Indiana Women’s Basketball Quiet in Offseason, No Transfer Portal Grabs

Indiana women’s basketball hasn't utilized the transfer portal in the offseason despite having open scholarship spots including a point guard position to fill due to Grace Berger's graduation.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It's been a rather quiet offseason for Indiana women's basketball as the Hoosiers haven't utilized the transfer portal despite having four scholarship spots left.

Two forwards in Kiandra Browne and Mona Zaric entered the transfer portal themselves while forward Alyssa Geary and guard Grace Berger graduated leaving the field wide open for rising players' opportunities.

The starting point guard position needs to be solidified and could be given to rising senior Chloe Moore-McNeil, who took over for Berger when she missed nine games last season with a right knee injury. Rising sophomore Lexus Bargesser also earned valuable minutes at the point playing in 29 games for an average 7.6 minutes. 

The freshmen recruiting class is small this year as Lisle, Ill. native guard Lenée Beamont and Coppell, Texas native guard Julianna LaMendola will enter the scene for the 2023-24 campaign. Beaumont is more of a point guard while LaMendola has experience playing everywhere.

All of these players are certainly high-quality options to replace Berger, but there's still four spots left on the roster to add more reinforcement. Last season, the Hoosiers had great luck with the portal as they grabbed Oregon's Sydney Parrish, Minnesota's Sara Scalia and Providence's Alyssa Geary. Plus the Hoosiers had a four-player recruitment class as each freshman saw valuable minutes this past season.

Here's a look at the 2023-24 roster so far by position:

Guards: Chloe Moore-McNeil, Sydney Parrish, Sara Scalia, Yarden Garzon, Lexus Bargesser, Henna Sandvik, Lenée Beaumont, Jules LaMendola

Forwards: Mackenzie Holmes, Lilly Meister

Center: Arielle Wisne

The deadline for players to enter the transfer portal is May 11, so the Hoosiers have plenty of time even beyond the deadline to fill the gaps. Indiana will return four starters plus prominent bench player Scalia next season, so it's understandable why it's not in any rush to secure a full 15-player roster.

Indiana head coach Teri Moren is bought into recruiting players that will fit in with the culture. That philosophy has worked well as the Hoosiers finished with a record 28-4 season in 2023 and earned the first NCAA Tournament one-seed in program history.

It may seem obvious the team has gaps to fill with only two forwards on the roster plus the star point guard getting drafted to the WNBA, but Moren and her staff have proven to be successful in using (or not using) the transfer portal at the right time.

Related stories on Indiana women's basketball

• WATCH GRACE BERGER'S SHOOTING DRILL WITH THE INDIANA FEVER Former Indiana women's basketball guard Grace Berger is doing what she does best while training with the Indiana Fever — sinking midrange jumpers. Here's a video of one of her drills as the guard gears up for training camp. CLICK HERE
• FOUR HOOSIERS TO PLAY AT 2023 USA BASKETBALL 3X NATIONALS Sydney Parrish, Sara Scalia, Lexus Bargesser and Lilly Meister will head to Colorado Springs in May to play in the 2023 USA Basketball 3X Nationals with an opportunity to be evaluated by USA Basketball's 3x3 selection committee. CLICK HERE
• BEAUMONT MODELS AFTER BUSS Indiana women's basketball recruit Lenée Beaumont won Illinois Ms. Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year this season just like Hoosier all-time leading scorer Tyra Buss did nearly a decade ago. CLICK HERE