Why Indiana Is a Top 16 Team

My outlier of a vote for Indiana is the reason the Hoosiers made it into the NCAA Basketball FanHouse Top 16, so allow me to explain myself.

I like a lot of things about the Hoosiers, starting with what a balanced team they are. As Yoni Cohen has noted, Indiana is one of just eight teams to rank in the Top 25 in the country in both offensive and defensive efficiency. (The others are Florida, North Carolina, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, UCLA and Clemson.)

I'm also a big believer in the idea that in basketball (and all sports, really) margin of victory and strength of schedule are better indicators of a team's quality than won-lost record. Although the Hoosiers' 15-5 mark isn't too impressive, all their losses are close and against good teams: by five on a neutral floor against Butler, by three at Duke, by five at Kentucky, by seven at Ohio State and by eight at Illinois. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers' wins have had some very impressive margins, including by 15 over Michigan, by 27 over Purdue and by 22 over Michigan State.

And although I don't want to come across like some BCS proponent, when I'm having a hard time deciding what to think about a team I like to look at the statistical ratings. Ken Pomeroy ranks the Hoosiers 10th while Jeff Sagarin ranks them 14th.

As an Illinois graduate, I'm not exactly a Kelvin Sampson fan, but the fact is, he has this team going in the right direction. With the senior leadership of Roderick Wilmont (pictured) I think the Hoosiers will still be playing when the second weekend of the tournament rolls around.