’s justification for earning a national seed is straightforward: The Hoosiers are the second-best team in the second-best conference, and come in as one of the hotter teams in the country.
It’ll be the fourth straight year where Indiana is right on the line of a national seed. Last year was the first time in 10 seasons that the Hoosiers did not earn a bye to the second round, but the resume is significantly stronger this go around.
The selection show is at 1 p.m. Monday and can be seen live on NCAA.com
