Women's Basketball Has Seemingly Taken The Path Of IU Baseball If Not Better In Critical Season After Elite Era

Indiana Falls To South Carolina In Second Round Of NCAA Tournament To Finish Season 20-13

Colonial Life Arena In South Carolina Where IU’s Season Ended Against The Gamecocks

Columbia S.C.-Early this season, I wrote about how Indiana women’s basketball was at a crossroads. Following five years of elite play, no one was quite sure what the future held after the departures over the last couple of years of all-time program greats Grace Berger and Mackenzie Holmes.

Whether they would continue to win at a high level was an open question. In the best of scenario’s they would likely take the path of IU baseball following the departures of legends Kyle Schwarber and Sam Travis.

This meant using the supporting cast of that era to squeak into postseason play in an up and down season like the boys on the diamond did in 2015. Mission accomplished. While this may seem like a back-handed compliment, it is absolutely not meant to be.

Like a decade ago, somewhat of a fall-off was inevitable. However, following an elite era never seen in program history, the next year is most critical to maintaining a winning culture.

IU Coach Teri Moren indeed stressed the success this season was critical and the program is bigger than a single player.

“I think my players are pretty dang good,” Moren said. “We have some really good players that are on this team now, that and we're excited about the ones that are coming in to join us. Like I said, the standards are the standards. They're not going to change what we're going to do. We want to continue to win at a high level. We want to continue to be a part of March Madness.”

Now in both cases, the 2025 women’s basketball squad in Bloomington joined 2015 baseball with yet another NCAA Tournament despite the massive personnel losses. This allowed that program to maintain the expectations that had been built while continuing to make the postseason nearly every spring since. This has been despite two coaching changes where a top school poached away the coach and the Big Ten being akin to the Mountain West in quality when it comes to baseball.

For Moren, neither of these is likely to be an issue. While a top team could always take Moren away, she is an Indiana native who has turned down better jobs already and seems to want to retire here. Also, maintaining a perennial winner in this conference is far easier in basketball where the league is as good as any in the country.

With both of these advantages, this program is in good hands going forward to at least be the yearly postseason squad baseball has maintained to this day. Most impressively, Moren has made 2024-2025 work despite inconsistent post play which is what makes her offense tick best.

She has built this culture on hard-nosed defense and hustle as well as an offense that uses a top big down low to spring shooters open. All of that was present this spring except the high-quality center. This allowed IU to finish this season as well as it did with a 20-13 record and a sixth straight NCAA appearance as other ways were eventually figured out to score both down low and from long range.

The lack of a starting-level post player was due to the fact that junior Lily Meister was expected to take a leap forward and fill that role but it never materialized despite a few good games. With program stalwarts Sydney Parrish and Chloe Moore-McNeil having their eligibility now expire, finding a top center for 2025-2026 is all the more important.

Parrish and Moore-McNeil have indeed both grown in the program and have big plans post-playing careers.

Parrish said she could continue on the court but would also be fine being involved differently.

“I'm hoping to keep playing, whether that's in the W, that would be great, and potentially overseas,” Parrish said. “If that doesn't go the way I want, hopefully, I can get a job in the sports media field, whether that's analyst or broadcasting or sitting right where you guys are.”

Moore-McNeil has plans outside of sports if her playing days are over.

“I hope to be lucky enough to continue my basketball career, but if not, you always have to have a plan B,” Moore-McNeil said. “That's continuing schooling in ultrasound technician.”

With these two departing, Meister could finally be the force down low that was assumed. However, Moren must scour the portal for a starting-level player here in case Meister is unable to be the featured option down there again. While Karoline Striplin assumed the role admirably after being brought in as a backup, a high-level player here who is a legitimate starter in the league is a must.

Moren understands filling all these spots among others in the transfer portal is vital.

“I think we're going to have a lot of holes to fill,” she said. “I think with the portal opening, I think there's going to be a lot of schools out there that are going to have some holes to fill. We'll go back -- trust me, we've already sort of been in the process of kind of figuring out what we feel like those holes are going to be and addressing those. But for us, it's going to be real important because we go into the portal -- we're very careful. I think -- you've followed us; you know that there's certain types of players that have to fit Indiana.”

With Yarden Garzon and Shay Ciezki expected to be back for one more campaign, surrounding then with someone who draws attention down low is imperative to get them open for more three-pointers. Also, potential future star Lenee Beaumont will return from injury in the backcourt as well. This gives the Hoosiers three guards who can play a lot of minutes and score at a high level.

Outside of this, there are a few unknowns. IU does have the highest-ranked player in program history coming in directly out of high school in the form of Indiana Miss Basketball Maya Makalusky. Also, Nevaeh Caffey will come to Bloomington as a more athletic version of Moore-McNeil who can slash to the basket which is something this team has lacked for a long time.

How quickly these two decorated-freshmen can contribute remains to be seen. However, Moren has used the portal at an elite level and will once again bring in a couple of high-level players from there presumably. Other options include this season’s backups Lexus Bargesser, Jules LaMendola, and Henna Sandvik to go with Meister. However, whether any of these players can be anything more than this ever is an open question.

With all this said, fans need to trust Moren to bring the correct personnel in to fit her system. There have been too many unjust criticisms of her recruiting despite the fact she is bringing in the highest ranked players that this program has ever seen. While it is not the very-top talent, the next level of personnel is generally what helps her win at the highest level similar to Purdue’s Matt Painter.

Moren has developed a culture of high-level play doing things in the way she is comfortable with. To go away from that, in the name of elite talent, is a terrible idea as Painter showed a decade ago and Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell experienced this season.

In the end, Moren has built this program her way from nothing. The Hoosiers were arguably the worst the Big Ten had to offer prior to her arrival much like baseball was prior to 2008. As long as she wins at the level she did in 2024-2025 if not better, this is more than acceptable for a historic bottom feeder.

Fans should trust and embrace what Moren has built in her 11-year tenure on campus. It might mean being the lesser side against the very best the country has to offer sometimes and that is fine.

This is exactly what happened in Sunday’s 64-53 loss in a hostile atmosphere to the creme de la creme of women’s basketball despite giving their opponent all they could handle. South Carolina is a perennial power and having the season ending against them or UConn as has happened in three of the last four seasons is nothing to be ashamed of.

IU becoming amongst the very best in the sport is unlikely. Despite Moren being one of the better coaches in the nation, getting to the level of the Gamecocks or Huskies or anyone else at the top should not be the standard she is held to.

Moren indeed emphasized her culture needing the right players and plan to get there by all means possible in this offseason and going forward with possibly some tweaks.

“I think with the addition of the four new teams from the West Coast, there's no doubt when I look at our team, we're going to have to get bigger. We'd like to get more athletic for sure,” she said. “The intangible things are still really important to me, and that's the high character piece. That's being about the team, not being about myself or yourself. We want competitors. We want kids that want to come in and work every single day. We'll continue with that recipe because I feel like it has worked for us. But as the game has grown and continues to grow, we're going to have to grow with it.”

In the end, Moren has built a team with no success previously to the level she has doing it in the way she is most comfortable. Whether it is yearly postseason appearances as the top-35 squad they were this season, or the top 10-15 ceiling of the five campaigns prior, either one should be a celebration and fans need to make sure they support this.

With another successful year now wrapped up, supporters can look forward to another fun team in 2025-2026. While it may not always be elite, it is a winner and almost certainly will continue to be going forward.