14. Indiana (4-0)
After underwhelming results last season, Indiana is looking to make up for their recent failures and have gotten this season started on the right foot. The Hoosiers certainly haven’t faced the same challenges as some other rising names in these rankings, but they’ve taken care of business with four double-digit victories. Mike Woodson’s squad can only play the games on their schedule and that’s just what they’ve done so far.
Nearly a week after a nice win against South Carolina, the Hoosiers continued winning games at home, prevailing 69-58 against UNC Greensboro on Thursday night. While this wasn’t the best shooting night for Indiana, their defense was strong and they did enough against the Spartans. A 20-point, 6-assist performance out of Myles Rice helped lead the charge while Bryson Tucker added 14 points off the bench.
Indiana has a very strong interior led by Oumar Ballo, Mackenzie Magbako, and Malik Reneau and have the talent to make major noise this season. They are certainly one of the early favorites in the Big Ten and are winning games with relative ease, but we need to see them in action against stronger opposition. Luckily, we get exactly what we’re hoping for this week as the Hoosiers are off to the Battle 4 Atlantis. Suffice to say their strength of schedule starts rising next week.