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Big Ten Basketball: Buy or sell on Ohio State, Minnesota, Nebraska and IU

By Austin Walther

BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers walks down the court after a turnover in the 66-51 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers walks down the court after a turnover in the 66-51 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 19: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers prepares to shoot a free throw against the Purdue Boilermakers at Assembly Hall on February 19, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 19: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers prepares to shoot a free throw against the Purdue Boilermakers at Assembly Hall on February 19, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Indiana Hoosiers – Sell

How is this even possible? Indiana has won just two games in 2019. One was at home against Illinois and the other on the road to Michigan State. The Spartans victory is one of three very quality wins that Indiana has right now. They tore apart Marquette in the second week of the season and beat Louisville by one during the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The neutral win over Butler could make four wins over Tournament teams if you believe in the Bulldogs.

Indiana did have quite the rough schedule to resume Big Ten play after the Illinois game, though. They went on the road in back-to-back games to play Michigan and Maryland. Both are quality teams and they aren’t going to look bad in the loss column. Nebraska and Purdue came next. The Cornhuskers were good at the time and the Boilermakers shot themselves up to a three seed now.

It finally got to the point where Indiana just couldn’t pick up a win no matter who they played. They lost to Northwestern, Michigan again and then Rutgers. Their only two non-conference losses came to Duke and Arkansas. The Razorbacks aren’t bad, but won’t be making the tournament. Northwestern wasn’t bad, but now they’re falling. Rutgers is their lowest-rated loss.

The Hoosiers were 12-9 when they went to the Breslin Center. They lost Juwan Morgan 13 minutes into the game, but forced overtime and beat the Spartans. That was going to be the turn around that Indiana needed. The Hoosiers returned home for two big-time potential wins against Iowa and Ohio State. They lost by five to the Hawkeyes and three to the Buckeyes, though. Indiana hasn’t had a bad loss, but are now officially under .500 for the first time this season.

They are still in the KenPom top-50. When you take an average of four different ratings, the Hoosiers are 51 despite the 57 NET. Indiana has two great opportunities coming up with Wisconsin and a rematch against Michigan State. It’d be a tall order to have wins over both, but that’s kind of what this is coming down to. Then there’s Illinois and Rutgers, who they can’t afford to lose to. There’s never been an at-large bid under .500. The Hoosiers definitely need at least two wins in the Big Ten Tournament as well.

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