As the final seconds ticked down in Indiana men’s basketball’s 66-60 senior day victory over Ohio State on March 8, chants of “NIT” fell from the crowd inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
The Hoosier faithful thought they knew Ohio State’s future. They also felt confident in their own — that it wouldn’t include any postseason event other than the NCAA Tournament.
Indiana had won five of its last seven games. It surged from, as head coach Mike Woodson said, “dead in the water” to the NCAA Tournament bubble. After beating Ohio State, the Hoosiers seemed closer to putting on their dancing shoes than packing their bags for a spring break vacation.
But a Big Ten Tournament loss to Oregon on March 12 created a window for Indiana to fall victim to bubble chaos. The Hoosiers no longer controlled their own fate.
Others capitalized.
Both the University of North Carolina and the University of Texas won two games in their respective conference tournaments and worked their way into the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. Indiana, with its quick Big Ten Tournament exit, 133rd-ranked nonconference strength of schedule and 55th-overall spot in the NET, didn’t make the cut.
The Hoosiers were two teams away from a trip to March Madness. Only West Virginia University was closer among those left from the field.
No members of the Indiana program were made available after the 6 p.m. selection show. Fifth-year senior guard Anthony Leal was the only one to make a statement — he tweeted a broken heart emoji. Perhaps nothing more needed to be said.
There may not be words to describe the feeling of a career ending without a resounding goodbye. Leal said his final words to the Hoosier faithful after beating Ohio State, but he emphasized in his postgame speech Indiana wasn’t done yet and had plenty of work still to do.
In hindsight, the Hoosiers only had 40 more minutes of action together.
Indiana’s locker room after its loss to Oregon was somber but hopeful. At various points during and after the game, tears filled Leal, senior forward Luke Goode and sixth-year senior center Oumar Ballo’s eyes. But none thought the ride was over.
“I think we’re one of the best 64 teams in the country,” Leal said postgame. “I believe our name will be called.”
Goode noted the Hoosiers didn’t lose a game to opponents out of the Quad 1 category, and they proved they could beat tough teams such as tournament No. 2 seed Michigan State and No. 4 seed Purdue.
“Do we deserve to be there?” Goode said. “100%.”
Ballo acknowledged Indiana controlled its own destiny entering the Big Ten Tournament and put itself in a wait-and-see position after losing to Oregon, but he still echoed Goode’s thoughts.
“I think we have a really good resume,” Ballo said. “We deserve a chance to get in the tournament. We don’t have any bad losses — all our losses are Quad 1 losses. And we won some Quad 1 games. So, I feel like with that reasoning, we deserve a chance to play in the tournament.”
An expansive list of Hoosiers — from Woodson to fifth-year senior guard Trey Galloway, junior forward Malik Reneau and others — said similar things. Indiana, at least publicly, conveyed firm belief in its 19-13 season as being good enough to reach March Madness.
The selection committee felt otherwise — but the Hoosiers weren’t supposed to be in that spot, anyways. They were ranked as high as No. 14 in November, and with a highly touted transfer class mixed with several important returners, early optimism appeared warranted.
But Indiana’s season slipped away.
After starting 13-3 and 4-1 in Big Ten play, the Hoosiers lost eight of their next 10 games. Indiana Athletics announced Feb. 7 that Woodson would step down at the end of the season. Indiana lost its next game — a 70-67 defeat to Michigan on Feb. 8 — before winning five of its final seven regular season games to have a shot at the Big Dance.
But like in 2023-24, when they won five straight games before losing in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, the Hoosiers’ late surge was just that — too late. And Indiana’s midseason lull not only cost Woodson his job, but itself a chance at playing in the tournament.
“We expected more this season, but we didn't get it done,” Woodson said after the loss to Oregon. “Coming down this homestretch, this team hasn't quit. They've been very, very competitive.”
Woodson didn’t want the Hoosiers’ run to end — but as fate had it, his walk off the podium in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse media room was his last as Indiana’s head coach.
Now, the program is at a crossroads. Woodson’s tenure started with great promise — two trips to March Madness in his first two years — but ended with a pair of disappointing, postseason-less campaigns.
In the moments following Indiana’s exclusion from the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, gray skies hung over Bloomington. In front of Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, a crimson-colored flag with a white IU trident flapped in the wind. Sometimes, it moved violently. At other points, it almost stopped.
Gloom now covers Indiana’s storied program, which has only one true March Madness victory since 2016. But the wind has a chance to shift. How fast — and to what direction — will be decided in due time.
The Hoosiers will find Woodson’s successor. That much will be resolved.
But for Woodson and his players, there is no resolution. Indiana already had its last seconds tick down, its final locker room cleanout and its farewell bus ride home.
The Hoosiers just didn’t know it.
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 offseason.
