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The Indiana Hoosiers may have not won a national championship last year, but they were arguably the best team in the regular season. Unfortunately, the Hoosiers will be losing a bunch of great players, so will Indiana take a step back after such a great season?
Let’s just put it this way, Indiana is not going to win 29 games again next season. Sure, the Hoosiers will be bringing in a solid recruiting class and Yogi Ferrell and Will Sheehey will be back, but that is not enough for this team to repeat its success.
Not having a Cody Zeller anymore will be a huge hit to this team, but he was clearly not the only star–I am looking at you Victor Oladipo.
The incoming freshmen could always meet or exceed expectations which would help this team rebound from all of the players departing, but that will likely still not be enough.
Indiana could still be a good team and could possibly compete in the Big Ten. It helps that other Big Ten teams will be losing some talent, but it may not have enough to win another conference title.
At the same time, the Hoosiers did disappoint in the 2013 NCAA Tournament by being kicked out of the Sweet 16. They only scored 50 points against Syracuse after averaging 80 points per game on the season and they barely escaped the Temple Owls in the round of 32.
So, Indiana could always make the Sweet 16 in the upcoming season once again or could possibly make it further. I still think Indiana will take a step back, but how far that step will be remains to be seen.
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