The March Toward March: Red-hot Indiana may return to NCAA tournament success

“The March Toward March” is a column by Curran Rastogi about college basketball teams and their journeys to March Madness.

If you look up the word “underachieving” in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, you’ll find the last seven years of Indiana University’s men’s basketball program. The Hoosiers, a ‘blue blood’ of college basketball, watched the NCAA tournament from their couches for six of the last seven years. Last year in their appearance at the Big Dance, they got embarrassed, losing by 29 to Saint Mary’s. However, the Hoosiers are coming off a five-point win against bitter in-state rivals: the No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers. The Hoosiers are on the precipice of changing the trajectory of their program.

Redshirt junior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis is back and better than ever, having a consensus All-American season averaging almost 19.8 points per game and 11 rebounds per game. Jackson-Davis’ supporting cast has stepped up as well this year, and the Hoosiers are playing at a completely different level.

Last season, the team’s offense was completely flat, ranking 95th in the nation in offensive efficiency according to KenPom and shooting 43% from the field, good for 11th in the Big Ten. The team was also 11th in points per game and shot 32% from behind the arc. However, this year they score the second most points in the Big Ten and shoot 47.6% from the field. Their offense ranks 18th in the nation.

No one epitomizes this offensive remontada than redshirt senior forward Miller Kopp. Kopp transferred from Northwestern to provide Indiana with much-needed three point shooting; he struggled most of last year shooting 36% from three, but this year he’s up to 44%. To pair with Kopp, three Hoosier guards in the rotation shoot over 40% from three: freshman Jalen Hood-Schifino, sophomore Tamar Bates and redshirt sophomore Trey Galloway.

The other big key to their improvement this year is their recruiting class. Hood-Schifino, freshmen forwards Malik Reneu and Kaleb Banks headlined the No. 10 recruiting class in the nation according to 247Sports composite. Hood-Schifino and Reneu have become key cogs in the machine with Hood-Schifino becoming the team’s primary playmaker in absence of redshirt senior guard Xavier Johnson. Hood-Schifino is a gifted scorer as well, with 33 points against Northwestern and 24 against Ohio State. He can be a legitimate second option for the Hoosiers and prevent opposing teams from devoting all their resources to stopping Jackson-Davis.

The Hoosiers’ biggest obstacle for the rest of the year will be shaking off inconsistency. This has been a problem in recent years where good stretches have not translated into success in March. This is also partly due to the nature of the Big Ten. The conference is the most physical in the nation, with players constantly driving into contact against some of the best interior defenders in the nation. This can leave teams exhausted during March after going through the gauntlet, including playing in some very hostile environments. It remains to be seen how the Hoosiers will play in March and whether or not they continue the trend of the Big Ten’s lackluster performance in the Big Dance.

However, head coach Mike Woodson seems to understand the physicality the Big Ten brings and the need to bring it on a consistent basis. In December, Woodson took his red-hot team, fresh off a victory against North Carolina, to Piscataway to face Rutgers. The team was flat and Woodson said after the game, “We just got out-toughed tonight.” When the Scarlet Knicks came to Bloomington, how did Indiana respond? They ‘out-toughed’ them right back. Jackson-Davis racked up 18 rebounds including six on the offensive glass and Indiana held two of Rutgers’s best players to two points each. In a game where the Hoosiers could have capitulated, they were strong, ending a six-game losing streak.

The Hoosiers do have everything needed to make a run in March — an All-American to be relied upon, a legitimate second option, good shooters around the team and a strong defense. Currently projected as a fifth seed, the Hoosiers are on the opposite side of where they were one year ago and can feel confident about earning an NCAA tournament bid. If they manage to avoid the fifth-seed upset that has become commonplace in March Madness, an Elite Eight run is very likely.

“The March Toward March” runs every Thursday.