The Hoosiers have been run out of the gym entirely too often in the past four years.
There hasn’t been a time in the past few seasons where it’s felt truly sound to be optimistic about Indiana in-season.
Sure, the Hoosiers will get a stretch of a few wins, some of them being really good, and then… bam. A 15+ point loss out of nowhere that bucks the trend and leaves you scratching your head yet again.
That’s just not healthy. Especially not for a program that’s been desperate for any sort of positive momentum, in-season or overall, for about a decade now.
A lot of teams can write off a loss like the one Indiana sustained at Iowa on Saturday. Sometimes it’s just not your night and all you can do is look at the film and regroup, not let it happen again.
It’s true of the class of the Big Ten. Purdue, consistent as its been for years now, has gotten blown out by teams like Marquette and Penn State. An Oregon team that looked strong in the nonconference got blown out to sea by Illinois on its own home floor.
But for Indiana? It’s not just a blip you can overlook. It’s become a trend.
Of the Hoosiers’ 31 losses in conference play, 16 have been by double digits. Of those 16, 12 have been by over 15 points.
Not for nothing, this isn’t the Big Ten of old. There isn’t a top-10 team lurking around every corner waiting to pounce. The conference has had a few truly top-tier teams during Woodson’s tenure, with 2021-22 Illinois and probably every year of Purdue coming to mind. Throw 2023-24 Illinois in there too as a Elite Eight team with a historic offense.
Weirdly enough, Indiana has done… mostly fine against the teams listed above? The Hoosiers beat Illinois in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament, knocked off Purdue at home that year, swept the Boilermakers the next year and played the Illini close last season in Champaign. Obviously not outstanding, but outside of 2023-24 Purdue, the Big Ten’s best team in a while, those top squads aren’t always the blowouts.
Woodson’s first team was handed lopsided defeats by the following
- vs. Michigan 80-62 (coming off win vs Purdue)
- vs. Illinois 74-57
- at Michigan St 76-61
- vs Saint Mary’s 82-53
The Big Ten was strong enough that year that Indiana snuck into the First Four with a losing record in conference play thanks largely to a conference tournament run that featured revenge over those Michigan and Illinois teams.
Woodson’s second, and best, team in 2022-23?
- at Rutgers 63-48
- vs Arizona 89-75 (neutral site)
- at Kansas 84-62
- at Penn State 85-66
- at Maryland 66-55
- at Michigan St 80-65
- vs Iowa 90-68
- vs Miami 85-69
That Iowa loss was rather stunning because it came off of the best win of Woodson’s tenure, in Mackey against a Purdue team that won the conference by three games. There’s more blowouts here than in the previous year, partially because Indiana played a significantly tougher nonconference.
Let’s look at last year, 2023-24:
- vs UConn 77-57 (neutral site)
- vs Auburn 104-76 (neutral site)
- at Nebraska 86-70
- vs Purdue 87-66
- at Wisconsin 91-79
- vs Penn State 85-71
- at Purdue 79-59
- vs Nebraska 85-70
- vs Nebraska 93-66 (Big Ten Tournament)
Among the wilder parts of this statistic is Indiana only getting blown out by Purdue twice during one of the greatest three-year runs in the Boilermakers’ history (that could become four, we’ll see). There’s more blowout losses to Nebraska (so far) and they all happened last season.
Now, let’s look at this season so far
- vs Louisville 89-61 (neutral)
- vs Gonzaga 89-73 (neutral)
- at Nebraska 85-68
- at Iowa 85-60
So, not great.
This year’s round of nonconference blowout losses was particularly bad because Indiana had probably three chances at adding signature wins to its resume if it took care of business and instead the Hoosiers got absolutely routed.
Last season’s overarching issues could be blamed on roster construction. Indiana went into the transfer portal to boost its talent at guard and has emerged looking like a marginally better team than it was just a year ago. business and instead the Hoosiers got abs
There’s worse things for a team metrically than getting blown out by a quad 1 opponent as Indiana has multiple times now. But that kind of loss goes beyond the numbers, especially when it happens as frequently as it does for these Hoosiers.
As stated above, any momentum built on a season or as a program is sapped. It eats at a team and a fanbase.
A lot of Indiana’s fans probably foresaw a loss like what happened on Saturday night. Maybe not quite as bad as it was, but Indiana has had less than stellar results in Iowa City as of late. There’s scant believe that such a thing could be overcome.
It’s hard to build optimism in a team when a blowout loss is lurking just about every time. Let alone a program.
And this by all accounts appears to be a program issue. Indiana has had a different team and starting lineup in each of Woodson’s four years at the helm. All have had this same issue. Every season has ended in a blowout loss.
It’s just not healthy for a program. At some point it’s going to be too much.