As February draws to a close, so does college basketball’s regular season. The NIT berth Hoosier fans hoped for is an impossibility. Furthermore, IU’s last four games of the regular season are against four of the top five teams in the Big Ten. Indiana will likely end up 12-19, two games better than last season’s record of 10-21.

That said, IU has nothing to lose in Wednesday night’s matchup against in-state rival Purdue.

If Tom Crean and the Hoosiers fall to the Boilers for the fifth straight time, does it really change anything? A team like Indiana can’t be too upset losing to the No. 8 team in the country when it’s the second-to-last team in the conference standings. All a loss really does is deflate the team’s morale for a couple of days and motivate them even more to beat Purdue in the coming seasons.

Indiana has nothing to lose Wednesday night.

The Hoosiers have nothing to play for, but pride. Much like when Bill Lynch’s football team went to West Lafayette in November (resulting in a 34-31 IU win in overtime), Tom Crean’s team’s dreams of a postseason were squandered by bad losses earlier in the season. A win, however, brings a renewed sense of pride to the university and bragging rights to one of college sports’ greatest rivalries.

Wednesday’s game is much, much bigger for Purdue than it is for IU.

If Matt Painter were to fall in Bloomington, Purdue fans would likely be too embarrassed to even do the “IU sucks” chant at the next Boilermaker home game.

Right now, Purdue is projected to be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament if it wins out the rest of the regular season. A loss to Indiana would likely drop them to a four or five seed. Losing to IU Wednesday would also likely take Purdue out of contention for a Big Ten regular-season title.

IU has generally played well at Assembly Hall this season. Purdue has played well everywhere, except at Ohio State. Vegas oddsmakers have Purdue winning by five, but keep in mind, it’s the side with nothing to lose that is always the most dangerous.