Indiana women’s basketball is still on track to make the 2025 NCAA tournament, but the Hoosiers have work to do in February.
The Hoosiers are 13-7 and 5-4 in conference play at the midway point of the Big Ten schedule.
ESPN.com bracketologist Charlie Creme has the Hoosiers at the top of his list of teams projected to earn a bye. Creme’s latest projection slots Indiana in as a No. 9 seed and playing Creighton in South Bend.
The projections have Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and Harvard as the “last four byes” and Iowa, Iowa State, Virginia Tech and Washington as the “last four in.”
Indiana snapped a three-game losing streak Monday night with a 73-70 win at Washington. The Hoosiers host Nebraska this Sunday at noon ET on FS1.
After a January slate featuring games against UCLA and USC, Indiana will play five of its eight February games in Bloomington before concluding the regular season at Purdue on Sunday, March 2.
The Hoosiers are No. 39 in the latest NCAA NET rankings. IU is 2-4 in Quad 1, 4-2 in Quad 2, 0-1 in Quad 3 and 7-0 in Quad 4.
February presents several opportunities for wins against teams projected to make the NCAA tournament.
According to Creme, four of IU’s five home games next month will be played against programs currently projected to make the field. Those four contests are Nebraska (Feb. 2), Minnesota (Feb. 9), Ohio State (Feb. 20) and Maryland (Feb. 27).
Creme currently projects 13 of the Big Ten’s 18 teams to make the 2025 NCAA tournament field.
The Hoosiers made the NCAA tournament in the last four seasons under Teri Moren and would have made it in the 2019-20 season, but was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Indiana also made it to the field in 2016 and 2019.