Attitude is everything for rebounding Hoosiers

Coach Kathi Bennett had to wear forward Jamie Gathing's leather, knee-high boots to the post-game news conference, but at least she doesn't have to run sprints.\nBennett proposed before her Hoosiers' overtime triumph against No. 8 Wisconsin that if her players displayed any sad faces, she'd have to get a workout.\nAnd if they won? She told them at halftime she'd switch her footwear.\nThe women's basketball team (9-10, 3-5 Big Ten) displayed wide grins and applied tight defense to cement a 70-63 win against a Badgers team that demolished IU by 20 points three weeks ago.\nBennett said she made the two bets to excite her team, whose confidence had been missing during its now-vanished, five-game losing streak.\n"I got them laughing a little and loose and understanding that sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves," Bennett said. "They knew what we needed to do, play 40 minutes and just wanted to have some fun."\nLack of poise and cohesiveness spurred poor offense and negativity during the Hoosiers' last five losses, Bennett said. IU gave up hope when called for fouls and when Michigan sparked a late comeback in a 68-55 loss Sunday.\nLast night marked a complete metamorphosis.\nThe Hoosiers scrambled for loose balls, kept their heads held high after questionable foul calls and caused the Badgers (16-3, 7-2 Big Ten) to commit 25 turnovers.\nPerhaps center Jill Chapman -- the same player who spent 18 minutes on the bench against Michigan -- exhibited the most smiles. She and Bennett pestered a referee after Chapman was called for her second foul -- a bump against Badger center Emily Ashbaugh. \nIf last night was last Sunday, Chapman might have sat on the bench with much of the first half left. But last night she picked up that second foul with 30 seconds remaining before halftime. By then she had already scored 15 points -- 11 more than her total production against the Wolverines -- on 7-of-9 shooting.\n"It was fun out there playing," Chapman said after finishing with a game-high and season-high 30 points (12-of-17 from the field, 70.6 percent). "Everyone was pulling for each other, no matter what happened on the court. Someone had a foul, we said, 'That's OK. We're going to shake it off and play defense.'"\nAnd it was Chapman again who beamed in the waning minutes of regulation, as Wisconsin roared back to within four points. She rallied her team at halfcourt at the onset of overtime, placing her hands on teammates' shoulders and issuing some encouraging words.\nThe Hoosiers had been displaying positive attitudes during practices, Bennett said. It was about time enthusiasm spread to games.\n"Sometimes I don't think they knew how good they were," Bennett said. "We brought out the tape of the first half of the Wisconsin game at Wisconsin because we played very well. We showed them that tape and said, 'You guys are really, really good.'\n"I think the key is to believe in each other on the court. We broke through that."\nTaking a stab at Big Ten's Cinderella team\nBennett turned around a futile basketball program when she arrived at IU two years ago. Her first team finished at 20-11, producing the best winning percentage (64.5) since 1994-95.\nBut more than 640 miles northwest of Bloomington, Minnesota is making an even more spectacular turnaround.\nThe No. 23 Gophers (14-3, 4-2 Big Ten) boast a winning record for the first time since 1993-94 and their first national ranking in 19 years. Minnesota has fallen only to ranked teams -- Purdue, Penn State and Stanford -- after finishing last season 8-20 overall and 1-15 in the Big Ten.\n"When people are ready for a change, they're going to be very willing to work hard," All-American candidate and three-time Big Ten Player of the Week this season Lindsay Whalen said. "And that's what our team has shown this year."\nThe Hoosiers -- who handled the Gophers 79-76, 92-64 and 78-56 last year -- test the Gophers 2 p.m. Sunday at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.\nThe Gophers surprised then-No. 5 Wisconsin in Madison, Wis., 92-85, last Sunday. Whalen, a 5-foot-8 guard, said her team practiced with loud-speakers blaring music to prepare for a packed Kohl Center.\n"There was a hidden element with this team," first-year coach Brenda Oldfield, who coached at Ball State said. "From day one, we knew everyone was going to discount this team, that we weren't going to be there. This team from day one has worked extremely hard and believed in themselves and each other"