Make no mistake, Indiana is a football school. It’s not even close

Indiana is a football school.

It’s not even a question.

On the same day IU football sold out season tickets in just hours, the men’s basketball team — once the school’s golden goose — lost to Northwestern for the sixth straight time, while Assembly Hall’s balcony seating remained empty.

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Over the past 20 years, Indiana fans have banked far more core memories from football than basketball. An entire generation has grown up without tasting any sense of sustained hoops success — in a place that worships the sport like no other.

Bracketology: : NCAA Tournament prediction has another shakeup

While Curt Cignetti flipped the campus’ priorities on its head the past two seasons, the basketball rot was well entrenched.

Since 2015:

Indiana football has reached the postseason six times.

Indiana basketball has reached NCAA tournament four times.

Keep in mind, before Indiana football won this year’s national championship, it entered this past season as the losingest program in FBS history. And even with that albatross around its neck, football has seen more success over the past decade than its basketball counterpart.

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If the Hoosiers (17-11, 8-9) miss out on the 2026 NCAA tournament, which looks entirely possible, it would mark the eighth time in the past 10 years Indiana has sat out March Madness.

At Indiana. And in an era where it’s seemingly harder to miss the tournament than make it with the expanded field of 68.

It gets worse.

Indiana hasn’t reached an Elite Eight since 2002, when the Hoosiers upset top-ranked Duke in the Sweet 16 en route to a national championship game loss to Maryland.

Since that run, 60 teams (SIXTY!) have reached at least one Elite Eight, including the likes of St. Peter’s, Florida Atlantic, George Mason, Loyola Chicago, VCU, Dayton, St. Joseph’s and Davidson.

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Already on its sixth full-time head coach since firing Bob Knight, Indiana has been chasing ghosts ever since. The Hoosiers’ five national titles still rank tied for fifth…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/no-mistake-indiana-football-school-182318023.html

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Publish date : 2026-02-25 18:23:00

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