Indiana Gets No Sympathy for Tournament Snub From Alum Courtney Cronin on 'Around the Horn'

ESPN's Courtney Cronin on "Around the Horn."
ESPN's Courtney Cronin on "Around the Horn." / Via ESP

Don't ask Courtney Cronin to cry for her alma mater after it was left out of the 2025 NCAA tournament.

Indiana was left disappointed on Sunday as the North Carolina Tar Heels and others were selected for the Big Dance and the Hoosiers will be sitting at home. Indiana and West Virginia were generally considered to be the two teams with the most to gripe about, while North Carolina was easily the most shocking inclusion.

On Monday's episode of ESPN's Around the Horn, Cronin was asked about her Hoosiers being left out of the tournament and she had little sympathy.

"I have a problem with it for West Virginia," Cronin said. "I should come in here, I should get the homer graphic behind me but you know what? I'm not going to because the tie goes to the blue blood program... The committee has told us. UNC is a blueblood program, they don't view Indiana as that anymore."

She claimed Indiana had forfeited blueblood status when they announced they were parting ways with Mike Woodson, then went on a run only to lose to Oregon in the Big Ten tournament.

"Indiana has no sympathy from someone who loves this program, loves this team," Cronin said. "Four-and-13 in Quad 1 wins, no losses outside of Quad 1, but you are no longer a blueblood program when you handle business this way."

As a fellow Indiana alum, it's hard to disagree.


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Ryan Phillips
RYAN PHILLIPS

Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.