Big Ten Basketball: 2021 power rankings heading into conference tournament

Wins

*Tennessee Tech
*Providence (Neutral site)
*Stanford (Neutral site)
*North Alabama
*Butler (Neutral site)
*Penn State
*Iowa (twice)
*@Northwestern
*Maryland
*@Nebraska
*Minnesota

Losses

*Texas (Neutral site)
*@ Florida State OT
*Northwestern
*Illinois (twice)
*Rutgers (twice)
*@Wisconsin
*Purdue
*@Ohio State
*Michigan State (twice)
*Michigan

Net ranking: 59

KenPom ranking: 39

AP ranking: N/A

Reasons for Hope: The Hoosiers have good, solid wins in non-conference play against Butler, Providence, and Stanford and all three were away from their home court and the Hoosiers defeated both Providence and Stanford by 16 or more points as well as having some really good in conference victories. In Big Ten play they beat Iowa twice which is impressive as well as defeating Maryland and Minnesota.

Reasons to be Pessimistic: Indiana has really struggled as of late losing their last four games and their offense production is trending downwards. The Hoosiers are also now in the bottom half of the Big Ten standings and in serious danger of missing the NCAA tournament. Indiana can win their last two regular-season scheduled games and they need to win both as well as winning a game or two in the Big Ten tournament in order to qualify for this year’s NCAA tournament.

Brief Overview of the Season

Indiana has lost four of their last five games and much of the problem appears to be due to the lack of offensive support to sophomore Trayce Jackson-Davis who is Indiana’s leading scorer this season. He is averaging just under 20 points a game to go along with over nine rebounds and just under two blocks a game.

The Hoosiers down the stretch need their second and third-leading scorers in Armaan Franklin and Al Durham to continue to help produce more on offense to take off some of the pressure of Jackson-Davis on the offensive end. Franklin is injured and missed the last game and that has really hurt the Hoosier offense. Al Durham has had two good games recently scoring 20 against Rutgers and 15 against Michigan.

Both players have been the main bright spots offensively for the Hoosiers this season along with Jackson-Davis but if fully healthy and as more opposing defenses focus on Jackson-Davis, both need to have big games especially during the Big Ten tournament if Indiana has a legitimate chance in the NCAA tournament.

As said time and time again, teams in the Big Ten conference have been so competitive night in and night out this season that teams like Indiana if they were in another conference, would more than likely have a lot more wins in the victory column. Jackson-Davis if Indiana was in the top four in the conference, may have been in consideration to compete for the player of the year award in the Big Ten as he has played well offensively and defensively in Big Ten play. Indiana if they can score near 78 points or higher, could win three more games.

The Hoosier fans, for the most part on social media, for example, have not been too thrilled by the overall job performance of head coach Archie Miller this season who is in year four as the head coach of the Indiana program. However, the Big Ten is the best conference in America and Miller is not the only quality coach who is struggling this season and it is not how his team is doing currently that really matters, it is how well they finish out the season which really counts.

The Indiana fanbase expects their basketball program to sooner than later begin to make the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament next season and beyond and to see the progress that they desperately desire among a die-hard fanbase.

Jackson-Davis could easily carry this Hoosier team in the Big Ten tournament but he needs some help from his supporting cast to do so. Miller and the Indiana program expect big things sooner than later and the Hoosier fanbase is growing more and more impatient. Indiana may be a team to keep an eye on to start the conference tournament as they may shock the Big Ten by making it to the semifinals of the tournament. Indiana next travels to Purdue on Saturday.