'She Loves Indiana': Ali Patberg Helped Pave Way for Indiana Women's Basketball

Former Indiana women's basketball players like Ali Patberg, Tyra Buss, Brenna Wise and Amanda Cahill may have never won a Big Ten championship, but they did build the foundation for the current team to accomplish just that. As the team's recruitment coordinator, Patberg finally got to cut down a Big Ten title net.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Former Hoosier guard Ali Patberg loves Indiana. She spent five seasons as a Hoosier and has been credited by current players and head coach Teri Moren for helping build this program.

Sunday, the No. 2 Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular season championship after defeating rival Purdue 83-60 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. It's the first regular season title since 1983, and Patberg was there as the Hoosiers' team and recruitment coordinator to get her own piece of net.

Indiana Team and Recruitment Coordinator Ali Patberg celebrates after cutting down part of the net after the second half of the Indiana versus Purdue women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023 :: © Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

"She's such a big part of this, and you can tell by the reaction I think of our players when she went up there and cut down the net just how important and special she's been for our program, and she has laid the foundation," Moren said.

Patberg came to the team in 2017 after two seasons at Notre Dame. The Columbus, Ind. native redshirted her freshman year and played 22 games for the Fighting Irish her sophomore season before transferring to Indiana.

When she arrived, Patberg sat the season out due to NCAA transfer rules and then got to work the next four years as one of the best Hoosiers to ever play for the program. She finished her career as a four-time All-Big Ten honoree as she led her team to three NCAA tournaments including back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances and one Elite Eight.

Patberg left as the ninth overall leading scorer with 1,752 points but has since been passed by guard Grace Berger and forward Mackenzie Holmes.

This wasn't the first time Patberg or Moren got to cut down the net as they were 2018 WNIT champions after defeating Virginia Tech in March 2018. However, Patberg was redshirting that season and from there never won a Big Ten championship.

"Tyra Buss, Amanda Cahill, obviously Ali and Brenna — they played such an instrumental role just because of their hard work every single day," Berger said.

Indiana's Grace Berger (34) is welcomed off the floor by Team and Recruitment Coordinator Ali Patberg during the second half of the Indiana versus Purdue women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023 :: © Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

"They might not have gotten the championship, might have fallen short. I was part of plenty of those teams, but I think you just saw slowly building every single year and that the new people that came in this year kind of took on their persona."

Moren said she's seen transfers come in before and say they're going to spend the year working on their game but hardly ever do. However, Patberg and former forward and Pitt transfer Brenna Wise put in many hours in the gym, lifting extra prior to practice.

"They were just such a great example of what work looks like and what it was going to take in order for this thing to get rolling," Moren said.

Indiana Hoosiers guard Ali Patberg (14) runs to Indiana Hoosiers forward Brenna Wise (50) for a chest bump after scoring a point during the Big Ten Semifinals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 7, 2020 :: © Grace Hollars/IndyStar

Junior guard Sydney Parrish is new to the team, but not to Indiana as she's from Fishers and remembers the great players like Patberg that ultimately led them to a championship.

"We're a program that wasn't much at the start, and the staff and Grace and Mackenzie and the Tyra Buss's and the Brenna Wise's and the Ali Patberg's, like they're the ones that did it," Parrish said. "We just kept chugging away at the end."

In fact, Parrish refused to take credit and kept reflecting on those former players who never got the chance to celebrate like this. It's been a common answer all season among the players who value the program's all time leading scorer Buss and look up to athletes like Cahill.

Mar 1, 2018; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Hoosiers guard Tyra Buss (3) and Indiana Hoosiers forward Amanda Cahill (33) react to a call in the third overtime during the second round of the Big Ten Conference Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeated Michigan State 111-109 after four overtime periods / Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

Patberg has been there the longest as she's now in her sixth year at Bloomington, just not on the court this time. 

"Ali is an emotional kid," Moren said. "She's a genuine kid, and she is so so happy I know not just for for our staff, but also for those players and for this program. I mean, she loves Indiana."

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