Indiana women’s basketball enters the coming offseason at a critical point for the program.
After Sunday’s loss to South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, Teri Moren and her staff will have to turn the page and get ready to reset for next season and beyond. This year was challenging for the Hoosiers, with a lot of ups and downs as they adjusted to life without Mackenzie Holmes and dealt with more losing than they’d become accustomed to in recent seasons.
But IU has even more question marks entering this offseason than it had last year. The program lost two starters after last season, Holmes and Sara Scalia. The Hoosiers are now losing three starters: Chloe Moore-McNeil, Sydney Parrish, and Karoline Striplin.
Moren has some clear holes to fill in the transfer portal — and that’s before accounting for any potential outbound transfers.
“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, and then like the rest of the country, everybody will be in the portal,” Moren said after the South Carolina game. “But for us, it’s going to be real important because … we’re very careful. There’s certain types of players that have to fit Indiana and the way we do things in our program. We’ll have to address those and find out, but I think we’ll have probably several holes to fill.”
Who’s back
Indiana brought Striplin and Shay Ciezki in from the transfer portal last year to fill some needs, and Ciezki and Yarden Garzon are set to return as the team’s two leading scorers. But with one less starter coming back than last season, and more questions about the surrounding pieces than the supporting cast heading into last offseason, the program has a lot of work to do.
Lexus Bargesser should step into Moore-McNeil’s point guard spot. The Grass Lake, Mich. native is a good defender and a capable passer, but has offered very little scoring threat during her IU career thus far. She also played fewer minutes per game as a junior than she did as a sophomore, as she recovered from an injury at the beginning of the season.
Lilly Meister is the likely candidate to reclaim a spot in the starting lineup in Striplin’s place at the 5. Meister started for Indiana’s first 17 games — just over half the season — but Moren ultimately benched her for Striplin. The Rochester, Minn. native showed potential at times as a starter, but she didn’t take the steps forward the Hoosiers were hoping for this season, and Striplin’s steady performance merited an increased role.
Meister struggled for several weeks after going to the bench, and her playing time decreased. She did bounce back near the end of the season, giving the Hoosiers some clutch minutes during the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. But it’s fair to wonder how confident Moren and her staff are in Meister handling the starting 5 role next season.
Additionally, IU’s depth looks even more questionable going into next season than it did last year. Henna Sandvik saw more action as a junior, and she had some nice moments on occasion. But the Finland native averaged less than one point per game across 17 Big Ten contests. Barring significant offseason improvement, it’s hard to rely on her for much production off the bench next season.
Moren typically doesn’t play freshman very much, but Lenée Beaumont (9.6 minutes per game) and Jules LaMendola (9.5) played enough to make fair observations about their potential going forward — and both looked like solid pieces for the future. Beaumont missed the entire year with an injury, and will enter 2025-26 as a redshirt sophomore; Moren, on several occasions, lamented her absence and its impact on the team’s season. LaMendola took on a slightly expanded role this year and continued to show promise, provided that she keeps developing.
But Indiana’s freshmen this year played far less than LaMendola and Beaumont did last year. Sydney Fenn missed the whole season with an injury, and she’ll be a redshirt freshman next year. Czech Republic native Valentyna Kadlecova signed on with IU very late — she officially joined the team in late August, just four days before the first day of classes for the fall semester. Moren recently said Kadlecova had to sort some things out academically before she could come to the U.S. and join the program. She played just 3.4 minutes per game this season. Faith Wiseman stepped up for the Hoosiers during their Big Ten Tournament win over Oregon, but she played just 3.5 minutes per game this season — and shot 1 for 8 from the field.
Those three players — particularly Kadlecova and Wiseman, having seen action this year — could get more of an opportunity next season, but it’s unclear what to expect from them given how little they played this year.
What does IU need?
Part of the answer to what holes Moren will need to fill depends on how highly she and her staff regard Indiana Miss Basketball recipient Maya Makalusky. If Indiana sees Makalusky as a player ready to contribute right away, she could easily end up with a real role off the bench — or even starting at the 3.
If IU doesn’t see her as a realistic starting option, there’s no obvious answer on the current roster for the final starter alongside Ciezki, Garzon, Bargesser, and Meister. The Hoosiers might need to get an experienced wing out of the transfer portal even if they think Makalusky is ready, but that need clearly rises to the top of the list if they don’t have the Fishers, Ind. native penciled into next year’s lineup.
Indiana should also be looking for at least one experienced guard and experienced forward in the portal. Meister’s inconsistency this year would make it very risky to enter next season banking on her at the 5 with only Wiseman and Fenn (and Sharnecce Currie-Jelks) in reserve in the frontcourt.
And given Bargesser’s limitations, IU will need a more offensive-minded guard to form a backcourt trio with her and Ciezki. If Beaumont completes a smooth recovery and looks like the player Moren talked highly of during preseason, there’s a chance the Illinois native fills that role. But Indiana’s only other guard on next year’s team is incoming freshman Neveah Caffey — another backcourt option makes sense.
The Hoosiers currently have 13 scholarship players for next season, so they’d be able to fill only two of those three spots if nobody transfers out. They didn’t lose anyone to the transfer portal last year, but saw two players leave after the 2022-23 season (along with one player who left mid-year).
Aside from the positional needs, Indiana needs to add more firepower to next year’s roster. Garzon was very streaky this season — at her best, she was capable of carrying IU; but when she had off-games, the team rarely had anyone else who could step into that alpha role. It’s easy to see Ciezki settling in more next season and providing a more consistent scoring threat, the same way Scalia improved during her second year in Bloomington. But the Hoosiers can’t be relying on just one or two players offensively — they need to add someone else capable of being that sort of alpha on any given night.
IU also needs more athleticism, which has been a recurring need for the last several years. Opponents like Illinois constantly cause Moren’s team problems with their pace and athleticism. Indiana needs more pieces who can keep up with players like that.
The Hoosiers are also losing two of their four high-volume 3-point shooters from this year’s team, in Parrish and Moore-McNeil. Garzon and Ciezki are both strong outside shooters, and LaMendola (35.1 percent) and Sandvik (38.1 percent) posted good 3-point clips with lesser volume. Moren has been an adaptable coach in terms of play style, so if the pieces fit together differently next season, she might have to adjust some things again. But if IU wants to continue being one of the stronger 3-point shooting teams in the country next year, the program may want to add another higher-volume outside shooter to go along with Ciezki and Garzon.
Of course, everything can change quickly during transfer portal season. If (or, more likely, when) IU has some players enter the portal, its needs could completely change.
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