Busting Brackets
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Indiana Basketball: 5 keys for a successful 2019-20 season

By Lukas Harkins

BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: A rack of basketballs at the Indiana Hoosiers games against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: A rack of basketballs at the Indiana Hoosiers games against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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BLOOMINGTON, IN – DECEMBER 22: Coach Miller instructs. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN – DECEMBER 22: Coach Miller instructs. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Avoid a non-conference upset

Indiana starts this coming year with a very easy schedule. Over the entire first month of the college basketball season, the Hoosiers will not have to leave their backyard one time as they stay within the confines of Assembly Hall for their first eight games. The first six of these will all come against teams ranked outside of the top-140 of KenPom’s final rankings this year. The game that follows will come against South Dakota State, who lost its two best players and head coach this offseason. To put it simply, IU needs to start this season at 7-0 if they want to have a strong shot at reaching the NCAA Tournament.

Building an NCAA Tournament caliber resume starts from the opening tip of the year and a crushing home blow to a poor mid-major team would be detrimental to any hopes. This should be a great learning period for this team as they begin to figure out who they are going to be. Langford/Morgan carried the majority of the offense last season and Coach Miller will hopefully use these first seven games as an opportunity to determine the scoring hierarchy for the team.

Right after those first seven contests, the Hoosiers dive into difficult contests starting with a home bout against Florida State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. IU will also be challenged by UConn (N), Notre Dame (N), and Arkansas (H) as their remaining non-conference opponents before the New Year. They will face Wisconsin (A) and Nebraska (H) in their December Big Ten games.

This schedule obviously gets much harder after the opening month and that makes taking care of business in the first seven contests very important for the rest of the year.

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