6-Banner Sunday: IU basketball falls to Northwestern in 2026 Big Ten tournament
- Staff
- 3h ago
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 sports stories of the past week. 6-Banner Sunday is written by Ari Shifron.
IU lost to Northwestern in the conference tourney, very likely ending their season. As their NCAA tournament chances are nearly zero, the Hoosiers will head into the offseason looking to build a stronger roster to get back to March Madness in 2026-2027.
Additionally, Lamar Wilkerson was honored by the Big Ten as a bright spot for the year and women’s basketball is on to the offseason. As usual, we will conclude with a look at the weekly shows and the rest of Hoosier sports in action, led by softball continuing its strong start to 2026.
Here is what is in this week’s edition:
• IU basketball falls to Northwestern in Big Ten tournament
• NCAA tournament bracketology updates
• Lamar Wilkerson earns All-Big Ten honors
• Offseason underway for IU women’s basketball
• Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Roundup
Banner #1 – IU basketball falls to Northwestern in Big Ten tournament
The Hoosiers headed to the Big Ten tournament in Chicago, needing wins to stay alive in their quest for March Madness. Instead, Northwestern stopped IU in a game that played out similarly to the first matchup in Bloomington a few weeks ago.
IU came out of the gate firing and took a solid lead early. However, the second half was another poor performance for the Hoosiers, and in the end, NW pulled away for a 74-61 victory and their seventh straight win over Indiana.
Afterwards, IU coach Darian DeVries spoke, Ryan Corazza wrote The Minute After and Film Session, Alex Bozich penned Five Takeaways, and Quinn Richards and Josh Pos put together columns about the struggles to close the season.
Banner #2 – NCAA tournament bracketology updates
By finishing 18-14 overall and 9-11 in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers are almost certainly on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble now. This means they will head into the offseason losers of six of seven games.
With that said, the conference is well-positioned to end its long streak of not winning a national title. The league will send nine teams to the Big Dance, with Michigan and a couple of others being among the favorites to cut down the nets.
While IU sat 17-8 in early February and appeared cruising towards March Madness, water found its level to preseason projections, and the team ran out of answers down the stretch. As a result, they will head into the offseason needing to use the transfer portal again to try to fully rebuild into a better squad for 2026-2027, which opens April 7.
Indiana has made the tournament just twice in the last decade and DeVries and new executive director Ryan Carr will be tasked with improving a flawed roster. They did not create this decade of malaise, but will nonetheless be tasked with building a roster that needs a Big Ten-level point guard and post player, which it lacked this year. Fans are rightfully impatient, as recent results have not matched the historic highs this program expects, and supporters have to hope the trio of incoming freshmen and newcomers can turn things around.
Banner #3 – Lamar Wilkerson earns All-Big Ten honors
Despite the struggles, the one bright spot was outgoing senior Lamar Wilkerson. He was the one player with a complete skill set and easily able to hold his own in a grueling Big Ten. As a result, the conference honored him on the all-league team.
Banner #4 – Offseason underway for IU women’s basketball
Women’s basketball’s season is also over. Unlike the men, who have struggled mightily to find their way into March Madness, the women have been a fixture there. While they closed the year strong, winning seven of ten, they will still miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2017-2018 season. However, before their long streak in the Big Dance, they made the WNIT multiple times, including once as champions.
While the squad could return to this secondary competition, they apparently are declining to do so. As a result, they will not participate in postseason play for the first time since 2014-2015, which was the inaugural season of current coach Teri Moren’s tenure.
While Indiana will not be playing, the Big Ten has an excellent chance to end its long drought of not cutting down the nets. A dozen teams will be headed to March Madness from the league, with UCLA and a couple of others in prime position to claim the trophy.
However, with the men also seemingly declining any form of postseason play, it will be the first time the month of March will not see postseason play for either team at IU since the 2010-2011 campaign. The women, however, have a bright future with the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history and the presumed return of program stalwart Lenee Beaumont and freshmen Maya Makalusky and Nevaeh Caffey, who came on strong in February. They will need to add depth around the edges with three players at the back of the roster entering the transfer portal.
Banner #5: – Back Home Network shows
The Back Home Network has many shows. As a result, it was on air many times this week with programming.
Banner #6: Hoosier Roundup
• Softball continued its hot start to the season. They knocked off Minnesota last week to take that series and have won the first two over Rutgers this weekend, as well as a midweek game against Loyola Chicago. Their RPI sits around 60 in the NCAA’s first reveal, which is well within range for a fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance.
• Baseball lost a conference series to woeful Washington. While they did beat Wright State in the midweek, their offense has been ice cold in conference play so far, as they have lost the first two to Oregon as well. They sit well outside the top-100 in the RPI, and a second straight year of missing the NCAA tournament seems likely barring something unforeseen.
• Wrestling finished tenth at the Big Ten championships, which is their highest since 2012. They will send six athletes to the NCAA championships.
• Water Polo beat Princeton but fell to Long Beach State.
• Women’s tennis lost to Wisconsin.
• Men’s tennis fell to USC and Oregon.
• Track and field competed at the NCAA Indoor championships.
• Rowing opened its season at the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational.
• Swimming and diving had many athletes qualify for the NCAA championships on the women’s side.
• Football saw coach Curt Cignetti and QB Fernando Mendoza receive more postseason honors.
• IU announced that former athletic director Clarence Doninger passed away.
Now go enjoy yourself a 6-Banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor
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(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
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