HoosierHype
The first major step for the men's and women's cycling teams toward winning the BorgWarner Trophy begins Saturday with Little 500 team qualifications.
Qualifying lineups were determined Monday at the Little 500 Quals Time Selection Meeting where Saturday's qualifying schedule was determined.
FIJI will be the first team to qualify at 8:00 a.m. as the first of 72 scheduled attempts. The first women's team to set out will be Collins at 8:20 a.m.
The final scheduled team to attempt a qualifying run will be the Cutters team at 4:25 p.m. before third attempts begin at 5:00 p.m.
The IDS will have full coverage of qualifying throughout the day.
After one half of play, IU leads Marquette 41-26 in the second round of the WNIT.
Freshman guard Larryn Brooks leads all scorers with 22 points. Junior center Chelsie Butler led the Golden Eagles with 10.
The Hoosiers started off with a quick 12-0 run in the first four minutes and 13 seconds of the game. During that run, the Hoosiers shot 5-of-6 (83.3 percent) from the field.
An offensive rebound and put-back basket by Marquette junior forward Apiew Ojulu ended the run, but IU senior forward Simone Deloach responded with a baseline jumper to put the Hoosiers up 14-2.
Brooks would score IU's next eight points for a 22-7 lead. The Hoosiers led by as many as 20 in the half.
Turnovers were a problem early for the Golden Eagles, who committed four in the first four minutes. They finished the first half with 11.
IU shot 57.1 percent in the first half, while Marquette shot only 28 percent from the field.
Virginia Tech freshman center Trevor Thompson will transfer, per ESPN college basketball writer Jeff Goodman.
Thompson, a native of Indianapolis, graduated from Ben Davis (Ind.) High School before spending a post-graduate year at St. John's Northwestern Military Academy, according to his profile page on hokiesports.com.
IU could potentially pursue Thompson, given his in-state ties, the NBA's interest in freshman forward Noah Vonleh and the Hoosiers' lack of proven big men.
Vonleh is almost unanimously considered a top-10 prospect for the 2014 NBA Draft and if he were to declare for the draft, sophomores Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Peter Jurkin would be the only players taller than 6-foot-8 on IU's roster. Mosquera-Perea averaged 2.8 points and 2.1 rebounds in 7.7 minutes per game as a sophomore. Jurkin has been limited by injuries and has only played 18 minutes as a Hoosier.
Thompson, a 6-foot-11, 210-pound center, averaged 5.0 points and 4.7 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game for the Hokies last season. He appeared in all but one of Virginia Tech's games in a season in which the Hokies (9-22, 2-16) finished last in the ACC. Thompson played a season-high 35 minutes against then-No. 6 Duke on Feb. 25 and recorded 15 points and six rebounds.
The IDS contacted Mark James, Thompson's high school coach at Ben Davis High School, via email Saturday afternoon. James said he knew Thompson was asking for a release from Virginia Tech but he doesn't know what the former Hokie is looking for in a program. James said he and Thompson's father, Ryan, have been playing phone tag all day.
After narrowly escaping the opening round of the WNIT with a one point victory against Belmont, IU women's basketball welcomes Marquette to Assembly Hall tonight at 7 p.m. in the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).
IU (19-12) will welcome a Marquette (22-10) team that comes to Bloomington having defeated Indiana State 63-61 on Thursday.
The Golden Eagles went 11-7 in the Big East this season, good enough to finish in fifth place in conference.
Rebounding will likely be a key factor in deciding the outcome of tonight's game. Marquette is second in the country in rebounding margin, outrebounding opponents by 13.3 per game. As a team, the Golden Eagles average 45.7 rebounds per game.
Senior forward Katherine Plouffe leads the team in rebounding, hauling in an average of 10.3 rebounds per game. She also leads the team in scoring with 17.6 points per game.
Plouffe is joined by senior guard Katie Young and junior guard Arlesia Morse who all average more than 10 points per game. The Golden Eagles have 8 different players averaging more than 3 rebounds per game.
The winner of tonight's game will advance to the WNIT Sweet-16 to play the winner of Northwestern vs. IUPUI early next week.
After one half of play, IU leads Belmont 24-21 in the first round of the WNIT.
Freshmen guards Larryn Brooks and Taylor Agler had nine points each for the Hoosiers, leading all scorers.
Junior forward Jordyn Luffman led the Bruins with seven points.
The Hoosiers started out well, leading by as many as 10. But after a layup by freshman forward Lyndsey Leikem put IU up 18-8, the Hoosiers went scoreless for nearly six minutes.
In the same amount of time, Belmont mounted a 9-0 run to cut the lead to just one.
IU did not make a field goal until the 1:54 mark.
Both teams shot the ball poorly in the first half. The Hoosiers were only 11-of-36 (30.6 percent) from the field, while the Bruins were 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from the field.
IU welcomes Belmont to Assembly Hall tonight at 7 p.m. in the opening round of the 2014 Women's National Invitation Tournament looking to secure its first postseason win since 2009.
This year marks the seventh time IU has competed in the WNIT and the first since the 2009 season. The Hoosiers carry an 8-6 all-time record in WNIT games, reaching the Elite-8 in 2006 and 2009.
Belmont is led by first-year head coach Cameron Newbauer, the older brother of IU senior guard Andrew Newbauer. Cameron steered his Bruin team to a 14-17 overall record. Belmont went 10-6 in Ohio Valley Conference play and lost 78-66 to UT Martin in the Tournament Finals earlier this month.
The Bruins have four players averaging more than 8 points per game, but are led by junior guard Jordyn Luffman's 14.3 points per game. Luffman is also the team's second-leading rebounder with 7.1 boards per game, trailing only freshman forward Frankie Joubran's 7.5 rebounds per game.
IU and Belmont share two mutual opponents this year. IU defeated an IUPUI team on the road that Belmont lost to 80-58 in Belmont's season-opener. Both the Hoosiers and Bruins were also beaten by Purdue by 30 or more points.
The winner of tonight's game will advance to the second round of the WNIT to play the winner of tonight's Indiana State vs. Marquette matchup set to tip off at 7:05 p.m.
For the first time since 2009, IU women's basketball is dancing.
IU has been selected to play in the 2014 WNIT Tournament as an at-large bid. Complete information regarding IU's opponent, where the teams will play and when they will play will be released around 11 p.m. when the complete WNIT bracket is announced.
The Hoosiers (18-12) went undefeated in non-conference play, but had struggles during the Big Ten season where IU went 5-11. Including a Big Ten Tournament loss to Michigan, IU finished the season losing six of its last seven games to close out the season.
IU's notable wins include victories against Xavier, Butler and Virginia Tech in the Big Ten/ACC challenge. IU was ranked No. 22 after defeating then-No. 22 Iowa at home and being one of the final four remaining undefeated teams in the nation.
IU Curt Miller took to Twitter after the announcement and tweeted, "We are excited to be in the WNIT field. The match-up and location will come out later tonight. Taking the next step with the Hoosiers!"
IU is one of four teams from the Big Ten in the Tournament. The Hoosiers will be joined by Michigan, Minnesota and Northwestern in representing the conference.
The first round of the WNIT is scheduled for later this week.
No. 21 Michigan State defeated IU 76-56, securing the Hoosiers a No. 10 seed and an opening-round Big Ten Tournament matchup against Michigan on Thursday.
IU trailed 38-26 at halftime, and Michigan State came out of the halftime break firing. The Spartans began the half on an 11-2 run to extend their lead to 49-28.
Michigan State would maintain a 20-point lead throughout the rest of the night.
Freshman forward Lindsay Leikem led IU with a team-high 11 points. She was the lone Hoosier to record double-digit scoring.
Freshman forward Aerial Powers led Michigan State with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
The Hoosiers will play Michigan in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. IU will be playing for a chance to play Michigan State on Friday in the second round.
After one half of play, No. 21 Michigan State leads IU 38-26.
Spartans freshman forward Aerial Powers leads all scorers with 12 points. Senior forward Milika Taufa leads IU with seven points off the bench.
IU kept it close and cut the deficit to two after a layup by Simone Deloach with 12 minutes and 17 seconds remaining in the first half. However, Michigan State responded two possessions later with a 3-pointer by junior forward Becca Mills.
Mills' 3-pointer sparked a 9-0 run for the Spartans and gave them a 23-12 lead.
Powers' layup with five seconds remaining in the half gave the Spartans their largest lead at 12.
In the finals of 3-meter springboard diving Friday night, senior Darian Schmidt missed his first two dives, falling into last place. He then scored a 92.75 and a 95 on his fourth and fifth dives to climb from eighth to first going into the final round.
One dive later, he was the Big Ten Champion.
That completes Schmidt's sweep of the springboard events at the 2014 Big Ten Championships. He now has four career Big Ten titles, two in the 1-meter and two in the 3-meter.
Schmidt's win capped day three of the men's swimming and diving Big Tens.
IU remains in second place with 406 points. Michigan is the first-place team with 599 points.
Junior Steve Schmuhl was third in the 400-yard individual medley. His time of 3:43.55 was just 7/100ths of a second off an NCAA A-cut.
In his first individual championship final, freshman Max Irwin finished eighth in the 100-yard butterfly. His preliminary time of 47.67 was a career best.
Senior Cody Miller fell just short in defending his backstroke title, placing second in 51.99. That is the third-fastest time in IU history and Miller now owns all five top times.
The Hoosiers went 3-4 in the 100-yard backstroke, with senior Eric Ress third and senior James Wells fourth.
At the end of the day, four divers finished in the top eight in the 3-meter competition. Schmidt was first, freshman Joshua Arndt third, senior Emad Abdelatif fifth and senior Conor Murphy seventh. Arndt's score of 423.15 is a career best.
