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Bracketology 2020: Buy or sell Big Ten Basketball bubble teams?

By Austin Walther

MADISON, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 23: Ron Harper Jr. #24 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights dribbles the ball in the first half against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center on February 23, 2020 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MADISON, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 23: Ron Harper Jr. #24 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights dribbles the ball in the first half against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center on February 23, 2020 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
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BLOOMINGTON, IN – FEBRUARY 23: Justin Smith #3 of the Indiana Hoosiers (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN – FEBRUARY 23: Justin Smith #3 of the Indiana Hoosiers (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

Indiana Hoosiers – Buy

I’m going to buy Indiana because I can’t see all four of these bubble teams missing the Tournament. I know the Hoosiers just got swept by Purdue, but Indiana has a much better record. Bracketology doesn’t take the overall record into much consideration, but eight games over .500 is still a lot better than one. Among these teams, Indiana has always been further down the NET and KenPom, but still hang around the Bracket Matrix. Even after losing four in a row at one point, Indiana was still holding onto a 10 seed.

Indiana won two-straight before falling to Purdue. They won at Minnesota and a must-have against Penn State at home. The win against the Golden Gophers was just their second road win all season, but it’s better than what some can say in the Big Ten. Their first came at Nebraska. And a few teams can’t even say they won that game either.

The Hoosiers jumped to a nine seed Thursday afternoon. While you’re reading this, Indiana is probably at worst an 11 seed. The bubble is that weak this year. Even if they are among the first four out, there’s still plenty of hope for Indiana. They have a top-50 SOS. Indiana beat Florida State, Michigan State, Penn State and Iowa who are all in position to be one of the top-five seeds. Not to mention they picked up two neutral-court wins over Notre Dame and UConn. Both will not be in the NCAA Tournament, but both are still top-75 teams.

We all saw Archie Miller and his top assistant barking at each other during the game Thursday night. That means nothing. They knew how important it was to win on the road and it simply wasn’t getting done. Archie Miller’s status has gone from idle, to safe to hot seat, back to safe and now hot seat again. Winning basketball games in Indiana is a pretty important thing. But they still have a shot at Illinois and then protecting home court vs. Minnesota and Wisconsin. Then pick up at least one in the Big Ten Tournament and Miller should have the Hoosiers dancing for the first time since he’s taken the job

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