BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — In those first days after Indiana’s embarrassing early-season loss to Duke, the Hoosiers heard a cascade of complaints.

Some contended they were overrated. Others suggested nothing had changed during the offseason. The most biting criticism might have been that they weren’t living up to the school’s defensive legacy.

So instead of getting bogged down in the debate, the Hoosiers tuned it out, turned inward and found a solution in time to turn things around by winning the Big Ten regular season title and earning their first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2013.

“All negativity is a good thing sometimes and that certainly was for us,” senior guard Nick Zeisloft said last weekend. “All the down times we’ve had this year, even if it’s been one half, we’ve bounced back.”

Resiliency is the reason Zeisloft and his teammates are still hanging around in late March, talking about Friday night’s matchup against top-seeded North Carolina in the second East Regional semifinal.

Three months ago, nobody outside this locker room thought it was be possible. Back then, in early December, a promising season looked like it had all gone wrong.

Indiana had fallen out of the Top 25. There were shouting matches in the middle of games.

And while the high-scoring offense continued playing well, the Hoosiers appeared to be so inept defensively in that nationally-televised ACC-Big Ten Challenge game that many wondered if the Hoosiers could find a fix quickly enough to salvage the season.

“We tried to focus on each other,” senior guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell said when asked about the internal conversations following the 94-74 loss in Durham, North Carolina. “I remember Max (Bielfedlt) saying `We can make a run in this Big Ten if we raise this level of play’ and I felt like ever since then, our level of play has changed dramatically.”

Fans believe it’s no coincidence the defensive improvement came around the same time one of Indiana’s top scorers, James Blackmon Jr., went down with what turned out to be a season-ending knee injury in late December.

In Blackmon’s absence, coach Tom Crean went with a bigger lineup, making 6-foot-7 Collin Hartman, the primary replacement.

Freshmen center Thomas Bryant, a McDonald’s All-American, got healthy and settled in. Freshman forwards OG Anunoby and Juwan Morgan got more playing time and emerged as defensive stalwarts, and together the confidence grew.