6-Banner Sunday: IU basketball will learn NCAA tournament fate today

  • Mar 16, 2025 8:46 am
 

Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall, where we highlight the five most essential IU basketball stories of the past week, plus take a look at how the other IU sports programs are doing.

Indiana’s NCAA tournament fate will be revealed when the selection show airs tonight at 6 p.m. ET on CBS. The biggest story continues to be IU’s coaching situation and who will replace Mike Woodson. The uncertainty of whether Woodson will be the coach for another game stems from the Hoosiers’ early flameout in the Big Ten tournament.

The IU women are in much better shape and will almost certainly hear their name called later today for the sixth straight time for the NCAA tournament. We will, as usual, conclude with weekly shows and a look at other IU sports led by baseball having its best week of the season to date.

Here is what is in this week’s edition:

• IU coaching search update
• Hoosiers fall to Oregon in Big Ten tournament
• Is Indiana in or out of the NCAA tournament?
• IU women on the verge of another NCAA tournament berth
• Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Roundup

Banner #1 – IU coaching search update

As the Hoosiers will learn their March Madness fate tonight (more below), the coaching search to replace Mike Woodson continues. While whispers and rumors of who might be the next head man in Bloomington persist, no one will know until IU announces its choice in the coming days or weeks.

However, the name most frequently brought up may be Drake’s Ben McCollum, who is listed as a favorite by both oddsmakers and reports. Other potential mentions include Clemson’s Brad Brownell and Creighton’s Greg McDermott, among others.

Inside the Hall’s Alex Bozich compiled a list of who might be the favorites along with detailed profiles of Northwestern’s Chris Collins and West Virginia’s Darren DeVries. Also, recent openings at Iowa and Villanova may affect where potential candidates like Collins, DeVries and McCollum go.

Where Indiana will turn for its fourth coach since 2017 remains to be seen. However, whether it is one of these names or someone else, fans await an announcement patiently.

Banner #2 – Hoosiers fall to Oregon in Big Ten tournament

This season in many ways has played out somewhat similar to the 2018-2019 year for Indiana basketball. Like that iteration of IU, this season saw a victory over an elite Michigan State squad on the road amongst a long losing streak and a late rally to get right to the edge of the NCAA bubble.

These similarities continued into the Big Ten tournament where a single win would have almost certainly punched their ticket to March Madness. Instead, the Hoosiers had a rough time there, which included a 72-59 defeat to Oregon. This was despite having a virtual home game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Afterward, Woodson spoke, Inside the Hall had a photo gallery, Ryan Corazza wrote a Film Session, Bozich put together Five Takeaways, and Will Foley penned the Minute After. Kevin Vera wrote a column about the team’s recurring problems.

Banner #3 – Is Indiana in or out of the NCAA tournament?

The 2025 NCAA tournament bracket will be announced tonight live at 6 p.m. ET on CBS. So far no bid stealers have found their way into March Madness which helps IU’s prospects. They do however, need to hope for that number to stay at zero after the American Athletic and Atlantic 10 conference championships today. With Memphis and VCU likely to hear their name called either way, bubble squads everywhere need them to win today to keep both of their leagues to just themselves.

If all continues to go right, the prospects of the Hoosiers getting into the NCAA tournament rests on how the committee views them against Boise State, North Carolina, Texas, and Xavier for the last couple of available spots. Bracketologists vary as to whether Indiana will get into Dayton as part of the First Four or be left out altogether.

Banner #4 – IU women on the verge of another NCAA tournament berth

On the other side of Assembly Hall, things are much clearer with the women’s squad despite some inconsistencies during the season. While it was far from perfect, the squad has one of the best coaches in the game with Teri Moren roaming the sidelines and are all but a lock to hear their name called tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN for the selection show.

The squad finished 19-12 overall and will be making their 6th straight appearance in March Madness after just five in program history before this run. However, instead of hosting as a top-four seed like they have the past few years, they will be traveling as a nine or 10 seed. Likely destinations could be as close as South Bend in Notre Dame’s pod or much farther away to Austin (Texas), Columbia (South Carolina), Dallas (TCU), Raleigh (NC State), or Storrs (Connecticut).

Banner #5 – Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows

Podcast on the Brink was recorded this week. This episode featured Inside the Hall’s Corazza recapping the season.

The Back Home Network was on-air multiple times in the last few days. Assembly Call Postgame, Crimson Cast, Doing The Work, and Dribble Drive all had shows.

Banner #6 – Hoosier Roundup

• Baseball had their best week of the season to date after a loss to Penn State last Sunday. Since then, they have picked up a road victory at Indiana State and a couple of home wins over Ohio State. Also, newcomer Cooper Malamazian won Big Ten freshman of the week.

• Softball continued to roll with victories over UIC, Butler, and Southern Indiana before falling to Iowa.

• Wrestling left the Big Ten Championships with five postseason qualifiers.

• Six Hoosiers have qualified for the NCAA championships in swimming and diving after a single day at Zones as well as several others thereafter.

• Water polo fell to UCLA before beating Princeton and Cal State Fullerton.

• Men’s Tennis fell to USC and Northwestern.

• Women’s Tennis fell to Maryland.

• Women’s golf finished fourth at the Clover Cup.

• Rowing opened their season by competing at the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational on a slightly altered schedule.

• Women’s soccer added another assistant coach.

Thanks for your continued support of The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall. We’ll be back next weekend with a new roundup.

Now go enjoy yourself a 6-banner Sunday.

Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor

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