For 6th Time in 8 Years, No NCAA Tournament For Indiana

As expected, Indiana was not one of the 68 teams to make the 2024 NCAA Tournament field Sunday.

That's been the case in six of the last eight seasons for one of college basketball's most historically successful programs. Indiana coach Mike Woodson took his team to the NCAA Tournament his first two seasons, but the Hoosiers' 19-14 overall record wasn't enough for a third straight trip. Indiana hasn't reached the NCAA Tournament three years in a row since 2006-08 under three different coaches: Mike Davis, Kelvin Sampson and Dan Dakich. Sampson earned a No. 1 seed with Houston this year.

Indiana's 2023-24 season ended on Friday with a 93-66 loss to Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. That snapped a five-game win streak from the end of the regular season into the first Big Ten Tournament game, including wins over Wisconsin, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan State and Pen State. The Hoosiers didn't beat a ranked team all season, though, and they finished No. 98 in the NCAA's NET rankings. 

Indiana finished sixth in the Big Ten regular season standings, but six conference foes made the tournament ahead of the Hoosiers.

"We've just got a lot of work to do this summer to get better," Woodson said Friday. "I don't want to sit here this time next year and not be playing in the tournament."

Indiana was once a perennial NCAA Tournament team and national title contender, but the program has struggled to build consistent success in the last 15 years or so. In 29 seasons under Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight, Indiana made the NCAA Tournament 24 times, won three national championships and made five Final Four appearances. 

But since the beginning of the 2008-09 season – under coaches Tom Crean, Archie Miller and Mike Woodson – Indiana has reached the NCAA Tournament just six times in the last 16 seasons. Crean won two Big Ten titles and made two Sweet 16 runs, but Miller failed to make the Big Dance in his four-year tenure. Woodson's Hoosiers were eliminated in the Round of 64 and Round of 32 in their two trips, leaving 2016 as the last time Indiana made the Sweet 16.

Heading into the fourth season under Woodson, Indiana will have at least three open scholarships. That's before NBA Draft and transfer portal entrants, so Indiana could have even more spots to fill, especially with no high school commitments. Woodson suggested after Friday's loss that work has already started.

"We always meet every day, guys," Woodson said. "We spend a lot of time, the coaches and I, together, and we talk about the what-ifs because you just don't know based on the new system and the portal, you know, who's going to be on your team, who's not. Who are we going to entertain once the portal opens up? So I mean, it's going to come very quickly, and we've got to be in position to do our homework and our due diligence on these players based on who we might want to come in to fill a spot to help us move forward next season."