Women's basketball kicks off 30th season

As the 2011-12 basketball season kicks off, it marks the 30th season of Big Ten play for the women. All 12 teams are gearing up through early season matchups to prepare for their grueling meetings Dec. 30.

The opening night for Big Ten play features Michigan at Illinois, Northwestern at Iowa, Minnesota at Purdue, Nebraska at Penn State, Ohio State at Wisconsin and your Indiana Hoosiers taking on Michigan State.

IU hopes to rebound from a 3-13 conference record that placed the team 10th out of last year’s 11 teams.

Because of last year’s record, the Hoosiers are not ranked in the preseason’s top 25, but IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said she isn’t bothered.

“It’s whatever people say and that’s who they are and they do their thing,” she said in reference to Penn State, Purdue and Michigan State, who all are ranked in the preseason’s top 25 list. “We’ve got to do ours. We’ve just got to represent Indiana now.”

Ohio State and Iowa also received votes for the ranking, but not enough to earn a spot in the top 25.

IU knows a rise in the standings from a year ago will indeed be tough. Last year’s seventh place finisher, Purdue (9-7 conference record), was four games behind first place Michigan State (13-3) and only two behind second place Penn State (11-5). Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin all tied for third (10-6).

Junior forward Aulani Sinclair said she doesn’t see a conference loaded with top teams as a negative. She sees it as an opportunity.

“I feel like we’re always counted as the underdogs, so we have to prove this year that we’re not the underdog anymore,” the junior captain said. “When we start knocking teams off, people will finally realize that.”

New to the Big Ten this year is Nebraska, which finished 3-13 in the Big 12 a year ago and 13-18 overall. Leading the Cornhuskers is Coach Connie Yori. She has compiled a 166-117 overall record in her 10 years as Nebraska’s head coach.

Another new face to the Big Ten this year is Wisconsin’s Coach Bobbie Kelsey. This is her first year as a head coach anywhere after most recently serving as an assistant at Stanford.

This year’s Big Ten’s Preseason Players of the Year award was given to Ohio State senior guard Samantha Prahalis and Penn State junior guard Alex Bentley. Prahalis led the Big Ten in assists a year ago and was named to the All-Big Ten second-team. Bentley was the only unanimous selection for the Preseason All-Big Ten team after being chosen as an All-Big Ten first-team last season.

The top team to look out for this year will be Penn State. The Nittany Lions were selected as the preseason favorite to win this year’s conference championship. After finishing second in the Big Ten last year for both conference and overall record, they are returning with 10 letterwinners, including Bentley, three other starters and last season’s Sixth Player and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Maggie Lucas. Penn State also reached the second round of last year’s NCAA national tournament.

Sinclair said she is excited about facing to face the Nittany Lions.

“I’m looking forward to playing Penn State, just because they are ranked number one,” she said. “They’ve got that big target on their back, so playing them is always fun because we know we have to knock them off. It’s just a big rivalry between them, too.”