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Why Indiana Being Left Out, UNC Getting in Are Two Biggest Stunners of NCAA Tournament
Indiana will miss the NCAA tournament for the seventh time in nine years. This time, many believe they should have gotten in.
The Hoosiers were one of the first four teams left out of the tournament after going 19-13 on the season and 10-10 in the Big Ten. Indiana went 4-13 against Quad 1 teams and didn't have any losses outside of Quad 1. So they won a few games against really good teams and didn't suffer any bad losses. Among their big wins were a road victory over Big Ten champion Michigan State and a home win over Purdue.
North Carolina was the last team to get in the field. The Tar Heels went 22-13 but were 1-12 against Quad 1 teams and suffered a Quad 3 loss against Stanford. Somehow, UNC was included in the field and a team with a better resume was not.
A number of people couldn't believe the Hoosiers will be sitting at home.
Agree with Seth Davis: West Virginia and Indiana should have been in over North Carolina and Xavier.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) March 16, 2025
Indiana gets screwed. Beat a No. 2 seed on the road, and a No. 4 seed.
— Justin Albers (@Justin_Albers) March 16, 2025
North Carolina beat ONLY UCLA (7-seed) on a neutral site. Xavier's best wins are over a 7-seed (Marquette) and 9-seed (Creighton). Texas has 15 losses.
Make it make sense. #iubb
Indiana and West Virginia got cooked
— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) March 16, 2025
SEC gets 14 teams, two who went 6-12 in conference.. two teams with one Q1 win get in
UNC > Indiana/Boise State is bad
— Jack Grossman (@JackGrossman97) March 16, 2025
But UNC > WVU is an absolute joke. I’m very rarely a conspiracy theorist guy but if UNC AD Bubba Cunningham is not the committee chair they don’t sniff the field https://t.co/CAdXsqKwu6
To be sure, Indiana did itself no favors. The Hooisers struggled at the Battle 4 Atlantis when they were blown out by Louisville and Gonzaga. They were smoked by Nebraska in Omaha and at one point lost eight of 10 in conference play. But they did finish the regular season winning five of seven before struggling against Oregon in the Big Ten tournament.
Still, Indiana being left out while teams like North Carolina and Xavier got in is stunning.
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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.