Indiana Hoosiers
Overall Rank: #17
Conference Rank: #3 Big Ten
This could be Indiana’s year. The Hoosiers finished last season at 24-7, which was their fifth straight season with 20 or more victories. With six of their top seven scorers returning, the Hoosiers have higher hopes than simply winning 20 games again. The Big Ten has quite a bit of turnover, but that is not the case in Bloomington and that could lead to Indiana’s best conference finish since they won the regular season title in 1983.
2019-20 Record: 24-8, 13-5
Coach: Teri Moren
Coach Record: 127-73 at Indiana, 325-203 overall
Key Departed Players (starters in bold)
Brenna Wise, Forward, 7.9 ppg
Jorie Allen, Forward, 1.9 ppg
Key Returning Players (starters in bold)
Ali Patberg, Senior, Guard, 15.6 ppg
Grace Berger, Junior, Guard, 13.1 ppg
Mackenzie Holmes, Sophomore, Forward, 10.3 ppg
Jaelynn Penn, Senior, Guard, 10.6 ppg
Aleksa Gulbe, Junior, Forward, 9.0 ppg
Chanel Wilson, Sophomore, Guard, 2.5 ppg
Keyanna Warthen, Senior, Guard, 1.4 ppg
Hannah Noveroske, Sophomore, Center, 1.1 ppg
Key New Players
Kiandra Browne, Freshman, Forward
Nicole Cardano-Hillary, Junior, Guard, Grad Transfer from George Mason
Chloe Moore-McNiel, Freshman, Guard
Danielle Patterson, Junior, Guard/Forward, Transfer from Notre Dame
Arielle Wisne, RS Freshman, Center
Projection:
All-Conference guard Ali Patberg is back for a sixth season after averaging 15.6 points and 5.3 assists in 2019-2020. An efficient shooter and scorer from everywhere on the floor, Patberg will be eyeing even more accolades this year. Grace Berger had a breakout junior campaign, ranking second on the team with 13.1 points per game. The 6-0 junior is not much of a shooter, but she does very well attacking the basket. The backcourt also returns senior starter Jaelynn Penn. Penn was the most prolific three-point shooter on the team last season and it will be important for her to be a more consistent threat on a team that shot just 30.3 percent from beyond the arc last season. Mackenzie Holmes and Aleksa Gulbe are back up front and both are proven interior scorers. If Indiana needed a little bit of depth, they got it with George Mason transfer Nicole Cardano-Hillary and Notre Dame transfer Danielle Patterson. Cardano-Hillary is George Mason’s all-time leading scorer and Patterson has the size to hit the glass and help out the frontcourt. But the Hoosiers still have to prove that they can consistently beat the best the Big Ten has to offer, most notably Maryland. The Terrapins beat IU three times last year and none of those games were closer than ten points.
Projected Postseason Tournament: NCAA
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 72.6 (38th in nation, 3rd in conference)
Scoring Defense: 59.4 (60, 4)
Field-Goal Percentage: 46.1 (13, 3)
Field-Goal Defense: 36.3 (33, 2)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 4.7 (274, 12)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 30.3 (220, 14)
Free-Throw Percentage: 72.3 (96, 5)
Rebound Margin: 4.2 (70, 3)
Assists Per Game: 14.2 (87, 9)
Turnovers Per Game: 14.0 (71, 2)
