Indiana’s NCAA Tournament chances were so uncertain after the Big Ten Tournament that coach Jeff Mercer treated it like the end of the season. But the Hoosiers were rewarded for their full body of work.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana baseball’s 10-4 loss to Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals put head coach Jeff Mercer in an unfamiliar position.
“Honestly, I treated it like it was the end of our season,” Mercer said Monday. “I don’t know if that’s the right thing or the wrong thing to do, but it was what I felt in the moment.” Mercer had been feeling this uncertainty for weeks leading up to the Big Ten Tournament. He figured if Indiana won its series at Nebraska, it could secure an at-large bid. But the Hoosiers lost two of three. Mercer felt the same about a potential series sweep over Michigan the following weekend. But they fell one game short.
Indiana is No. 55 nationally in the RPI, a ranking system that’s taken into consideration when building the 64-team tournament field. But with 30 automatic qualifiers from conference tournaments, seeding isn’t as simple as inviting the top 64 teams in the RPI. The NCAA announced the 64-team tournament field Monday at noon. And after waiting anxiously from Saturday night through Monday morning, the Hoosiers didn’t have to wait long when the selection show started.
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