Indiana Basketball: An Early Look at the Hoosiers' Bracket

It's official, the Indiana Hoosiers are back in the NCAA tournament. Indiana drew the No. 4 seed in the South region earlier today, a region that also features the Duke Blue Devils and the Kentucky Wildcats. If you haven't seen it yet, here is a look at this year's NCAA tournament bracket:

2012 NCAA Tournament Bracket

The Hoosiers will open up on Thursday (time TBA) in Portland, OR, against the No. 13 seed, the New Mexico State Aggies. The Aggies play in the WAC (Western Athletic Conference) and had an overall record of 26-9 on the season.

New Mexico State earned an automatic bid by winning the WAC tournament championship over the past weekend. The Aggies have the 182nd-ranked strength of schedule, according to kenpom.com, and have not played or beaten a top-25 ranked opponent this season.

Expect a track meet in this opener. New Mexico State ranks 11th in the country overall scoring at 78.5 points per game, while Indiana ranks 19th in overall points scored, with the fourth-rated offensive efficiency according to Ken Pomeroy.

Indiana should be able to get past the Aggies in the opening round, which may lead to a very intriguing second-round matchup against the Wichita State Shockers or the VCU Rams. 

Before stumbling against Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, the fifth-seeded Wichita State team was one of the hottest in the nation. The Shockers have been ranked in the top 20 for most of the season, and are a very dangerous matchup for the Hoosiers.

They are a team that gets up and down the court and, a lot like Indiana, have a very balanced offensive attack. But they are also a deceptively long team on defense, which could cause the Indiana guards problems.

There is also the possibility that Indiana goes on to face 12th-seeded VCU in the second round. Everyone remembers the Rams from last year's tournament, where they upset Kansas to go to the first Final Four in school history. They are a very well-coached team with Shaka Smart at the helm (who may not be at the helm much longer). VCU plays a similar style to Wisconsin, running possessions deep into the shot clock and relying on team defense to win them games.

I don't believe VCU is good enough to get past Wichita State, and Indiana will have a very difficult challenge to get past Wichita State to move on to the Sweet 16.

If the Hoosiers can pull off the win against the Shockers, then comes the rematch that everyone will be waiting for, Indiana vs. Kentucky.

Kentucky enters the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, despite losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC Championship. And they certainly will be licking their chops to get another shot at the Hoosiers, who knocked off the No. 1-ranked Wildcats on Christian Watford's last second shot in Bloomington in December.

I don't think there's a shadow of a doubt that Kentucky is the favorite to bring home the national championship this year. They have the most dominant college basketball player in the last five years in freshman Anthony Davis. But their title hopes will rely on the play of their young point guard, Marquis Teague, who's play has been erratic throughout the season.

This would be a very compelling matchup to get to the Elite Eight, given the history of the Kentucky and Indiana basketball programs. Though Indiana has proven their capability of playing with any team in the country, I think Kentucky is too much for them the second time around, and the Sweet 16 is probably as far as Indiana can hope to go this year.

If you would have told me the Sweet 16 was even a decent possibility at the beginning of the season, there isn't a single part of me that would have been able to complain. Unless you told me they would lose to Kentucky once they got there.

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