Bracketology Losers: Indiana, Florida State damage respective resumes

Indiana Hoosiers

Similarly to Ohio State, Indiana also is riding a four-game losing streak in Big Ten play. And just like the Buckeyes, the Hoosiers are going the opposite direction in Bracketology. They had a little more wiggle room being projected a seven seed before the loss this weekend but Archie Miller’s team has more to deal with going forward.

Losing to Nebraska and at Purdue by itself is fine but the 15-point margin of defeat is problematic. Indiana has relied on Romeo Langford and Juwan Morgan far too much to carry the team, while the overall inability to shoot has caused even more problems.

The good news for the Hoosiers is that their key non-conference wins (Marquette, Butler, and Louisville) have continued to hold up. And they still don’t have any real bad losses to speak of.

The bad news is that conference play may be showing where Indiana’s real pecking order is. Their Big Ten wins so far are against the bottom teams while struggling versus the upper half. And that’s who they’ll be dealing with next, with Michigan and Michigan State coming up in the next two weeks. Road traps against Rutgers and Northwestern also pose problems.

With the exception of a home game against Rutgers in the regular season finale, Indiana will either have a tough conference road game or a game with a projected NCAA Tournament team at home. We’ll see soon enough whether the Hoosiers are going dancing themselves by the time March comes.