BLOOMINGTON – Indiana begins Big Ten tournament play this week with its NCAA outlook under scrutiny.

The Hoosiers missed chances to lock down their résumé and lock up an at-large berth with losses at Illinois and home against Wisconsin in the season's last eight days. Still seen as likely in the field — perhaps comfortably — as they head to Indianapolis, they will not want to test the strength of their position with a loss to last-placed Nebraska.

Conversely, a lengthy stay this weekend in the capital would shore up that position, and perhaps improve IU's seed line, though Indiana fans are understandably wary of placing too much hope in the Big Ten tournament. This weekend sets the course for the rest of IU's March.

We look at where IU is projected and how it compares to other bubble teams, even if Archie Miller thinks bracketology is for "Sesame Street" as he said in his postgame monologue after Saturday's Wisconsin loss.

DOYEL:Archie Miller has no use for cartoonish bracketologists

INSIDER:'We had our chances,' but IU can't finish against Wisconsin

Where Hoosiers stand

Indiana's strengths and weaknesses in the eyes of the tournament selection committee are well-traveled by now.

The Hoosiers played a lot of empty-calorie games in November before turning to high-major (we'll allow UConn in that group) opposition from Dec. 3 onward. They finished two games below .500 in the Big Ten, the conference Ken Pomeroy considered the toughest in the country this season.

Indiana has nine Quadrant 1 or 2 wins and, crucially, zero losses to Quadrants 3 or 4. The Hoosiers are also just 4-9 against Quad 1 opponents, and only 9-12 against Quads 1 and 2, according to website Bracket Research.

They did not do much away from home this season, winning just two true road games (Nebraska and Minnesota) and two neutral-site games, UConn in New York, and Notre Dame in Indianapolis.

Their NET ranking, via the NCAA's own in-house metrics, is low, No. 60 nationally. According to Bracket Research, that's the lowest of any team currently projected in the field by the bracket-aggregation site Bracket Matrix.

It's also an outlier — the other team-sheet metrics see IU much higher. KenPom has them No. 40, Sagarin No. 35 and BPI No. 39. Bracket Research also lists Indiana ahead of Penn State, Illinois and Rutgers in strength of schedule, and both Rutgers and Purdue in strength of record. IU's strength of schedule ranks ninth within the entire projected field, per Bracket Research and Bracket Matrix.

That's a lot of numbers and information. This is the bare bones:

>> Indiana has nine Quad 1 and 2 wins, a solid overall number.

>> Indiana's record vs. Quads 1 and 2 still isn't great overall, and it's not mitigated by a series of impressive road or neutral-site wins.

>> Perhaps most importantly — as we look forward to this week — the Hoosiers have no bad losses (none in Quads 3 or 4). There are dings in their resume, but one of the most basic and damaging weaknesses bubble teams tend to have doesn't apply to IU.

>> There's still room for improvement, and it probably wouldn't take much work in Indianapolis to make this conversation academic.

How do Hoosiers compare

One of the most consistent questions I've gotten over the past 3-4 weeks is whether Indiana's tournament résumé really stacks up well against the bubble.

In the moment, it's easy to understand fan frustration over individual performances, and why IU fans probably can't find the time to watch North Carolina State, or Texas, or Richmond, or Stanford as closely.

With that in mind, consider these résumé comparisons, between Indiana and three teams listed in the field via at-large bids by Bracket Matrix today, but also seeded below the Hoosiers:

(All numbers taken from Bracket Research.)

INDIANA

Record: 19-12, 9-11

Rankings (NET/KenPom/Sag/BPI): 60, 40, 35, 39

SOS: 13

SOR: 29

Wins: Florida State, Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan State, Notre Dame (neutral), Minnesota (road), Penn State, UConn (neutral)

Losses: None

XAVIER

Record: 19-12, 8-10

Rankings (NET/KenPom/Sag/BPI): 44, 43, 37, 49

SOS: 32

SOR: 41

Wins: UConn (neutral), Cincinnati, at Seton Hall, Providence, at TCU

Losses: at Wake Forest

STANFORD

Record: 20-11, 9-9

Rankings (NET/KenPom/Sag/BPI): 30, 38, 62, 50

SOS: 77

SOR: 60

Wins: Oklahoma (neutral), at UCLA, at Washington, Oregon, Colorado

Losses: at Cal, at Utah, at Oregon State

CINCINNATI

Record: 20-10, 13-5

Rankings (NET/KenPom/Sag/BPI): 51, 45, 34, 45

SOS: 75

SOR: 47

Wins: Houston, at Wichita State, Wichita State, UConn

Losses: Bowling Green (neutral), Colgate, at Tulane, UCF

These are all teams in Bracket Matrix's most recent aggregated field below Indiana. Two are from high-major conferences. The third is the No. 1 seed in the American Athletic Conference tournament. There's a good range of résumés, rankings, etc.

The big knock against Indiana compared to these three — and again, this isn't the entire bubble, but it's a good sampling of it — is the Hoosiers' NET ranking. Everything else compares favorably, and in some cases, very favorably. IU's SOS and SOR numbers are better, they have no bad losses, they have a higher quantity of good wins and they played in a more difficult conference (with the possible exception of Xavier).

Now, for information's sake, here are the second and third teams out of the field in Bracket Matrix (removing UCLA, an unusual case, for comparison's sake):

TEXAS

Record: 19-12, 9-9

Rankings (NET/KenPom/Sag/BPI): 69, 61, 47, 70

SOS: 27

SOR: 36

Wins: at Purdue, West Virginia, at Texas Tech, at Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State

Losses: Georgetown (neutral), at Iowa State, at Oklahoma State

NORTH CAROLINA STATE

Record: 19-12, 10-10

Rankings (NET/KenPom/Sag/BPI): 54, 51, 44, 44

SOS: 50

SOR: 54

Wins: Wisconsin, at Virginia, at Syracuse, Duke

Losses: Georgia Tech (home and away), North Carolina (home and away), Memphis (neutral), at Clemson, at Virginia Tech, at Boston College

In almost every case, if Indiana can overcome its low NET number, almost every other comparison point favors the Hoosiers. In some cases, it favors them significantly.

ESPN's Jeff Borzello pointed something out Monday that sums up the situation well:

The bubble is never locked, but it's not as tightly packed as it's been at times in the past. The gap between the first four out and, let's say, the teams in the Nos. 8-10 seed range looks wider than normal, and therefore harder to collectively bridge.

And the climate isn't particularly ripe for bid thieves, with mid-major conferences weaker than normal as well.

The Missouri Valley looks like getting two teams in, at most, with Northern Iowa's at-large candidacy decidedly flimsy. The Ohio Valley won't get anyone besides conference tournament champion Belmont. The Atlantic 10 has Dayton in comfortably, of course, and Richmond on the bubble. After that? Rhode Island sits down the list of "others receiving votes" on Bracket Matrix, appearing in just one of the 95 brackets.

What Hoosiers need to do

For all the post-Wisconsin hand wringing, it's hard to see a world where simply beating Nebraska doesn't put Indiana in.

Not because beating Nebraska counts for much in the eyes of the selection committee, but because not losing to them removes the last chance IU has to suffer a truly résumé-damaging defeat.

Anything after that would likely be gravy, to resolve questions of seeding and location. Indiana would play Penn State with a win against the Cornhuskers, and then Maryland on Friday if the Hoosiers last that long. As there has been throughout the Big Ten season, there would be ample opportunity to add quality to the profile before Sunday evening.

But for the Hoosiers, everything starts with dispatching Nebraska, by whatever means necessary.

Some bracket projections

USA TODAY: No. 11 in Cleveland vs. Virginia

ESPN: No. 11 in Dayton vs. Stanford (play-in)

CBS Sports: No. 10 in Albany vs. Southern Cal

NBC Sports: No. 9 in St. Louis vs. Southern Cal

Delphi Bracketology: First No. 10 seed

SB Nation: No. 9 in Sacramento vs. Colorado

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.