Making the NCAA Tournament is never a moment that is taken for granted, regardless of the history of a program. For IU women’s basketball, Teri Moren has set a standard since she arrived in Bloomington that playing in March should be the minimum — but not something that should be taken lightly.
As the Hoosiers heard their name called on Sunday, it was the seventh time in Moren’s 11-year tenure that Indiana made it into the field of 68. Add in a 24-8 record in 2020 when the NCAA Tournament was cancelled due to covid and it would be seven in a row and eight total. Indiana had made it just four times in its program history before Moren took over. So, while there is no guarantee to make the tournament each year, Moren’s consistency has made Indiana playing in March almost as much of a guarantee as they come.
Despite that, there’s no question this year was more like the beginning years of Moren’s tenure than the last handful. Indiana finished the season at 19-12 overall and 10-8 in Big Ten play — both were the most losses for IU since the 2018-19 season. In fact, IU’s eight conference losses were the second-most in Moren’s entire Indiana tenure. So, making the tournament this year meant a bit more — especially to some of the seniors who have been through many highs, and also some of the lows this year, with Moren.
“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 on Sunday. “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.”
As Indiana gets prepared for Utah on Friday, it’ll be two weeks since the Hoosiers last played.
Related: IU women’s basketball bows out of the Big Ten Tournament but shows toughness, resiliency along the way — ‘They can play with anybody in the country’
Indiana’s results ending the season don’t coincide with the team’s confidence, however. The Hoosiers were just 2-3 to finish the year after taking down No. 8 Ohio State. But the last 14 days have reinvigorated the ‘competitive edge’ amongst the group.
“Our coaching staff and coach has done a great job keeping up competitive in practice,” Parrish added. “There hasn’t been a practice that goes by where we haven’t played each other at the end of practice, not just our practice players. that’s kept us really competitive within practice so we don’t look away from how competitive we are in games.”
“I’m hopeful that our kids have a lot of confidence,” Moren added. “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. We’re just trying to keep our competitive edge but also cover things we know we’re gonna have to be really good at once the tournament starts.
“The way we played in the Big Ten Tournament showed how resilient this group is and how we can play with anyone in the country if we put our minds to it … they’ve had more time off in a weeks span than what they’re used to because we had the gap in between but once we got to practice the enthusiasm, energy level, competitiveness has been really good. I think they’ve enjoyed probably playing more 5-on-5 whether it’s against each other or the practice squad. But there have been really competitive games that have gone on this week so that was the point. We have to make sure we help them keep their edge. We’re hoping we can go in this week feeling very confidence going into Friday about how we are playing an how we’re practice. I tell these guys all the time, how you practice is how you’re going to play and it’s been a good week, really productive.”
The time off from games has given Indiana extra practice time to work on the little details that need to be solidified heading into the last stretch of the season to ensure that the next game against the Utes isn’t the last for this team.
“It’s going to take a lot these next few days of honing in and fixing up the little things, tightening up the things we need to fix but also working on the little things,” Indiana senior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil said. “Coach does a great job making sure we never get bored with the basics.”
While Moren and the rest of the IU women’s basketball program are focusing all of its attention on Utah, there’s a clear understanding of who could be next if the Hoosiers win on Friday — a rematch against South Carolina, the No. 1 seed in the region and the team that knocked IU out of the tournament last year in just a four-point game.
“Not looking ahead,” Moren said. “But South Carolina being able to host. We’re very familiar with them.”
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