Indiana Women's Basketball Among 2024 National Championship Favorites
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana lost first-team All-Big Ten guard Grace Berger to the WNBA, but coach Teri Moren and the Hoosiers still hold high expectations for the 2023-24 season.
The Indiana women's basketball team is currently tied for the fifth-best odds to win the 2024 national championship, according to the FanDuel Sportsbook. The defending national champion LSU Tigers are the current favorites, as they return Angel Reese, the 2023 NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and add Louisville transfer Haley Van Lith, a first-team All-ACC guard last season.
Caitlin Clark, the 2023 National Player of the Year, returns to Iowa for her fourth season after falling short in last year's national title game against LSU. And UConn, winners of 11 national championships under coach Geno Auriemma, rounds out the top three title favorites.
2024 NCAA women's basketball national championship odds
- LSU Tigers: plus-230
- UConn Huskies: plus-700
- Iowa Hawkeyes: plus-800
- Virginia Tech Hokies: plus-900
- Indiana Hoosiers: plus-1000
- Utah Utes: plus-1000
- South Carolina Gamecocks: plus-1300
- Stanford Cardinal: plus-1300
- UCLA Bruins: plus-1700
- Ohio State Buckeyes: plus-1700
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish: plus-1700
(odds per FanDuel Sportsbook)
Indiana head coach Teri Moren encourages her team during the second half of the Indiana versus Nebraska women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023.
Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
Indiana is coming off a 28-4 season in 2022-23, which included a 16-2 conference record and its first Big Ten regular season title since 1982-83. The record-setting season ended in disappointing fashion, though, as No. 9 seed Miami knocked off No. 1 seed Indiana on its home court in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32.
Forward Mackenzie Holmes, a first-team All-American, returns for her fifth season at Indiana after averaging 22.3 points and 7.3 rebounds on 68 percent shooting last year. Veterans like Sara Scalia, Sydney Parrish and Chloe Moore-McNeil are back, too, along with reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Yarden Garzon and sophomores Lexus Bargesser, Lilly Meister and Henna Sandvik.
Indiana made one addition through the transfer portal this offseason, bringing in forward Sharnecce Currie-Jelks, who was the the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year at UT-Martin last year. Moren recruited a two-player freshman class, including 6-foot-1 guards Leneé Beaumont and Jules LaMendola. Beaumont was the 2023 Illinois Ms. Basketball, and LaMendola was the 2023 Texas Gatorade Player of the Year.
Related stories on Indiana women's basketball
- 2023-24 BIG TEN SCHEDULE: The 2023-24 Indiana women's basketball schedule is starting to come together, with the Big Ten announcing home and away conference opponents. CLICK HERE
- 2023-24 ROSTER: The Indiana women's basketball program published its official 2023-24 roster including two freshmen, five sophomores, zero juniors and five seniors and graduate students. CLICK HERE
- HOOSIERS GOING TO GREECE: For nine days in August, the Indiana women's basketball program will travel through Greece visiting Athens, Olympia and more while playing in two games for its first foreign trip since 2017. CLICK HERE
