High Expectations -- IU Women Continue to Create Basketball Buzz

BLOOMINGTON, IN - September 22, 2022 - Head Coach Teri Moren during Media Day at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, IN. Photo By Indiana Athletics

High Expectations -- IU Women Continue to Create Basketball Buzz

9/26/2022 11:58:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Sydney Parrish faces a Cream and Crimson spotlight for the first time and doesn't blink.

Would you expect anything less from a former Indiana Miss Basketball who is, at last, an Indiana Hoosier with winning on her mind?

"I'd say the winning culture they have right now, and what Coach (Teri) Moren has done with the program," Parrish says when asked during last week's basketball media day why she picked IU after transferring from Oregon.

Moren has coached the Hoosiers to seven straight 20-win seasons, two straight Sweet 16 or better NCAA tourney appearances and a WNIT championship.

With standout players such as Mackenzie Holmes and Grace Berger, and a veteran coaching staff that includes Rhet Wierzba and Glenn Box, the Hoosiers have emerged as national title contenders. They are seemingly built for the long haul, and players across the country have noticed.

"They've really put a face to this program, and I think that's what's putting us on the national level," Parrish says.

IU projects as a top-20 team to follow up last season's top-10 status. Moren sees the potential to win a Big Ten title and go beyond 2021's Elite Eight run.

"We certainly have the pieces; now we've got to put it all together," Moren says. "We feel confident that if we can stay healthy and come together relatively quickly, we'll have a chance."

Yes, losing standout starters Ali Patberg, Aleksa Gulbe and Nicole Cardaño-Hillary will hurt, although Patberg now helps as team and recruitment coordinator.

But Moren and her staff, well versed in transfer portal success, brought in Parrish (6.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 52 three-pointers last season at Oregon), guard Sara Scalia (17.4 points, 41.3-percent three-point shooting, 91.5 percent free throw shooting for the Minnesota Gophers) and forward Alyssa Geary (9.5 points, 4.2 rebounds last season for Providence).

"With adding Syd and Sarah and Alyssa, they're vets," Moren says. "They're experienced. They understand the expectation. They understand the level of success we've enjoyed."

The Hoosiers also tapped into international talent with Israel's Yarden Garzon and Finland's Henna Sandvik, plus fellow freshmen Lexus Bargesser and Lilly Meister.

"In the recruiting process, we talk about the expectations, the standards," Moren says. "It's one thing to climb. It's another thing to sustain.

"We're pretty clear on that in the recruiting process, what our expectations are, and how we want to continue to build off the success, but there's still more that we want to accomplish. We have goals that we have yet to accomplish, like winning the Big Ten championship.

"Those are the things that will keep us hungry and will keep that invisible chip that we've always played with."

Add returning All-America candidates Berger (16.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.4 steals a game last season) and Holmes (15.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 60 percent shooting), as well as up-and-comers such as Chloe Moore-McNeil (5.2 points, 2.9 rebounds) and Kiandra Browne (2.9 points, 3.2 rebounds), and you can understand the optimism.

Mike Woodson does. With a 25-year NBA coaching career, and now a season at the college level, the men's coach understands the challenge of sustaining success at any level.

"Teri is a hell of a coach," he says. "All you've got to do is look at the results and how her team has responded to her body of work on the floor.

"Her team is beautiful to watch because they do all the necessary things to win games. That's a sign of Teri and the work that she's put in.

"I'm not surprised that they're ranked. They deserve to be ranked."

The Big Ten should be loaded at the top with Maryland and Iowa projected as top-10 teams and Ohio State and Nebraska not far behind.

IU is very much in that mix.

"We have a lot to look forward to," Moren says. "Although we're going to be different in many ways, and have some big shoes to fill, I have a terrific staff that has done an outstanding job of recruiting.

"We are looking forward to the seven holdovers in addition to the seven new faces. We have some interesting pieces. I think we have some exciting pieces."

Excitement hinges on avoiding major injuries. Holmes missed significant time last season because of injuries, and it likely cost the Hoosiers a Big Ten title. They finished fourth in the conference with an 11-5 record, and then second in the conference tourney.

"A year ago we had the right pieces," Moren says. "We had all the pieces we needed. The one thing that you can never control is injuries.

"If Mack would have been 100 percent healthy, could we have won a Big Ten championship? I think we could have.

"This year, once again, I think all the pieces are in place. I think we'll have enough firepower. I think, defensively, we've always been at the top of his league in terms of grittiness and toughness."

Under Moren, IU has built a fierce defensive reputation (last season opponents averaged 61.8 points while shooting 40.1 percent from the field) combined with strong team chemistry. Moren sees no reason for that to change.

"Our chemistry has set us apart. It's been off the charts the last two season, so it's going to be up to us in terms of how quickly we can build relationships with one another, how quickly our chemistry can be, once again, really, really good."

The men's program has a championship tradition that approaches a century (the first of its 22 Big Ten titles came in 1926). Moren wants to build similar long-term success.

"We certainly have changed the way that people on the outside have always looked at this program," she says.

"That's what's most exciting, that there's a buzz about Indiana women's basketball."