Indiana University Athletics
IU Readies for First NCAA Tournament in 14 Years
3/15/2016 9:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By: Tori Ziege, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The wait is over.
For the first time since 2002, Indiana is going dancing.
The ninth-seeded Hoosiers won't have to travel far to make their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance. They'll meet No. 8 seed Georgia at 9 p.m. ET Saturday in South Bend, Indiana, the host site of No. 1 seed Notre Dame in the Lexington Region.
Since losing in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on March 4, Indiana had anxiously awaited the announcement of its NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Monday. Though head coach Teri Moren was confident in her team's resume, she said the bubble talk was impossible to ignore.
But once Indiana's name flashed onto the selection screen, there wasn't a bracketologist out there who could take it back.
"Finally," Moren said. "Finally to this moment. It's been a long 10 days."
Ten days provided ample time for Moren to go back and study the film of her team's loss to Northwestern in the conference tournament, which she did no less than three times.
The Big Ten Coach of The Year was searching for the answer to her team's lack of energy against the Wildcats after the Hoosiers earned the double bye and five days rest as the fourth-best finisher in the conference.
Indiana was unable to carry over the momentum of its winningest regular season in program history and first ever 14-0 finish at home in its first postseason test.
Now, granted another season and another opportunity, Moren doesn't anticipate the Hoosiers repeating their mistakes.
"I know our kids will approach Saturday's game far different than they approached the Big Ten Tournament," Moren said. "Why? Because it was very disheartening and disappointing, and they had to watch it on film."
The Hoosiers don't have anything to prove from their most recent loss, sophomore forward Amanda Cahill said, but they had plenty to learn from it. So they did the only thing they could during the layover.
They focused on themselves.
And day by day, the players' excitement grew as Selection Monday drew nearer. They had one of their best practices Sunday before their energy bubbled so high in the hours leading up to Monday's selection show that Moren said it was difficult for them to stay focused even during a light shootaround.
Now, the waiting is over. The Hoosiers finally have an opponent to set their minds to.
"It starts tomorrow," junior guard Alexis Gassion said. "We don't know much about (Georgia), but tomorrow, we'll do a lot of preparation."
The Hoosiers and the Lady Bulldogs will meet Saturday for the third time in the NCAA Tournament and the second time in South Bend. Their most recent tournament matchup was 1995, with the tournament game in South Bend occurring in 1983.
What Moren knows about Georgia comes from her time as the associate head coach of Georgia Tech from 2007-10. She said the rivalry between the schools is akin to Indiana-Purdue.
A lot has changed since Moren's time in the SEC, however. Then-assistant coach Joni Taylor is now the head coach of the Lady Bulldogs, whom she led to a 21-8 overall and 9-7 conference record in her first season.
Georgia owns five wins against ranked opponents, including its most recent against No. 22 Florida on Feb. 21, a game in which it lost second-leading scorer and All-SEC player Shacobia Barbee to a season-ending injury.
Moren said she'll be giving old friend and Georgia Tech head coach Machelle Joseph a call as to her insight to the Lady Bulldogs.
"They have some good pieces and they've won a lot of games, so there's no question that they're good enough to be in this tournament," she said. "We know when you get to this point that everybody you play is going to be good."
Though a handful of players, including Gassion, have valuable postseason experience from the Hoosiers' 2014 WNIT quarterfinal run, nothing can quite compare to the experience of the Big Dance.
Monday's celebration is just the beginning.
"I think everyone jumped off the couch and we were hugging each other and we did a little dance," sophomore guard Tyra Buss said. "We were excited for each other and for the coaches.
"It was a really special moment that I will never forget."
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The wait is over.
For the first time since 2002, Indiana is going dancing.
The ninth-seeded Hoosiers won't have to travel far to make their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance. They'll meet No. 8 seed Georgia at 9 p.m. ET Saturday in South Bend, Indiana, the host site of No. 1 seed Notre Dame in the Lexington Region.
Since losing in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on March 4, Indiana had anxiously awaited the announcement of its NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Monday. Though head coach Teri Moren was confident in her team's resume, she said the bubble talk was impossible to ignore.
But once Indiana's name flashed onto the selection screen, there wasn't a bracketologist out there who could take it back.
"Finally," Moren said. "Finally to this moment. It's been a long 10 days."
Ten days provided ample time for Moren to go back and study the film of her team's loss to Northwestern in the conference tournament, which she did no less than three times.
The Big Ten Coach of The Year was searching for the answer to her team's lack of energy against the Wildcats after the Hoosiers earned the double bye and five days rest as the fourth-best finisher in the conference.
Indiana was unable to carry over the momentum of its winningest regular season in program history and first ever 14-0 finish at home in its first postseason test.
Now, granted another season and another opportunity, Moren doesn't anticipate the Hoosiers repeating their mistakes.
"I know our kids will approach Saturday's game far different than they approached the Big Ten Tournament," Moren said. "Why? Because it was very disheartening and disappointing, and they had to watch it on film."
The Hoosiers don't have anything to prove from their most recent loss, sophomore forward Amanda Cahill said, but they had plenty to learn from it. So they did the only thing they could during the layover.
They focused on themselves.
And day by day, the players' excitement grew as Selection Monday drew nearer. They had one of their best practices Sunday before their energy bubbled so high in the hours leading up to Monday's selection show that Moren said it was difficult for them to stay focused even during a light shootaround.
Now, the waiting is over. The Hoosiers finally have an opponent to set their minds to.
"It starts tomorrow," junior guard Alexis Gassion said. "We don't know much about (Georgia), but tomorrow, we'll do a lot of preparation."
The Hoosiers and the Lady Bulldogs will meet Saturday for the third time in the NCAA Tournament and the second time in South Bend. Their most recent tournament matchup was 1995, with the tournament game in South Bend occurring in 1983.
What Moren knows about Georgia comes from her time as the associate head coach of Georgia Tech from 2007-10. She said the rivalry between the schools is akin to Indiana-Purdue.
A lot has changed since Moren's time in the SEC, however. Then-assistant coach Joni Taylor is now the head coach of the Lady Bulldogs, whom she led to a 21-8 overall and 9-7 conference record in her first season.
Georgia owns five wins against ranked opponents, including its most recent against No. 22 Florida on Feb. 21, a game in which it lost second-leading scorer and All-SEC player Shacobia Barbee to a season-ending injury.
Moren said she'll be giving old friend and Georgia Tech head coach Machelle Joseph a call as to her insight to the Lady Bulldogs.
"They have some good pieces and they've won a lot of games, so there's no question that they're good enough to be in this tournament," she said. "We know when you get to this point that everybody you play is going to be good."
Though a handful of players, including Gassion, have valuable postseason experience from the Hoosiers' 2014 WNIT quarterfinal run, nothing can quite compare to the experience of the Big Dance.
Monday's celebration is just the beginning.
"I think everyone jumped off the couch and we were hugging each other and we did a little dance," sophomore guard Tyra Buss said. "We were excited for each other and for the coaches.
"It was a really special moment that I will never forget."
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