As Indiana enters tonight's road finale at Illinois, they find themselves with no room for error left. Despite a seven-week stretch where the Hoosiers lost 12 of 13 games, IU is amazingly still alive for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
That said, they still have work to do. None of the bracketologists currently have Indiana in the field of 68:
- Joe Lunardi (ESPN): Next Four Out - first team listed
- Jerry Palm (CBS): Not listed - Palm only lists a First Four Out
- Shelby Mast (USA Today): Next Four Out - first team listed
So, based on those projections, Indiana still has four teams to jump to be in the field, and would probably need at least one more Quad 1 win to feel good about their spot. That won't be a possibility until next week in the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.
These things can't be looked at in a vacuum, but you'd have to assume that IU needs to win tonight (at Illinois) and in their final against Rutger, plus likely make the weekend in Chicago to be in decent at-large standing.