Big Ten Basketball: Ranking all 18 programs after adding Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington

3. Indiana

No matter how you slice it, Indiana is one of the elite programs in college basketball history. Fans will always fill Assembly Hall, even doing it when Archie Miller failed to lead the Hoosiers to the Big Dance across a disappointing four-year tenure. Furthermore, things have been looking much better with former NBA head coach Mike Woodson taking control of his alma mater the last few seasons.

There’s an extended history of former NBA players and coaches really struggling at the collegiate level but Woodson is bucking that trend after just two seasons. Not only has he been killing it on the recruiting trail and in development, but the Hoosiers have already made a pair of trips to the Big Dance. They certainly weren’t on the same level as Purdue last year, but they did sweep their bitter rivals after all.

There’s no telling if Woodson can lead this program to their first Final Four since 2002, but he’s already put this program in competitive shape in just two seasons in Bloomington. Indiana’s standing as an elite basketball program gives us reason to be excited for their future, especially if more talent like Trayce Jackson-Davis keeps coming in those doors.

Incredible in the past, great in the present, and primed for the future, Indiana has every reason to be excited and maintain a great footing in Big Ten Basketball, each with UCLA and the other program’s greatly changing the makeup of the conference. We don’t know what Woodson’s ceiling is as a head coach, but it’s impossible to deny that there’s potential for greatness in Bloomington once again in the coming years.