Men’s basketball schedules SMU for 2014-15 season

After missing out on both the NCAA Tournament and the National Invitation Tournament, IU men’s basketball will play Southern Methodist University next season.

SMU Coach Larry Brown inadvertently revealed on ESPN radio’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning” that the two teams will play next season. SMU also missed out on the NCAA Tournament this season.

The move to schedule SMU is an attempt to make the Hoosiers’ schedule more difficult next season. The added difficulty in the schedule is designed to help improve IU’s chances of impressing NCAA officials during the at-large selection process for the postseason.

This year, IU’s strength of schedule was ranked 219th according to CBSsports.com. According to the website, SMU’s strength of schedule was ranked at 295th.

IU is also committed to playing non-conference games against an ACC opponent in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, Butler in the Crossroads Classic and Louisville in the Jimmy V Classic in New York.

IU lost ten of its last 15 games to finish 17-15 overall and 7-11 in the Big Ten.
IU was invited to the CBI Tournament, but declined.

-Sam Beishuizen