INDIANAPOLIS — He sat on an elevated podium, twiddling a paper name plate sitting just in front of his microphone labeled “Mike Woodson, Indiana Head Coach.”
“It's been a good run since I've been here,” Woodson said. “I'm just hoping that it's not over with yet.”
His comments followed Indiana men’s basketball’s 72-59 loss to Oregon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse during the second round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday. The defeat casts a veil of doubt on the Hoosiers’ aspirations of a return to the NCAA Tournament — a feat that would’ve likely been accomplished with a win over the Ducks.
On Feb. 7, Indiana Athletics announced Woodson’s decision to step down from his role at the helm once the season is over. Since then, the Hoosiers surged back into projections of the 68-team field with marquee wins over Michigan State and Purdue. They closed out the regular season with a comeback victory versus fellow bubble team Ohio State.
Regardless, their second loss to Oregon in just nine days has potential to spoil a spirited late-season run.
“I think we should be in the tournament,” junior forward Malik Reneau said postgame. “We got some big solid wins, not only against Michigan State, but we got Purdue at home, then we swept (Ohio State) too.”
Indiana no longer controls its own destiny. The Hoosiers will have to wait until Selection Sunday to hear whether their name is called. If so, they will more than likely sneak through as one of the Last Four In.
In the meantime, Woodson has already begun his pitch to the selection committee for Indiana’s inclusion in the tournament.
“I'm going to always campaign for my team,” Woodson said. “That's how much I love my team. Like I said earlier, we're playing some of our best basketball. I don't think that there's a team in the country that we can't beat if we come ready to play and compete for 40 minutes.”
On paper, it's true. The Hoosiers earned their standout wins in the closing stages of conference play and finished out the regular season winning four of their final five matchups. Their primary concern lies in the question of whether those quality performances can outweigh an equally significant midseason slump where they lost five-straight games.
Fortunately for Woodson’s team, their 13 losses have been to respectable adversaries.
Indiana is 4-13 against Quad 1 teams, but 15-0 in Quad 2, 3 and 4 games — a statistic senior forward Luke Goode used in his pitch to the committee in the locker room postgame.
“I don't know the last time that a team that didn’t have a Quad 2 through 4 loss didn’t make the Tournament,” Goode said. “We don’t have a single bad loss this year.”
The last time a team met those parameters was last season when the University of Oklahoma — despite posting a 16-0 record in Quad 2 through 4 games — was left out of the 68-team field. Still, the Hoosiers hope their competitiveness in those quality losses will be enough to overcome their latest shortcoming.
Before its 13-point loss to Oregon, six of Indiana’s last seven defeats were decided by single digits.
“We know that we should be a tournament team,” fifth-year senior guard Trey Galloway said. “There's a lot of opportunity for that. I think just those crucial losses that we had, that were just so tight, one-possession games. The way we've been playing the last month and a half, we've been playing like a tournament team.”
The Hoosiers even led with less than a minute remaining in a road matchup against then-No. 10 Purdue and at home against Maryland — both of which are projected to earn top five seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
Indiana has proven it can play up to the level of top-tier competition, but playing games down to the wire doesn’t necessarily matter when the result is the same.
Competitive or not, losses are still losses. After falling in their first matchup of the Big Ten Tournament, the Hoosiers finished just short of the 20-win mark. Indiana hasn’t earned an NCAA Tournament berth with fewer than 20 wins since the 2014-15 season.
Now, all the Hoosiers can do is wait.
“We expected more this season, but we didn't get it done,” Woodson said, still holding his name plate. “Coming down this homestretch, this team hasn't quit.”
Indiana hasn’t quit — it’s season, and Woodson’s tenure as head coach, may be over regardless.
The 2025 Selection Sunday presentation will be broadcast at 6 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa) and columnist Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
