https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/s...logy-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions
Purdue picked as the automatic qualifier.
Kansas projected as #1 seed.
Purdue picked as the automatic qualifier.
Kansas projected as #1 seed.
IU 4 seed in ESPN initial bracket
- Thread starter TomEric4756
- Start date
which means what regarding PU; they think they'll win the B10 tourney?
My expectations this year for a successful season: sweep PU, win the B10 regular season, or finish 2nd and win the BTT, and a second weekend appearance/S16 minimum. The Big 10 is gonna be bad and we should make hay.
Yes I think we should beat Purdue two or three times … there is (naturally) an immediate past performance bias in these numbers. We have to win the regular season title or the conference tourney to overcome this bias. IU apparently is picked to finish 2nd in a (relatively) down BiG 10 year.
I mean if the big ten is down sure doesn't show by this bracket. Over half the teams are in!
The conference isn't down. It's probably an 11 to 13 bid league next year with multiple top 25 teams. Easily better than last year when it was the 2nd best conference. Probably still 2nd but the conference has more overall talent this year.
Style of play should change a bit too as everyone went heavier on perimeter guys and the amount of dominant interiors are very few relative to the last decade.
We should have one of the best front courts in college bball. Is there anyone that is clearly better? I am so excited for Ballo. When I saw him in Vegas two years ago, I was in awe. One thing Woodson does well is get his big guys to play to the best of their ability. Ballo might have another gear in him. Could easily get drafted next year.
I just want us to stay healthy. I am excited though......
When was the last time the BiG champ wasn’t a one or 2 seed. MSU at 8 was lower than Rizzo usually gets. Yes the BiG season will be a grind with no nights off. I thought the lower seeds indicated for the aq and IU said there were few elite conference teams this year.
It would be interesting to see what a poll of expectations would reveal. I bet you are correct, they will be high.
My guess for the fans to be happy with Woodson, especially with the ammunition provided him:
1. Top three big ten
2. Big ten tournament final game, win or lose.
3. Sweet sixteen.
Were we a 5 seed when we won it Yogis senior year??
Even with a Sweet 16 appearance, I think a lot of fans will bitch. If Woody wants to restore faith in the masses, given the group of talent that he has assembled, Woody needs an Elite 8.
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- 1976: Indiana - #1 seed
- 1977: Michigan - #1 seed
- 1978: Michigan State - #4 seed
- 1979: Michigan State - #2 seed
- 1980: Indiana - #2 seed
- 1981: Indiana - #3 seed
- 1982: Purdue - #1 seed
- 1983: Indiana - #2 seed
- 1984: Purdue - #3 seed
- 1985: Michigan - #6 seed
- 1986: Michigan - #5 seed
- 1987: Indiana - #1 seed
- 1988: Purdue - #1 seed
- 1989: Illinois - #1 seed
- 1990: Michigan State - #1 seed
- 1991: Ohio State, Indiana - #1 seeds
- 1992: Ohio State - #1 seed
- 1993: Michigan, Indiana - #1 seeds
- 1994: Purdue - #1 seed
- 1995: Purdue - #1 seed
- 1996: Purdue - #1 seed
- 1997: Minnesota - #1 seed
- 1998: Michigan State, Illinois - #4 seeds
- 1999: Michigan State - #1 seed
- 2000: Michigan State - #1 seed
- 2001: Illinois, Michigan State - #1 seeds
- 2002: Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin - #4 seeds
- 2003: Wisconsin - #5 seed
- 2004: Illinois - #5 seed
- 2005: Illinois - #1 seed
- 2006: Ohio State - #2 seed
- 2007: Ohio State - #1 seed
- 2008: Wisconsin - #3 seed
- 2009: Michigan State - #2 seed
- 2010: Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue - #5, #2, #4 seeds respectively
- 2011: Ohio State - #1 seed
- 2012: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State - #4, #1, #2 seeds respectively
- 2013: Indiana - #1 seed
- 2014: Michigan - #2 seed
- 2015: Wisconsin - #1 seed
- 2016: Indiana - #5 seed
- 2017: Purdue - #4 seed
- 2018: Michigan State - #3 seed
- 2019: Michigan State, Purdue - #2, #3 seeds respectively
- 2020: Maryland, Michigan State, Wisconsin - (No Tournament due to COVID-19)
- 2021: Michigan - #1 seed
- 2022: Illinois, Wisconsin - #4, #3 seeds respectively
- 2023: Purdue - #1 seed
- 2024: Purdue - #1 seed
That's about how I feel, not that my opinion matters to IU.
It would be nice to see us competing for the conference in March and making the second weekend of the tourney. And just play good smart bball and get better as the year goes on. And if/when our run for the conference/BTT/NCAA ends, let's go out fighting in a close game vs. a legit opponent who is playing well. No more going out with a blowout loss.
IMO it may depend somewhat on how that S16 game goes. If we lose a hard fought one possession game vs a red hot team that goes to the Final Four, that’s an admirable way to go out. If we lose by 15 and were never in it, that’s much less encouraging.
I think 1 and 3 would be my expectations.
And then I'd add "good showing in BTT", instead of expecting a finals appearance. A loss in the semis, in a close game, against a good team, wouldn't bother me a ton big scheme. I'm sure I'd be here venting after the loss, but as long as we're showing we're competitive with the top teams in the conference next year, that's a good sign of progress.
With everything, there are variances from 1 and 3 even, that would change my thoughts and feelings, however.
If we finished tied for third, with 4 other teams, with a 12-8 record...ehhh, not nearly as good a feeling as solo third at 14-6.
And then as another poster mentioned...a blowout loss in the Sweet 16, would leave a very sour taste in my mouth, and probably would ruin whatever accomplishments the team had before that.
Fans on a message board will always vent. People complained in 2013 when we were a 1 seed.
Expectations should be sky high. In an earlier post @Jssanto (I believe) mentioned the risk for coach MW being back on the hot seat if we underperform. Frankly, I can’t see a scenario where he is on the hot seat.
Yea. Expectations should be high. We pay Woody a lot and he has top-5 or 7 resources — we should be very good.
I’m sure RMK and guys like Hurley had/have sky high expectations for their teams. If not, what are we even doing?
And our fans are a huge positive and really pretty harmless. They show up in big numbers to support the team and donate a lot to pay the players. The team is treated literally like gods around campus. The worst the team has to deal with are some light boos if they play really bad at home, and online people may type some negative things. That’s what made the “true fans” nonsense so pathetic last year. Just admit it was a bad year and thank the fans and say it won’t happen again.
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Some comments concerning the above posts--
--I agree the BT should be better. There were several teams that essentially self-destructed last year, including MSU, OSU, Michigan & Maryland. While some teams with lesser ceilings over-achieved (NW, Nebraska, Wisconsin), the overall effect was that a good but not great Purdue team ran away with the title. That said, the BT still had two of the top 10 teams in the country with Purdue & Illinois. College basketball, in general, sucked last year. U CONN was obviously the cream of the crop but was the only elite team, with many "brand" schools disappointing.
--Overall, I see the following as being 'much better'--IU, Michigan, Rutgers
--'Better"--MSU, OSU, MD
--Same'--ILL, NEB, Iowa, PSU
--'Worse'--PUR, WIS, NW
--'Much Worse'--MN.
--No comment here on the pac 12 additions.
Some comments about particular teams--
--Illinois: I have Illinois achieving at about the same level as last year, although it will be a much different team. They certainly won't have a single player as good as the alleged rapist. And Hawkins could be good at times. But they had a crucial weakness in lacking a true PG/distributor who could also settle down situations as was graphically demonstrated in the U CONN game.
--MSU: MSU loses Haggard & Sissoko, which would appear to be significant, but will likely be a case of addition by subtraction. For some reason Haggard was not the answer people expected him to be, and there obviously was a falling out with Izzo. Sissoko under-achieved and probably kept two over-achievers on the bench too much.
--IU: My 'reasonable expectations' for this year start with the assumption that 3 things happen: 1. Competent coaching; 2. Average player buy-in/chemistry; and 3. No debilitating injuries to major players. If all 3 conditions apply, I see no reason why IU wouldn't be a BT title/tourney contender, a 3 seed in the tourney, and a top 7-12 team overall. If we have exceptional buy-in/chemistry and no debilitating injuries to major players, the ceiling rises.
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I'd encourage folks to watch some of the Sleepers content. They do a ton of B10 content and they've sliced and diced every team and the conference a # of different ways. They both pretty much agree that IU has the best roster, and one of them says IU will win the conference by 3 games and the other is predicting PU 1 and IU 2, because he believes in Painter more than Woodson. They've done overall conference projections and analysis of each team and even an IU v PU roster comparison, where I think they gave IU the edge at 4 of 5 positions and the bench. We have the best roster in the B10. Barring severe injury issues, finishing 3rd in the B10 this year is underperforming imo.
Good points.
So far, I likely would favor Painter over Woodson as well. Hopefully that really changes now, Painter without Edey and Woody with this level of ammunition.
Woody must have huge BOT support or one or two key guys in support. But if we are a mediocre team with this roster, that might be tough to sell to a fan base.
Re: your last sentence.....I hear you. I agree we easily have the best roster. Thing is....even setting aside what I think are legit questions about MW's abilities, its always risky to count so much on transfers. Whether you call it buy-in, chemistry, 'want to'........motivations are critical. You know.....row the boat. Crazy thing is....I know the fanbase is more than ready to do their part. Its just wait and see on the team. What I want to see is urgency!!
that's why I'd be studying the heck out of what Hurley's been doing an UCONN. He's done an amazing job seemingly, of creating culure and melding returnees, freshmen and transfers into a solid unit. The fact that he's done it 2 years in a row, only underscores why I'd be studying what he's doing and that it's not a fluke.
Where is this coming from? In paper talent the conference is loaded.. equal to or possibly better than the Big 12.
Woodson has had 3 Bigs, TJD was the best, Ware was second and Ballo is the third best, can not be on the floor at the end of a close game!
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