The Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing Indiana University (IU). The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the NCAA. The Hoosiers play on Branch McCracken Court at the Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana on the IU campus. Indiana has won five NCAA Championships in men's basketball (1940, 1953, 1976, 1981, 1987) — the first two under coach Branch McCracken and the latter three under Bob Knight. The Hoosiers' five NCAA Championships are tied for third in history with North Carolina (5), trailing only UCLA (11), and Kentucky (8). Indiana's 1976 squad remains the last undefeated NCAA men's basketball champion.

The Hoosiers are also sixth in NCAA Tournament appearances (36), sixth in NCAA Tournament victories (62), seventh in Final Four appearances (8), and 11th in overall victories (1,665). The Hoosiers have won 20 Big Ten Conference Championships and have the best winning percentage in conference games at nearly 60 percent. No team has had more All-Big Ten selections than the Hoosiers with 53. The Hoosiers also rank seventh in all-time AP poll appearances and sixth in the number of weeks spent ranked No. 1. Every four-year men's basketball letterman since 1973 has earned a trip to the NCAA basketball tournament. Additionally, every four-year player since 1950 has played on a nationally ranked squad at Indiana.

The Indiana Hoosiers are the athletic teams for the Bloomington campus of Indiana University (IU Bloomington). Athletic teams sponsored by IU Bloomington include baseball, basketball, cross country, field hockey, football, golf, rowing, soccer, tennis, track, volleyball, water polo, and wrestling. The athletic director is Indianapolis lawyer Fred Glass.

The Hoosiers became a member of the Big Ten Conference on December 1, 1899. Indiana University's national affiliation is with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). National team titles (23 NCAA, 1 AIAW) have been won in six men's sports and one women's sport, including seven in men's soccer, a record-setting six straight in men's swimming and diving, and five in men's basketball. Indiana student-athletes have won 139 NCAA individual titles. Indiana University student-athletes have been named to the Academic All-Big Ten squad 2,280 times. Overall, IU student athletes have won more than 3,000 academic awards.

Indiana (ⁱ/ɪndiˈænə/) is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 15th most populous of the 50 United States. Indiana is the least extensive state in the continental US west of the Appalachian Mountains. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis, the second largest of any state capital and largest state capital east of the Mississippi River.

Before it became a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Angel Mounds State Historic Site, one of the best preserved ancient earthwork mound sites in the United States, can be found in Southwestern Indiana near Evansville. Residents of Indiana are known as Hoosiers. The etymology of the word is disputed, but the leading theory as advanced by the Indiana Historical Bureau and the Indiana Historical Society has "Hoosier" originating from the upland South region of the U.S. as a derogatory slang term for a rough countryman, a country bumpkin.

Basketball is a team sport, the objective being to shoot a ball through a basket horizontally positioned to score points while following a set of rules. Usually, two teams of five players play on a marked rectangular court with a basket at each width end. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sports.

A regulation basketball hoop consists of a rim 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high mounted to a backboard. A team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket during regular play. A field goal scores two points for the shooting team if a player is touching or closer to the basket than the three-point line, and three points (known commonly as a 3 pointer or three) if the player is behind the three-point line. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time (overtime) may be issued when the game ends with a draw. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it while walking or running (dribbling) or throwing (passing) it to a teammate. It is a violation to move without dribbling the ball (traveling), to carry it, or to double dribble (to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling).

Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was an American blues singer and musician. His landmark recordings from 1936–37 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced later generations of musicians. Johnson's shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given rise to much legend, including a Faustian myth. As an itinerant performer who played mostly on street corners, in juke joints, and at Saturday night dances, Johnson enjoyed little commercial success or public recognition in his lifetime.

His records sold poorly during his lifetime, and it was only after the first reissue of his recordings on LP in 1961 that his work reached a wider audience. Johnson is now recognized as a master of the blues, particularly of the Mississippi Delta blues style. He is credited by many rock musicians as an important influence; Eric Clapton has called Johnson "the most important blues singer that ever lived." Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an "Early Influence" in their first induction ceremony in 1986. In 2003, David Fricke ranked Johnson fifth in Rolling Stone 's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.