NCAA Tournament Bids Routine But Still Exciting For Indiana Women’s Basketball

Coach Teri Moren and the Hoosiers earned their sixth straight NCAA Tournament bid Sunday evening, landing in the South Carolina Regional as a No. 9 seed.

The Indiana women's basketball team celebrates an NCAA Tournament bid on Selection Sunday. / Credit Indiana Athletics

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Selection Sunday is exciting for every program, no matter its historic or current level of success. It’s a time for teams to gather in anticipation of seeing their name pop up among 68 others, never knowing exactly when to expect it. 

Many teams, including the Indiana women’s basketball team, knew they’d be dancing come Sunday evening. That’s the norm now in Bloomington, where coach Teri Moren has led the Hoosiers to six straight NCAA Tournament appearances after the program had done so just four times prior to her arrival.

Indiana earned a No. 9 seed this year, setting up a matchup against No. 8 seed Utah at 1:30 p.m. ET Friday at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C. Much of the coaching staff and many of the players are used to being in this position, but they still made sure to enjoy Sunday’s accomplishment before getting to work.

“I think we’ve had a lot of great celebrations this year, but this is a big one for us,” Indiana senior Sydney Parrish said. “Coach emphasized that making it to the tournament is a big deal, and a lot of teams don’t come this far, as a lot of people know. So being able to hear our name called and celebrating as a team, it’s a lot of fun, and we’re excited to get back into practice and start scouting on Utah.”

The Hoosiers enter the tournament at 19-12 overall, 10-8 in the Big Ten and 1-1 in the conference tournament. Their seed is a bit lower than the No. 1, 3 and 4 seeds they earned the last four years, but they’re on the upswing going into the most important time of the year.

Tournament play will also be different this year, because Indiana is not a host team like it was last season. But Moren feels good about her team’s last two games away from home in the Big Ten Tournament, a 78-62 win over Oregon and an 84-79 loss to No. 2 USC. 

Though they walked away disappointed in the loss, she thought those games showed the Hoosiers can play with anyone in the country if they put their minds to it. 

“I’m hopeful that our kids have a lot of confidence,” Moren said. “We’ve had a great week of practice. We’ve tried to take a couple days, extra days off, but we’ve been up and down and very competitive inside of practice and these guys have responded to it really well. It’s been a really good week for us, just trying to keep our competitive edge but also cover things we know we’re gonna have to be really good at.”

Moren is counting on Parrish and fellow senior Chloe Moore-McNeil for leadership, but a large portion of Indiana’s roster has been in this position before, too. Yarden Garzon, Lilly Meister, Lexus Bargesser and Henna Sandvik have been on the last three Indiana tournament rosters, while Jules LaMendola and Lenee Beaumont got a taste of March Madness as freshmen last season. Transfer Karoline Striplin went to the big dance with Tennessee the previous three seasons.

That experience is beneficial heading into the tournament.

“Not necessarily easier, but we do know what to expect,” Parrish said. “I think [Penn State transfer] Shay [Ciezki] was really excited to hear our name called. It’s going to be her first NCAA Tournament, so we’re really happy for her and it’s a big reason why she decided to come to Indiana. But we hear our name called, we’re excited, and now we’re ready to get working.”

There’s a larger gap between conference tournament action and the NCAA Tournament on the women’s side compared to the men’s, which has given the Hoosiers plenty of time to rest and prepare. They last played on March 7, so it’ll have been two weeks between games by the time they play Utah on Friday.

Parrish said Indiana’s regulars have practiced against each other more frequently, rather than just going up against the program’s practice players. That has helped keep the intensity and competitiveness up during the break.

Now it’s time to focus on Utah, which has had a unique season. Utes coach Lynne Roberts left the program on Nov. 19 to become the Los Angeles Sparks’ coach in the WNBA, and Gavin Petersen was elevated from associate head coach to head coach.

Utah went 22-8 overall and finished fourth in the Big 12 at 13-5. The Utes lost to Texas Tech in their first Big 12 Tournament game, and they finished the regular season 2-2 after a seven-game win streak. They’re led by senior guard Gianna Kneepkens at 19.2 points per game on 45% 3-point shooting.

The teams have common opponents in Northwestern and Washington. The Hoosiers won both games, while the Utes split with a loss in Evanston. Moren didn’t know a lot about Utah Sunday evening, but she said Big Ten coaches help each other, so she’ll get some insight on Utah in preparation.

Moren isn’t overlooking the Utes, but she’s certainly aware that the team that knocked Indiana out last year awaits in the Round of 32. 

“Not looking ahead – but South Carolina being able to host,” Moren said. “We’re very familiar with them.”

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