Indiana University Athletics
For Top-Seed Indiana in the NCAA tourney, ‘Sky is the Limit’
3/14/2023 1:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana women's basketball history has been made, but it is not enough. There is no basking, no celebrating, no relaxing.
Now the real challenge begins for this go-where-no-Hoosier-has-gone-before program:
Win a national championship.
"The sky is the limit," coach Teri Moren says. "There's no ceiling."
A program-first No. 1 NCAA tourney seed -- coming off a 27-3 record and Big Ten regular-season title -- reflects that.
"The resume we put together is because of (our players)," Moren says. "They're responsible for the No. 1 seed."
The Hoosiers will open Saturday against the Tennessee Tech (22-9)-Monmouth (18-15) winner at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. A victory earns them a Monday night game against either Miami of Florida (19-12) or Oklahoma State (21-11).
Winning that game would mean a trip to Greenville, S.C. for Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games. Win those and head to the Final Four in Dallas and, perhaps, a potential title-game shot at defending national champion South Carolina.
This team, as no Cream and Crimson team before (even with Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen appearances in the previous two seasons), is prepared for that.
"This group, with their talent, competitiveness and how businesslike they approach each game, can accomplish whatever they set their minds to," Moren says. "We try to help prepare them as well as we can."
Earning a top seed wasn't a surprise given IU has spent much of the season ranked No. 2 behind South Carolina. Still, it's a program first, and something veterans Grace Berger and Mackenzie Holmes didn't expect as freshmen. They each described it as "surreal."
"I never thought it would be possible," Berger says.
While IU has thrived as never before, it retains the underdog mindset that helped it get to this point.
"We talk about it all the time, that we'll never arrive," Moren says. "Our players know this.
"We go into every practice with a plan on areas we know we have to improve on, and there's a lot. We mix up what we do every day."
It's worked. IU dominated most of the season. A turnover-fueled performance at Michigan State resulted in their only loss until the regular-season finale at Iowa, when superstar Caitlin Clark beat them on an off-balance three-point buzzer beater.
Add blowing a 24-point halftime lead to Ohio State in the Big Ten tourney semifinals and you have plenty of work to do, with beating pressure defense topping the list.
Moren and her staff have addressed it.
"Offensively, we worked on how we attack pressure," Moren says. "That's going to happen. We know that. It's how we handle ourselves."
IU had a week after the Big Ten tourney to rest and prepare. It is guard strong with Berger, Chloe Moore-McNeil, Yarden Garzon, Sydney Parrish and Sara Scalia, which is crucial to postseason success. It also has one of the nation's most dominant inside players in Holmes, the Big Ten defensive player of the year who produces double-doubles as few conference players ever have.
The Hoosiers used short, intense practices to refine and prepare for what's coming.
"There are some things we identified, some things we had to talk about, rep and prep for," Moren says. "Things that we expect we'll see."
Women's parity has grown so that traditional powers such as UConn and Tennessee aren't dominating, although three-time-national champ Stanford, with former Hoosier player Tara VanDerveer as coach, earned a No. 1 seed.
Even South Carolina didn't emerge as a consistent national power until 2015, with its first NCAA title coming in 2017.
Like IU, ACC champ Virginia Tech (which lost to the Hoosiers in the 2018 WNIT title game) earned its first No. 1 seed. Utah, which won its first Pac-12 title, got a No. 2 seed, as did the Big Ten's Maryland and Iowa. Louisiana State earned a No. 3 seed in IU's bracket while Villanova got the No. 4 seed.
UConn also got a No. 2 seed.
"It's cool to see get the different teams getting the No. 1 seeds," Holmes says. "You look at the top five teams, in years past it was consistently the same teams. It's good to see how much the game has grown with Utah and LSU up there in the rankings."
Such parity, Moren says, is great for women's basketball, and it's reflected in large crowds for IU home games as well as many programs around the country.
"We have been waiting for this moment," Moren says. "It's changed everything. No offense to the Stanfords and UConns and South Carolinas. They're all terrific programs to sustain what they've been able to do, but this is great for our game."
Now IU hopes such greatness leads to a national title.
"To get that No. 1 seed, which has never happened," Moren says, "is thrilling. We're humbled by it and grateful for opportunity ahead of it."
The Hoosiers also are grateful to potentially play in the Greenville regional and not Seattle.
"Nothing against Seattle," Moren says, "but that's a long trip. We're thrilled with where we're being sent. I think a great dose of sunshine is in our future -- we hope."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana women's basketball history has been made, but it is not enough. There is no basking, no celebrating, no relaxing.
Now the real challenge begins for this go-where-no-Hoosier-has-gone-before program:
Win a national championship.
"The sky is the limit," coach Teri Moren says. "There's no ceiling."
A program-first No. 1 NCAA tourney seed -- coming off a 27-3 record and Big Ten regular-season title -- reflects that.
"The resume we put together is because of (our players)," Moren says. "They're responsible for the No. 1 seed."
The Hoosiers will open Saturday against the Tennessee Tech (22-9)-Monmouth (18-15) winner at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. A victory earns them a Monday night game against either Miami of Florida (19-12) or Oklahoma State (21-11).
Winning that game would mean a trip to Greenville, S.C. for Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games. Win those and head to the Final Four in Dallas and, perhaps, a potential title-game shot at defending national champion South Carolina.
This team, as no Cream and Crimson team before (even with Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen appearances in the previous two seasons), is prepared for that.
"This group, with their talent, competitiveness and how businesslike they approach each game, can accomplish whatever they set their minds to," Moren says. "We try to help prepare them as well as we can."
Earning a top seed wasn't a surprise given IU has spent much of the season ranked No. 2 behind South Carolina. Still, it's a program first, and something veterans Grace Berger and Mackenzie Holmes didn't expect as freshmen. They each described it as "surreal."
"I never thought it would be possible," Berger says.
While IU has thrived as never before, it retains the underdog mindset that helped it get to this point.
"We talk about it all the time, that we'll never arrive," Moren says. "Our players know this.
"We go into every practice with a plan on areas we know we have to improve on, and there's a lot. We mix up what we do every day."
It's worked. IU dominated most of the season. A turnover-fueled performance at Michigan State resulted in their only loss until the regular-season finale at Iowa, when superstar Caitlin Clark beat them on an off-balance three-point buzzer beater.
Add blowing a 24-point halftime lead to Ohio State in the Big Ten tourney semifinals and you have plenty of work to do, with beating pressure defense topping the list.
Moren and her staff have addressed it.
"Offensively, we worked on how we attack pressure," Moren says. "That's going to happen. We know that. It's how we handle ourselves."
IU had a week after the Big Ten tourney to rest and prepare. It is guard strong with Berger, Chloe Moore-McNeil, Yarden Garzon, Sydney Parrish and Sara Scalia, which is crucial to postseason success. It also has one of the nation's most dominant inside players in Holmes, the Big Ten defensive player of the year who produces double-doubles as few conference players ever have.
The Hoosiers used short, intense practices to refine and prepare for what's coming.
"There are some things we identified, some things we had to talk about, rep and prep for," Moren says. "Things that we expect we'll see."
Women's parity has grown so that traditional powers such as UConn and Tennessee aren't dominating, although three-time-national champ Stanford, with former Hoosier player Tara VanDerveer as coach, earned a No. 1 seed.
Even South Carolina didn't emerge as a consistent national power until 2015, with its first NCAA title coming in 2017.
Like IU, ACC champ Virginia Tech (which lost to the Hoosiers in the 2018 WNIT title game) earned its first No. 1 seed. Utah, which won its first Pac-12 title, got a No. 2 seed, as did the Big Ten's Maryland and Iowa. Louisiana State earned a No. 3 seed in IU's bracket while Villanova got the No. 4 seed.
UConn also got a No. 2 seed.
"It's cool to see get the different teams getting the No. 1 seeds," Holmes says. "You look at the top five teams, in years past it was consistently the same teams. It's good to see how much the game has grown with Utah and LSU up there in the rankings."
Such parity, Moren says, is great for women's basketball, and it's reflected in large crowds for IU home games as well as many programs around the country.
"We have been waiting for this moment," Moren says. "It's changed everything. No offense to the Stanfords and UConns and South Carolinas. They're all terrific programs to sustain what they've been able to do, but this is great for our game."
Now IU hopes such greatness leads to a national title.
"To get that No. 1 seed, which has never happened," Moren says, "is thrilling. We're humbled by it and grateful for opportunity ahead of it."
The Hoosiers also are grateful to potentially play in the Greenville regional and not Seattle.
"Nothing against Seattle," Moren says, "but that's a long trip. We're thrilled with where we're being sent. I think a great dose of sunshine is in our future -- we hope."
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