Indiana men’s basketball’s non-conference schedule is official. The Hoosiers will take on the likes of Marquette, Kansas State, Louisville and Kentucky in between a slew of buy games:
It’s not exactly the beefiest schedule, but it’s probably appropriate for a group that’ll have to form chemistry on the fly given the roster is entirely new to the program.
It’s hard to say that Indiana’s matchup with Kentucky pops off the screen given it’s been on the schedule for well over a year now, but the first regular season matchup between two of the most historically significant programs to the sport who previously played every single season is worth noting.
With that in mind, we ran a fan poll with the help of our friends at SB Nation to see if fans want to see the Cats on the schedule more consistently moving forward. The results are overwhelming:
Courtesy of Kyle Thele, SB Nation
It’s fair to say the interest from Indiana’s side is strong, at least among the fanbase. It’s an important rivalry to the program’s history and the seasons since have lost something without Kentucky on the roster.
That’s the verdict on adding Kentucky to the schedule, but what about other historic, name-brand programs? We put together a list of a few others and North Carolina came out as the narrow favorite to be on future Indiana schedules:
This also makes sense. Indiana and North Carolina have played enough in the regular season and tournament for fans to have developed pretty concrete feelings for the Tar Heels. Duke speaks for itself and there’s already been a home-and-home with Kansas recently. UCLA would’ve been on this list, but that’s a conference game now, so.
Indiana currently sits at +6000 to win the 2026 national championship, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.