The team played its home games in the Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference.

The Big Ten Network included the team in a two-and-a-half-hour special that featured Midnight Madness events from several Big Ten campuses on October 17, 2008; the Indiana event to kick off the season was called "Hoosier Hysteria".

[1] The Hoosiers defeated the Northwestern St. Demons on November 14 in Head Coach Tom Crean's opening game.

In November 2008, the NCAA imposed a three-year probation on the Indiana men's basketball program and upheld the school's self-imposed sanctions stemming from the actions of former head coach Kelvin Sampson and his staff.

[2] Coaches: Tom Crean, Tim Buckley, Bennie Seltzer, Roshown McLeod Sources: The 2008–09 season was the worst in the history of Indiana Basketball and finished with the fewest wins (6) since 1915–16.