Indiana falls to a No. 5 seed, ten Big Ten teams in field in latest ESPN bracketology
The latest ESPN bracketology for the 2025 NCAA tournament was released Tuesday and Joe Lunardi has ten Big Ten teams in his mock field.
In the latest projections, Indiana is a No. 5 seed opposite McNeese State in the Midwest Region. In the June bracketology, the Hoosiers were a No. 4 seed in the South Region.
In his previous projections in mid-June, Lunardi had nine Big Ten teams slated to make the 2025 NCAA tournament. The Big Ten is adding Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington for the 2024-25 season.
The nine Big Ten teams in Lunardi’s field beyond IU are Purdue (No. 4 seed), UCLA (No. 6 seed), Michigan State (No. 7 seed), Illinois (No. 7 seed), Michigan (No. 8 seed), Ohio State (No. 8 seed), Rutgers (No. 10 seed), Maryland (No. 11 seed) and Oregon (No. 11 seed).
Several Big Ten teams are listed in the “first four out” or “next four out” categories. Nebraska is listed in the “first four out” with USC, Iowa and Wisconsin in the “next four out.”
The No. 1 seeds are Kansas, Alabama, Houston and UConn.
Indiana overhauled its roster in April and May via the transfer portal. The Hoosiers added five transfers in the spring – Myles Rice (Washington State), Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford), Oumar Ballo (Arizona), Luke Goode (Illinois) and Langdon Hatton (Bellarmine).
Indiana also signed five-star McDonald’s All-American Bryson Tucker.
On Tuesday, the Hoosiers filled their final roster spot with South Carolina State big man Dallas James.
The Hoosiers recently completed an eight-week off-season program in Bloomington and now have some time off before the start of the fall semester. Classes begin on Monday, August 26.
The SEC has 10 teams projected to make the 2025 field, according to Lunardi. The Big 12 has nine and the ACC and Big East each have six.
The full projections from Lunardi are available here.
Filed to: Bracketology