Through the ups and downs of a college basketball season, the various polls and statistical rankings of a team provide a nice counterbalance to the euphoria or despair the fanbase may be experiencing in a given moment. This new weekly column will take a look at how the Hoosiers stand in each ranking and how it’s changed over the previous seven days.

I’ll be focusing most on Kenpom, Bart Torvik, NET rankings, and the AP poll, but if you have another site you want me to cover, sound off in the comments and I can give it a look. That said, let’s take a look at where Indiana stands today, Tuesday, February 21st.

Kenpom

Indiana clocks in at 19th overall in Kenpom’s rankings this week, the same spot as last week. One thing to note, however, is that the offensive and defensive rankings have shifted a bit, with the defense improving to 35th overall while the offense dropped to 25th.

As noted last week, the game at Northwestern was projected to be close, so that one only dropped Indiana one spot ahead of the win over Illinois. Though Hoosier fans would have liked to see a bigger win against a shorthanded Illini bunch, the win was enough to bump Indiana back to 19th.

The Hoosiers are projected to lose both road games this week, with a 44% chance of victory tonight in East Lansing and a 24% chance Saturday in West Lafayette.

NET Rankings

Indiana dropped one spot in the NCAA’s net rankings this week, coming in at 18th. Curiously, this was good enough for the first four seed in the NCAA’s recently released bracket preview.

The Hoosiers are now 5-7 in quadrant one and 4-1 in quadrant two, putting them above .500 against the two highest tiers of opponents. None of the Indiana’s losses came against teams that threaten to slip into quadrants three or four either, which means the Hoosiers are likely to finish the year undefeated in those games.

Bart Torvik

For the third straight week, Indiana is the 28th best team in Torvik’s T-Rank. The fact that Indiana didn’t actually drop this week is surprising, considering the loss in Evanston earning one of Indiana’s lowest game scores of the season.

Torvik now has Indiana as a likely four seed with a 100% chance of making the tournament. The overall record projection of 21-10 remains the same as last week.

As with Kenpom, Torvik has Indiana dropping both games this week, giving it an even smaller chance of victory. He gives Indiana a 36% chance to win tonight, but just an 18% chance against Purdue Saturday.

AP Poll

Indiana fell three spots but remains ranked, coming in at no. 17 in the Week 16 AP Poll. The loss hurt, but Northwestern’s undefeated week brought the Wildcats into the rankings at no. 21, which makes Indiana’s close game look more respectable.

The Boilermakers will be no. 5 this Saturday when Indiana heads to Mackey arena, so a win there would go along way for Indiana’s seeding hopes.