Bracket Watch: Indiana’s chances dip after being ousted by Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament

By Canadian Press on March 12, 2026.

Indiana’s transition to a football school might now be complete.

The Hoosiers lost to lowly Northwestern on Wednesday in the Big Ten Tournament, and that may be enough to keep them out of the NCAA Tournament. Indiana was a bubble team to begin with before losing to the 15th-seeded team in its conference. The Indiana men haven’t reached the Big Dance since 2023.

Luckily for the Hoosiers, they weren’t the only bubble team that took a rough loss. Texas fell to 15th-seeded Mississippi in the SEC Tournament, and Cincinnati went down in overtime to UCF in the Big 12. SMU nearly beat Louisville in the ACC, but the Mustangs lost by four.

Bubble watch

All of those defeats were good news for Auburn, which took care of business against Mississippi State and made sure at 17-15 it would at least be over .500 heading into Selection Sunday.

The experts say

Last four in according to …

ESPN: Missouri, Virginia Commonwealth, SMU, Auburn.

USA Today: Santa Clara, VCU, SMU, Auburn.

First four out according to …

ESPN: Indiana, New Mexico, Stanford, San Diego State.

USA Today: New Mexico, Oklahoma, Indiana, West Virginia.

Automatic bids

Here’s who has claimed an automatic bid to this year’s men’s NCAA Tournament: Long Island University (NEC), Tennessee State (OVC), Northern Iowa (MVC), High Point (Big South), Queens (ASUN), North Dakota State (Summit), Troy (Sun Belt), Furman (SoCon), Wright State (Horizon), Hofstra (CAA), Siena (MAAC), Gonzaga (WCC), McNeese (Southland), Lehigh (Patriot), Idaho (Big Sky).

— Idaho is in for the first time since 1990. Since then, the Vandals left the Big Sky for the Big West, then joined the WAC before finally returning to the Big Sky in 2014.

— McNeese probably won’t face former coach Will Wade and NC State in the first round of the NCAAs, but there’s always the chance of them going to the same site.

— Lehigh heads to the Big Dance for the first time since 2012, when CJ McCollum led the Mountain Hawks to an upset win over Duke.

Up next

There are no automatic bids at stake Thursday, but there will be more than enough action. Miami (Ohio) takes the court with its 31-0 record against UMass in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

The Southeastern Conference has a couple bubble teams in action. Missouri faces Kentucky and Auburn takes on Tennessee.

The Mountain West Tournament quarterfinals could be significant after the league put four teams in the NCAAs last year. Utah State won the regular-season title and should be safe, with San Diego State and New Mexico on the bubble. (Boise State likely fell off the bubble by losing Wednesday to San Jose State.)

San Diego State meets Colorado State on Wednesday, and New Mexico faces San Jose State.

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Noah Trister, The Associated Press