Hoosiers hope for postseason bid

The IU women’s basketball locker room was understandably glum after Michigan defeated IU 82-57 in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.

On the biggest stage in Big Ten basketball, IU’s weaknesses were exploited. The Hoosiers never cut the deficit to single-digits in the second half and were bounced from the tournament.

IU Coach Curt Miller said after the game that he believed the Hoosiers played well enough this year to earn a postseason invite of some capacity. Beating Michigan would have helped the Hoosiers’ résumé for the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. If not, the Women’s Basketball Invitational is also an option, Miller said in recent weeks.

All will come to fruition after the NCAA Tournament bracket is announced and the Hoosiers learn their postseason fate March 24.

For now, all the Hoosiers (18-12, 5-11) can do is wait.

“I really believe we’re deserving with our RPI, and our 18 wins,” Miller said. “And we’re going to prepare to receive a bid into the WNIT or WBI, and we’ll represent not only Indiana, but the Big Ten.”

IU sits at No. 74 in the RPI. The Hoosiers’ 18 wins are the most the program has had since winning 21 games in 2008-09, the last time IU went to the WNIT.

The Hoosiers swept through non-conference play, picking up notable wins 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.

But the success failed to carry much further. IU struggled in the Big Ten, winning only five games and finishing in a tie for eighth place. Despite having the best start in program history, the Hoosiers quickly fell in rankings and RPI.

Miller put some of the blame on the weaker competition in the non-conference season for IU’s conference struggles. IU’s only game decided by a single possession came against Indiana State on Nov. 15. Only five of the non-conference games were decided by less than 10 points.

After a relatively unchallenged non-conference, Big Ten opponents were a wake-up call for IU.

“We were really proud of our start,” Miller said. “It was the highest Indiana has ever been ranked in the history of the program. They can never take that away from us, but it did not set us up to have much adversity until mid-January. And I’m not sure we always handled that or understood what was coming.”

IU’s struggles in the Big Ten conference carried to the Big Ten Tournament against Michigan. The Wolverines beat the Hoosiers on the boards and took advantage of extra possessions, while the Hoosier shooters went cold and inopportune turnovers spoiled IU’s hopes to advance past the first round of the conference tournament for the first time in five years.

The result was IU ending the season losing six of its last seven games against Big Ten opponents.

“It’s frustrating,” senior center Simone Deloach said. “I just hope that the underclassmen understand how tough it is in the Big Ten and the Big Ten Tournament, and they can redeem themselves next year and the year after that.”

Against Michigan, the Hoosiers looked more like the rebuilding team they are than a team that went undefeated in the non-conference. It’s problems that IU couldn’t address now, Miller said. This team serves as a foundation, and he said he believed IU will only get better in the coming seasons.

“We’ve got to continue to recruit,” Miller said. “We believe our freshman class will form a strong foundation to build upon, but we’ve got to continue to get better and better players. We don’t have a top-100 player in our program at this point. You can’t look at not one other roster in the Big Ten that doesn’t have a top-100 prospect coming out of high school on their roster.”

But the upcoming years of recruits will not have a say in what happens in two weeks when tournament brackets are announced. Although the loss in the Big Ten stung IU initially, the Hoosiers exceeded expectations this season.

Players said they feel deserving of a tournament bid, but will need to wait and see if the selection committees feel the same. IU’s last appearance in the WNIT was in 2009, pulling out a win in the second round against Bowling Green which, at the time, was coached by Miller.

For now, the Hoosiers will continue to practice and wait to hear if their names will be called.

“You just gotta keep getting better,” senior center Sasha Chaplin said. “Take this game, you know, it’s a bad taste in our mouth, but take it and learn from our mistakes and keep fighting for another day.”