On Sunday, it was announced during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Selection Show that Indiana would not be in the NCAA Tournament. For consecutive seasons, the Hoosiers will not be playing in March Madness.
Indiana finished the season with a 19-13 record (10-10 Big Ten), and most recently lost 72-59 to Oregon in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. The 10 wins in the Big Ten are the second most in a season under Mike Woodson, only trailing the 2022-23 season where he went 12-8 in conference play.
Whether there was a large weight on the Oregon loss or not, the Selection Committee felt that other teams were more worthy of making the dance. The selection committee revealed during Sunday's broadcast that the last four teams in were Texas, Xavier, San Diego State and North Carolina. West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio State and Boise State were the first four teams out.
Indiana declined a chance to go to the NIT after the 2024 season, and it was not immediately clear Sunday whether Indiana would consider an invite this year to either that or the new College Basketball Crown tournament.
After four seasons at Indiana, Woodson finishes with an 82-53 record (41-39 Big Ten), with two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2022 and 2023. Woodson went 2-2 in the tournament with a Round of 32 appearance in 2023. Indiana announced on Feb. 7 that Woodson would not return as head coach after this season.
The future of Indiana basketball is entirely up in the air. With Woodson not returning, Indiana will search for a new coach to fill the void.
As far as production, Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal, Oumar Ballo and Luke Goode all went through the Senior Day ceremony, so barring any medical waiver, the team will look vastly different. Those players averaged a combined 34.2 points per game this season, accounting for 45.8% of Indiana’s per-game scoring.
In the modern age of college basketball with the transfer portal, that is likely to shake up the roster. Between a new coach coming in and wanting to instill his roster, to the potential of outgoing transfers, it will be a completely new team for the Hoosiers for the 2025-26 basketball season.
The Mike Woodson era of Indiana basketball is coming to an end, and now it is just anticipation of who will be the 31st Indiana men’s basketball coach.
