Who can help the Hoosiers move closer to clinching a B1G Tourney berth today?
By Carl James @jovian34 May 10th, 2025
Indiana needs to finish no worse than 12th out of the 17 teams now in the Big Ten Conference (B1G). As of this morning Indiana was in 9th place with a two-game edge on 13th place Northwestern in the standings. Indiana needs to finish better than 5 teams. They are mathematically assured of finishing better than Ohio State and Minnesota.
Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, they can’t mathematically clinch a berth today. It will take at least the start of the final weekend (Thursday) for Indiana to be completely assured of a berth. Despite that the scenarios I have run have the Hoosiers very likely in, even if they were to lose out in conference play. Weirder things have happened though.
My choice of favored teams here is about clinching a berth as early as possible, not improved seeding. If improving seeding is the goal, some of these picks could be different.
Indiana vs. Purdue (favor Indiana) – IU won 14-4
The most important thing is taking care of your own business. Finishing a series win over Purdue today would add Purdue to the list of teams that can’t catch the Hoosiers. It also would add another win the other 5 teams chasing Indiana would need.
UCLA at Illinois (favor UCLA) – UCLA won 8-4
Illinois is one game behind the Hoosiers in the standings, currently in 11th place.
Ohio State at Northwestern (favor Ohio State) – Northwestern won 17-2
Indiana can get really close to clinching against Northwestern if they manage to drop another game to the B1G worst team in Ohio State. The series currently split one game a piece
Penn State at Rutgers (favor Penn State) – Rutgers won 9-6
While Indiana would like to climb in the standings, the bigger focus is qualifying for the Tournament, so I suggest a Rutgers loss would be more beneficial in clinching a spot early next weekend. Rutgers is a full game behind the Hoosiers. Penn State has the bye next week, so this is their final game of the B1G season and the worst they can do is 15-15. Penn State is not in any real danger of missing the B1G tourney.
Michigan State at Southern California (favor USC) – USC won 10-3
Michigan State is hot, having already taken this series. They are one game behind the Hoosiers and it would be good for IU to extend that lead with a Spartan loss today.
Maryland at Minnesota (favor Minnesota) – Maryland won 11-10
With Minnesota already eliminated, a Terrapin loss plus a Hoosier win adds Maryland to the list of teams out of the running to pass the Hoosiers. I’m not really concerned about Maryland, but it would be nice to check this one off.
Michigan at Nebraska (slightly favor Michigan) – Michigan won 3-1
I think both of these teams are in now, but since Indiana plays Michigan next week, the nightmare scenario would have Michigan ahead of Indiana anyway, so it would be better if Nebraska was behind the Hoosiers.