Valentyna Kadlecova Next in Line of International Recruits at Indiana Under Teri Moren

Joining Indiana from the Czech Republic, there has been a significant learning curve for Indiana freshman Valentyna Kadlecova, both on and off the court. But Indiana coach Teri Moren is intrigued by her basketball instincts.

Valentyna Kadlecova is a freshman on the 2024-25 Indiana women's basketball roster out of the Czech Republic. / Indiana athletics

ROSEMONT, Ill. – As the rest of the world tries to catch up to the United States’ historic dominance in basketball, Teri Moren has embraced the increased recruiting base.

Her 2024-25 roster features three international players, and she’s had at least one every season since 2018-19. The latest international addition is freshman Valentyna Kadlecova, a 6-foot guard from Kadan, Czech Republic.

On Wednesday at Big Ten Media Days, Moren credited Indiana associate head coach Rhet Wierzba, whose title perhaps should include “our international recruiter, if you will,” for helping land Kadlecova.

In Moren’s experience with international recruiting, some players want to stay overseas and play professionally rather than attending college in America. Kadlecova wasn’t quite sure of her next step at first, but the recruiting process didn’t take long.

“Valentyna really wanted to come over and get an education,” Moren said. “So it was a couple phone calls, Zoom calls, and it was a wrap. So she got over here quickly.”

Kadlecova joined the Hoosiers after spending the 2023-24 season club basketball with DSK Levhartice Chomutov, a club basketball team in the Czech Republic, where she averaged 11.6 points 2.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and shot 43.9 percent from the field and 74.7 percent at the free throw line.

Kadlecova also represented her home country in the 2024 U20 European Championships, FIBA U19 World Cup, FIBA U18 Championships and FIBA U16 European Championships.

Most freshmen deal with college adjustments like playing against older and more talented opponents, or a new lifestyle. It’s been an even more drastic change for Kadlecova.

“That transition is a real thing when you come in, whether you’re an international player or you’re a freshman,” Moren said. “It’s like drinking water from a firehose right now for her. There’s a language barrier for her. The words that we use, right, our language, or verbiage, so she’s trying to get accustomed to the way we do things. There’s a learning curve there. 

“The game is much faster for her. So she’s learning while making a lot of mistakes, but she’s so excited about being here. She tells me every day it’s amazing just being in Bloomington, how excited she is to be in Bloomington.” 

It may take time for Kadlecova to carve out a prominent role at Indiana, especially on a roster that features senior guards Chloe Moore-McNeil and Sydney Parrish and junior Yarden Garzon. Indiana also added Penn State transfer guard Shay Ciezki, and Moren said Wednesday she expects bigger roles for young guards like Lenée Beaumont, Julianna LaMendola, Lexus Bargesser and Henna Sandvik.

But an eye toward the future is important when constructing a roster, and Kadlecova has a few traits that intrigue Moren.

“She has natural instincts,” Moren said. “Outside of anything we’re trying – when they’re just playing, she can go off-script quickly but make the right reads, make the right plays. [She has a] knack for scoring. She can shoot it, another kid that we can add to a list of players that can shoot it. But also, I think she’s a smart player, it’s just trying to catch her up to the words we use, like I said, the language.”