BLOOMINGTON — Indiana women’s basketball remembers what happened at this time last year.
The Hoosiers entered the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 overall seed, heavily favored to advance to the Sweet 16. Their Final Four and national championship hopes all felt attainable.
And then it all came crashing down, as IU lost to Miami.
It took many inside the program a long time to get over it. Deep down, the Hoosiers may still not be over it.
But Monday night, they have a chance to make it right. Fourth-seeded Indiana takes on No. 5 seed Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 6:30 p.m. ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
“We try not to think much about last year, but I think it’s always in the back of our mind. This is a new team, a new season,” senior guard Sydney Parrish said during Sunday’s press conference. “Still have the chip on our shoulder and never want to feel like we did after our lost last year.”
This is the third straight year IU has played a round of 32 game in Bloomington. The Hoosiers came out on the right side in 2022, in a tight game against Princeton. After the game ended and the band played IU’s alma mater, Mackenzie Holmes bolted up the bleachers behind the basket, high-fiving fans in a memorable celebration.
But the disappointment of losing to Miami last year is the more recent experience. While Ali Patberg got her preferred send-off in her final game at Assembly Hall, Grace Berger’s last game ended in tears.
The Hoosiers are focusing on this year’s game against the Sooners, but they know how they want Mackenzie Holmes, Sara Scalia, and Arielle Wisne’s last games on that court to go.
“We want to finish this season with a win in Assembly Hall. I know how much it means to Mackenzie and Sara and Arielle, and we want to do it for them,” sophomore wing Yarden Garzon said. “We all remember how it felt with Grace Berger last year. So we don’t want to have the same feeling this year.”
Rebounding could be the deciding factor in this matchup between IU and Oklahoma. The Sooners are 11th in the country in total rebounds per game, and they average 13.9 offensive rebounds per game, which ranks 39th in the nation. That’s more offensive rebounds per game than any other team IU’s played this season.
Oklahoma swept No. 1 seed Texas this season and won the Big 12 regular season title. This may be a tougher opponent than IU faced at this stage in any of the last three seasons — IU defeated No. 12 seed Belmont in 2021, No. 11 seed Princeton in 2022, and fell to No. 9 seed Miami last year.
IU head coach Teri Moren knows her team has a big challenge on its hands. And she said the beginning of the game will be important.
“Having this tournament experience, we understand how important the start is. I talked to them a lot (about) last year — I felt like in that Miami game we felt like we got off to a slow start,” Moren said. “And so tomorrow night I think our start is going to have to be really — it is going to be critical to the game (and) how we’ll do.”
That’s where IU is hoping its veteran experience can make a difference.
Holmes and Chloe Moore-McNeil have tasted the Elite Eight. Parrish reached a Sweet 16 with Oregon. But the Hoosiers also carry the well-documented frustration of last year’s upset defeat.
The perspective from both sides at this same stage of the tournament can benefit them. They know what it takes to get to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. But they also know what would lead to their demise. They’ve experienced both outcomes.
Oklahoma isn’t new to this stage, either — OU lost in the second round in each of head coach Jennie Baranczyk’s first two seasons leading the program. The Sooners are looking to break through to their first Sweet 16 in over a decade, and will feel just as confident as IU that this is their time.
But the Hoosiers are trusting the path that took them back to this point and the players that paved that path.
“We’re prepared for this moment,” Moren said. “We would love to win all of them, but we know that that’s probably not going to happen during the duration of the season. But I think all of our times we’ve come up short on our schedule have taught us a lesson that we can take into this tournament.”
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