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(04/22/14 5:32pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a race that often comes down to fractions of a second, Little 500 competitors are always looking to pick up precious time on the track.One of the more dramatic ways teams shave time is during the rider exchanges. It’s one of the most dangerous parts of the race, with riders jumping on and off the bikes while at the same time trying not to fall behind competitors who are racing by.An exchange done properly can keep a team out front and in contention. A poor exchange can leave riders falling on the ground and prove detrimental to a team’s hopes of winning.“The exchanges are crazy,” Delta Upsilon rider Robert Martin said. “Every team does it differently, but it’s all about getting in and getting out fast.”The first step to the exchange is getting out of the pack.The rider on the bike will exchange signals with his or her team that they are coming in. During this time, the rider on track has to navigate his or her way to the outside of the peloton.This can often be the most difficult part of the exchange process. If the trailing riders aren’t paying close enough attention, the rider trying to get out of the pack risks getting hit from behind, causing an accident.Once the rider steers his or her way to the outside of the pack, the exchange begins.The rider on track makes a break to the outside of the cinder track in Bill Armstrong Stadium to begin what is called a burnout lap. During the burnout lap, the rider will try to use all of his or her remaining energy to sprint away from the peloton.The goal of the burnout lap is to build a gap between the rider and the peloton, so the time lost during the exchange doesn’t cause the team to lose the draft.“The big difference is getting your burnouts,” Phi Kappa Psi rider Will Beaty said. “Getting that whole game set and being able to have a good exchange makes a difference.”When the rider on the bike closes in on his pit box, a foot race begins for the second rider, who needs to catch the bike as his or her teammate jumps off.As the second rider tries to find his or her footing on the pedals, he or she quickly tries to gain his or her balance while trying to pick up speed as quickly as possible as he or she rejoins the peloton.“There’s a lot of trust in it,” Martin said. “Once you finally get it, you’re not done because then you balance yourself and you think of your next move on the track.”
(04/22/14 5:18pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Thirty-three riders jockey for a position, inches apart from one another as they turn laps around the Little 500 track in Bill Armstrong stadium.Riders are in constant movement trying to find the optimal position in the slipstreams the bikes create. The continuous subtle movements of the riders can make the difference in both maintaining speed and conserving energy.Drafting is when physical prowess meets a science experiment. The right move in the draft can bring a rider to the front of the field. One wrong move can lead to a rider picking cinders out of his or her skin after a crash.“It’s a lot of chaos,” Delta Sigma Pi rider Mark Juretschke said.When drafting, the cyclists form a large group called the peloton. In French, “peloton” literally means “ball” or “platoon.” During Little 500, mastering and controlling the peloton is key for teams to stay up front.Although from afar, drafting can look relatively simple, the peloton itself has a number of complexities that can be difficult to understand at first.The front riders of the peloton carry the burden of “pulling” the field. This is oftentimes the brunt of the work. The lead riders cut into the wind, opening a hole in the air that reduces the aerodynamic drag the riders following in close pursuit will face.The reduction in drag allows for the riders in the midst of the peloton to preserve energy while maintaining speed. Studies on exactly how much energy the riders save vary between 10 and 40 percent depending on the size of the peloton and weather patterns.Though the exact amount of energy being saved is hard to pinpoint, riders say the difference in feel is obvious.“It’s night and day different,” Alpha Epsilon Pi rider Brett Frommer said.. “When you’re in the pack, you can stay on another person’s wheel and just ride. Keeping a good gap in helps save energy and maintain speed.”Within the peloton, a handful of teams typically stay near the front of the group. Teams will often ally themselves with one another, allowing for riders to switch who is responsible with the weight of pulling.The front of the pack controls the speed of the race. Depending on a team’s specific strategies, some may want to see the race slowed down, allowing for riders to breathe easily and conserve energy. Others may want to push the tempo and test the endurance of the field from the very beginning.“There’s a lot of politics behind it,” Juretschke said. “The biggest thing people might not notice is that the top tier teams are always going to be near the front. They work together and control what is going on and who rides up there.”Although riders can conserve energy in the peloton, the nature of the wheel-to-wheel action creates risk of massive crashes. In last year’s men race, several teams near the middle of the peloton were involved in a crash while entering turn three on the eighth lap.The easiest way for riders to stay out of trouble and away from crashes is to stay in front of them.When riders near the front speed up, there is a lag to the back of the peloton. This creates an accordion effect that can lead to trouble for riders who can’t keep up with the speed changes.Because of the high risk and reward of riding in the peloton, Frommer said the best thing for riders to do is to stay alert on the track.“The biggest thing that most of these guys work on is just being able to sit in a good position and work on being able to ride safely and not let any gaps form,” he said. “If you can do that, you can be around at the end.”
(04/14/14 3:25am)
Emma Caughlin and Chris Craig took the 2014 Miss-N-Out titles.
(04/07/14 3:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Christopher Craig of Beta Theta Pi admits there is added pressure being the defending Little 500 champion heading into the Spring Series.Knowing he and his teammates will don the yellow jerseys as the defending race champion, Craig said he wanted to put on a good showing during Individual Time Trials. But he didn’t have high expectations.After posting the fastest ITT time in Beta Theta Pi history and claiming the men’s ITT crown with a time of 2:22.98, Craig was pleasantly surprised.“I felt good going into it, but I have to admit, I surprised myself,” Craig said. “I was really just excited and pumped to go out there and put out a time, and things worked out well. I’m happy with that time and happy for my team.”Craig improved by nearly 19 seconds from his ITT time last year, when he finished 111th. He credited his quick lap to a fast start and being able to push himself through the sprint to finish with consistent laps.“The first lap, I felt pretty good and then I felt really solid on my second lap,” Craig said. “That was my fastest one. I just tried to hold it consistent until the very end.”Runner-up to Craig was Rob Lee of Phi Delta Theta, who finished only .37 seconds slower than Craig. Delta Tau Delta’s Paul Smith followed close behind, finishing his ITT run in third for a second consecutive year with a 2:23.62.Spencer Brauchla (2:23.76) of Black Key Bulls finished fourth and Ryan Romenesko (2:23.95) of Phi Delta Theta rounded out the top five.Phi Delta Theta took the lead in Spring Series points with Lee and Romenesko being joined by Wesley Ring who finished eighth with a time of 2:25.37.Ring said that although his Phi Delta Theta team is focused on the big picture and the Little 500 race itself, taking the Spring Series lead early on in the events left the team feeling confident with a busy weekend of events ahead. “We don’t talk about it, but it’s something we want to win,” Ring said. “We’re all focused on the race, but it’s definitely fun to pick up some wins along the way.”Craig said the track at Bill Armstrong Stadium was in the best racing shape he has seen it in this year, adding that the recent rain leading up to the ITTs smoothed the track out, making for quicker laps.That showed in the times across the board. Seven men’s riders broke the 2:25 mark, a time only three riders managed to break last year.For a new-look Beta Theta Pi team coming off of its second Little 500 win last year, having competitive runs and having Craig take the top ITT spot was a huge proving point for a young team trying to defend its title.“It means so much to us,” Craig said. “We may have come here and done well, but we’re still four rookies going into this race. We have a lot to learn. We’re trying to learn from the other guys in the other top teams.“It’s just really good to see that also we may even be one of those top teams too.”An earlier version of this story had Ryan Romenesko's name mistakenly spelled "Romernesko."
(04/07/14 3:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For Aryn Doll, Whitney Houston did the trick.While the Chi Omega rider was warming up before taking the track for her Individual Time Trial run, Doll’s student coach was playing Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” to pump her up.Doll said she didn’t consider the ballad written by Dolly Parton much of a pump-up song. She would have preferred a more up-beat, electric dance music song before the race.But after winning the women’s Individual Time Trial on Saturday with a time of 2:40.01, Doll admitted “I Will Always Love You” wasn’t too bad of a music choice after all.“I guess Whitney Houston worked,” Doll said.Doll narrowly edged out Collins Cycling’s Tabitha Sherwood (2:40.52) for the ITT crown. The top four seeded women were all placed in the same heat and produced the four fastest times of the day.Because she was going up against the top returning riders, Doll said she knew the heat was going to be tough. She said she put extra emphasis on getting off to a good start to her run during practice leading up to the race that she believes made the difference in edging out Sherwood by just more than half a second.“You can gain a ton of time on the start,” Doll said. “I figured if I started good, I would be able to have a good time, so I really focused on it and it paid off. I started well and put in a good time.”Rounding out the top five were Alpha Chi Omega’s Kelsey Tharnstrom (2:41.48), Teter’s Emma Caughlin (2:41.58) and Kappa Alpha Theta’s Brenna McGinn (2:42.97).Though Doll’s top time was slightly slower than last year’s best time, the top of the leaderboard was noticeably faster this year. Five riders road better times than 2:43, a feat only two women managed to do last year.Caughlin, who improved on her personal time this year by four and a half seconds, credited almost ideal track conditions and a number of younger riders unexpectedly showing quick pace for the abundance of quick times.“It’s surprising to see these times because a lot of these are new riders,” Caughlin said. “These rookies have been awesome. It was all really close and I’m happy with my time, happy with the track today — it was super quick.”Alpha Chi Omega, led by Tharnstrom’s third place finish, claimed the ITT Spring Series component with three finishers in the top 10 to take provisional control of the white jersey standings.But for Doll and her Chi Omega teammates, capturing the ITT crown helps the team build confidence. Chi Omega had two riders miss time this year with mononucleosis and qualified for the race on a third attempt with only three riders.To be able to celebrate the ITT win was a relief for Doll after an otherwise hectic Spring.“We’ve had a tough year,” Doll said. “To be able to come out and put this time down, it gives us a lot of confidence. The time was good and the track was fast. “I’m just happy for my team.”An earlier version of this story had Brenna McGinn's name mistakenly spelled "Brennan."
(03/31/14 4:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s basketball team’s historic season came to an end Sunday in Brookings, S.D., as South Dakota State defeated IU 76-64 in the quarterfinal round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.The Jackrabbits ended the Hoosiers’ run in the WNIT by building an opening half lead and converting on timely shots in the second half. They spoiled IU’s comeback hopes every time IU began to make a run.Despite shooting well — IU shot 44.4 percent from the floor and 8-of-18 from beyond the arc — IU could not match offensive spurts and defensive stops long enough to regain the lead.“The stats are nearly identical,” IU Coach Curt Miller said. “Both teams shot the ball well, both teams made 3s, both teams made big plays when they needed to. The big difference was we just couldn’t get to the foul line like they did. We said coming in here that we had to be 10 points better than them to win the game, and we weren’t.”In the early half of the game, the Hoosiers (21-13) and Jackrabbits (26-9) exchanged baskets. After being tied at 13-13 with 13:28 left in the first half, the Jackrabbits made a 6-0 run to pull ahead. They quickly added a 12-3 run shortly after to build a 25-16 lead.The Hoosiers responded with a 10-0 run to go up 26-25 with 4:39 remaining in the first half, but that would be the last time IU would lead. South Dakota State used an 11-3 run to close the opening half to take a 36-29 lead into halftime. Freshman guard Alexis Gassion began to heat up during the second half and cut the deficit to 54-51 with 7:33 remaining, but South Dakota State senior Steph Paluch would convert on a 3-pointer on the following possession. Shots like Paluch’s 3-pointer were common in the second half, stymieing IU’s comeback hopes. IU’s final push came as senior forward Tabitha Gerardot cut the deficit to five points with 3:21 remaining, but senior forward Hannah Strop nailed a 3-pointer during South Dakota State’s next possession.Down by 10 points with two minutes remaining, Brooks threw a crosscourt pass to freshman Taylor Agler, who wasn’t paying attention. The ball went past Agler and out of bounds, much to the delight of the 3,792 fans packed into Frost Arena.Gassion finished the game tying a career-high 22 points. Her emergence as a scorer down the stretch of the season has impressed Miller, he said.“She’s really come on offensively,” Miller said. “She’s had a great second half of the year. She’s got more and more confidence, so it’s really exciting how young we are.”IU’s 21 wins tied a program record for most wins in a single season. The Hoosiers also scored 2,369 points — the second most in a single year — thanks in large part to making a program-record 259 3-pointers this year.Miller said multiple times that he was excited about his team’s success and that the Hoosiers are ahead of his schedule. He said he believes the Hoosiers have set a framework for a program that can become a contender in the Big Ten in upcoming years, crediting the seniors who played their last games for helping rebuild the program.“I can’t thank them enough,” Miller said. “It’s tough when you come in, and you haven’t been the coach that recruited them. They had a lot of adversity and, frankly, not a lot of success. They’re listening to a new coach coming in after they’ve won six games. They could have ridden out the last two years of their careers, but they didn’t. They were the biggest believers, and they helped us start something that we think has a chance to be special.”Follow reporter Sam Beishuizen on Twitter @Sam_Beishuizen.
(03/31/14 4:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After rain threatened to cancel the 2014 Little 500 qualifications Saturday, the weather held off for Phi Delta Theta and Alpha Chi Omega to win pole positions for the men’s and women’s races, respectively. Phi Delta Theta recorded a 2:22.57 qualifying run to capture the 64th men’s Little 500 pole, while Alpha Chi Omega took the pole for the 27th running of the women’s race with 2:41.16.This year marks the eighth pole for Phi Delta Theta and its first since 2009. The team’s time was 1.12 seconds faster than the second-place Black Key Bulls. The first-place start means Phi Delta Theta has qualified in the top 10 for 17 of the last 18 years.Alpha Chi Omega’s pole is the team’s first. Entering this year’s qualifications, Alpha Chi Omega averaged a starting spot of 13.6 in the previous five races.Heavy rain Friday night continued through Saturday morning, flooding the track in Bill Armstrong Stadium. Puddles accumulated on various parts of the quarter-mile circuit. The rain forced a five-hour delay, causing the regularly scheduled 8 a.m. qualification times to be pushed back to 1 p.m.Rachel Horton, a rider for Collins Cycling, said Little 500 events are often unpredictable. “It’s just in the nature,” she said. “We have a lot of laid-back girls, we adapt well. And, you know, it’s not ideal, but it happens.”Consistent rain throughout the night and light drizzle throughout the qualifying day caused the cinder bike track to firm as it dried. The firm track made for ideal track conditions.“The rain helped firm it up, made the turns firm,” Sigma Chi rider Quinn Rusnak said. “Track was the fastest it’s been all year.”Though a number of riders said the track was as quick as it has been this season, team times were slightly slower than they were last year. This year’s men’s and women’s poles were roughly one second slower than the best times in 2013.The spread in times was much larger this year than in recent qualifications. The spread between first and 10th in the men’s race was 5.44 seconds. The women saw a 10.13-second spread in the first 10 spots.Black Key Bulls’ rider Jacob Miller, who swept the Fall Series earlier this year, believes the spread of the runs is a result of a large number of talented riders graduating last year. “I think that there’s definitely less talent than in past years,” Miller said. “In terms of what to expect, I think the talent level is lower, but there are definitely guys that want to step up and fill that role.”At times, the lack of experience in the field became evident in the qualifying runs. Ten consecutive runs were cut short because of faults at one point in the afternoon. In total, qualifications saw 11 teams — six men’s, five women’s — double-fault during the initial qualifying stages. Those 11 teams were forced to fight for the remaining spots during the third and final qualifying runs.Four men’s teams — Malone Cycling, Zeta Beta Tau, Theta Chi and Pi Kappa Phi — failed to qualify for the race. For Theta Chi, this year will mark the first time since 2005 that the team did not qualify for the race.Alpha Epsilon Phi and Pi Beta Phi did not qualify for the women’s race. Both teams faulted during their third attempts to make the field of 33.The women’s race will include three rookie teams. Ski Club Cycling at seventh, IU Nursing at 27th and Delta Phi Epsilon at 32nd will all get their first tastes of competing in the women’s Little 500. The men’s race will have one rookie qualifier, Northern Indiana Cycling, which will start in the 29th position. The Ski Club Cycling riders said they didn’t know exactly what to expect in qualifying. After putting the bike on the inside of row three, the first-year team was thrilled.“We did better than we expected we would,” Ski Club rider Megan Huibregtse said. “It’s really incredible. I still can’t believe how well we did.”The next competition for the teams competing in the Little 500 will be Wednesday afternoon with the Individual Time Trials. Riders will take to the track as individuals to see who reigns fastest in a four-lap sprint around the track.Miller said the event won’t have a direct implication on who will be good in the race, but said he and his Black Key Bulls still want to do well.“It’s definitely something we want to show up and do well at,” Miller said. “You know, I’m confident for Wednesday, and I’m sure others will be, too. But I’m definitely excited to go.”Andy Wittry contributed to the reporting of this story.
(03/28/14 3:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU had its back against the wall. Down by one point with time winding down against Northwestern, the Hoosiers needed a bucket to keep their season alive.Senior forward Simone Deloach got it.Senior forward Tabitha Gerardot backed her defender down in the post. As Northwestern’s help defense collapsed on her, she saw Deloach was left unchecked. Gerardot dumped the ball to Deloach who swiftly jumped up and put in a layup to put IU up 66-65.Deloach said the play wasn’t drawn up. To her, the play was a blur.“It just worked,” Deloach said.Deloach’s layup with 11 seconds remaining was the only lead change of the game. Northwetsern’s Maggie Lyon missed a jump shot and freshman guard Alexis Gassion sprinted for a rebound as time expired.As the buzzer sounded, IU’s players rushed the floor to celebrate. IU defeated Northwestern 66-65 in the third round of the WNIT to advance to the quarterfinals.“If you’re going to lead one time in the game, we picked a great time to lead,” IU Coach Curt Miller said.The Hoosiers (21-12) trailed by eight points with just 4:28 left in the game. IU had fallen behind by as many as 14 points thanks in large part to 17 turnovers.The Hoosiers had a second-half collapse against Northwestern (17-16) earlier in the season that the team had fresh in their minds after watching film this week. Despite the deficit late in the game, Miller said he preached to his team to stay focused on winning and not getting down on themselves.“They looked at me and shook their head, ‘we got it,’” Miller said. “Tonight we had to scratch and claw and it never felt like we could get there…We’re growing up. We are truly growing up before everybody’s eyes.”Miller said the game could not have been scripted any better than having the senior pair of Gerardot and Deloach score when IU needed it the most.“That last play is all made. That is not great execution. That is players making plays down the stretch,” Miller said. “Tabitha got the penetration, read the help and made a good pass…Couldn’t script it any better for that senior class than what happened at the end.”The Hoosiers would have never been in a position to win late had it not been for a stretch of eight consecutive defensive stops in the second half.“(The defensive stops) meant a lot because the whole game you know, we kind of struggled defensively,” freshman guard Larryn Brooks said. “Getting those eight consecutive it just means a lot to get out those passing lanes and that’s just something we buy into in practice.”Brooks led the game with 27 points, shooting 5-for-9 from beyond the arc and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Gassion and freshman Lyndsay Leikem both added 10 points apiece.IU’s win against Northwestern sends the Hoosiers on the road Sunday at 3 p.m. to play South Dakota State in the quarterfinals of the WNIT.After having three consecutive postseason games come down to the final seconds, the Hoosiers are confident that they can make a run with only three wins separating IU from a WNIT Championship.In a game against Northwestern where IU nearly let the season come to an end in blowout fashion because of a struggling offense and turnovers, the Hoosiers continued to fight back to win at the end.Brooks said it all came down to the Hoosiers trusting one another to pull through when they needed to the most.“(Coach Miller) was just talking about his big word tonight was ‘believe,’” Brooks said. “I think we really did that tonight.”
(03/27/14 4:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When IU senior forward Tabitha Gerardot watched film of IU’s 58-52 loss to Northwestern earlier this season, she saw a “sluggish” team that missed 14 free throws and saw a potential conference win slip away.Northwestern (17-15) plays IU (20-12) at 7 p.m. today in Assembly Hall in the third round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Gerardot and her fellow teammates are looking to redeem themselves.“I think now you look at that (game) as a competitive athlete, and you just hate that,” Gerardot said. “It makes your skin crawl. So we want to be back on the floor and play well.”The Wildcats travel to Bloomington having just defeated IUPUI in the second round of the WNIT 88-52. In the win, Northwestern cruised to victory thanks, in part, to its second-half shooting performance where the Wildcats shot 75.9 percent from the floor.Apart from the obvious offensive success Northwestern had against IUPUI, IU Coach Curt Miller was impressed by the Wildcats’ defensive effort. Throughout the game, Northwestern relied on a three-quarter press and a variety of defensive schemes Miller expects to see again tonight.“They mixed defenses really well against IUPUI,” Miller said. “They dominated. Their defense really confused them, had them out of sync.”IU’s response to Northwestern’s defense will be led by freshman Larryn Brooks, who is averaging 22 points per game in the WNIT this year.Brooks said she had been slumping in recent games but believes her game is coming together. Miller credited her added emphasis on driving to the basket for her recent success. He said he believes the transition game against Northwestern will be key in deciding a winner.“Transition defense, I think, is the story of the game,” Miller said. “(Northwestern’s) really, really talented in transition. They’re probably more athletic in every single position out there, so we really have to get back in order to stop them.”Miller added at times, Northwestern scores almost 40 percent of its points in transition. Leading the transition scoring for the Wildcats this year has been freshman Nia Coffey. The 6-foot-1 forward leads the Wildcats averaging 15.3 points and grabbing a team-high 8.23 rebounds per game.In the earlier matchup between the teams this season, Coffey played only seven minutes before getting injured and sitting out the remainder of the game. Now that Coffey is healthy, freshman guard Alexis Gassion is expecting Coffey to return strong.“(Coffey) is a really talented freshman,” Gassion said. “We need to stop her aggressiveness and force her right. We definitely need to force her to her weaker hand to slow her down.”The Wildcats play an unconventional lineup that often plays without a true center. In recent games, Northwestern has shrunk its rotation down to seven players.Northwestern is the Big Ten’s worst rebounding team. Its lack of size led to IU grabbing 20 offensive rebounds the last time the teams met. Miller said rebounding against Northwestern, the Big Ten’s leader in blocks at 6.7 blocks per game, will be key for his team.“When you have a team that really goes after blocked shots, you have to out-offensive rebound them,” Miller said.Northwestern is the first Big Ten team IU will have played in the postseason. The Hoosiers are undefeated against non-conference opponents, but IU has lost six of its last seven games against Big Ten foes.Miller said IU is trying not focus on its recent Big Ten struggles and instead just “survive and advance” to the next round.“We’ve never tried to be anything other than ourselves,” Miller said. “We know who we are. There are teams that are more talented than us, but we want to be a thorn in people’s side and play hard and shake hands at the end of the night and let the win/loss take care of itself.”
(03/24/14 4:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The finality of losing in postseason college basketball creates an environment in which teams desperately compete to continue their seasons.There is little solace waiting for the next season after a loss. For seniors, careers come to an abrupt end with defeat. Every game is a fight for teams to live to play another game.In IU’s 72-69 victory against Marquette (22-11) in the second round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, the Hoosiers (20-12) fought off the Golden Eagles’ comeback while showing a toughness IU Coach Curt Miller said he hasn’t seen out of his team. Miller told his players in the locker room at halftime that despite having a 15 point lead, Marquette wouldn’t go down without a fight. His team needed to be ready to fend off a comeback.During crunch time, when IU most needed to stand strong to hold off to its lead, the Hoosiers fought and survived.“They’re starting to show a toughness that I’m not sure they had in November,” Miller said.After the game, freshman guard Taylor Agler on Twitter compared the physicality of the game to a cage fight.Agler took an inadvertent arm to the face from a Marquette player when fighting for a rebound that forced her to head to the bench briefly.Miller said Agler will likely have a black eye because of the play, but he was impressed with the way she fought it off and continued to play through it.It was that type of game for IU.“It was a battle,” senior forward Simone Deloach said.Marquette entered the game as the nation’s second leading rebounding team, outrebounding opponents by 13.3 boards per game.Deloach was charged with leading the Hoosiers’ defensive efforts against Marquette senior forward Katherine Plouffe, one of the nation’s premier post players. and a major reason behind Marquette’s rebounding success.Plouffe entered Saturday’s contest having just posted one of the standout performances in WNIT history in Marquette’s opening round win against Indiana State. Plouffe scored 19 points and a WNIT-record 26 rebounds against the Sycamores.Plouffe, who averages 17 points and 10 rebounds per game, was held to four points and six rebounds by Deloach and the rest of the IU post players. Plouffe didn’t score until the closing minutes of the opening half.“She really made us work,” Deloach said. “We knew it was going to be a tough challenge for our fours, but Tabitha (Gerardot) and Lyndsey (Leikem) had their work put in and I think they did a fantastic job.”The Hoosiers kept up with the Golden Eagles on the boards only being outrebounded by three.IU’s biggest rebound came from freshman Alexis Gassion who sealed the win with a rebound and subsequence made free throws after being intentionally fouled.Freshman Larryn Brooks, who fought for high percentage shots on offense.Miller said Brooks had been missing her “swagger” in recent games. But during shootaround before Marquette, he said, he saw it.Brooks was aggressive in getting to the basket. Despite facing Marquette’s large backcourt, Brooks fought to create opportunities around the basket and finished with 33 points. Brooks had 22 of her points in the opening half of play. She shot 8-for-11 from within the arc, most of those two-point opportunities coming after battling through defenders and getting layup opportunities.“She was aggressive and hunted for shots,” Miller said of Brooks. “She puts us on her back ... She was getting such good penetration that she was getting to the rim. She hadn’t gotten to the time against Big Ten teams like that for a while so it was really good to see.”
(03/12/14 3:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>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.”
(03/07/14 5:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>INDIANAPOLIS — IU Coach Curt Miller could pinpoint the exact play when IU’s hopes of a second-half comeback slipped away.With nine minutes 33 seconds remaining and the Hoosiers down by 10, freshman guard Larryn Brooks launched a 3-pointer from the wing. The ball carried too much steam and rattled off the rim and into the hands of Michigan’s junior guard Shannon Smith.Brooks’ 3-pointer would have brought the Hoosiers within seven points. It was inches away from bringing the Hoosiers back within single-digits and back into the game.But the opportunity went for naught. The shot missed and IU’s momentum slipped away. Throughout the entire second half, the Hoosiers could never get through the 10-point deficit barrier.“Our best player got a wide-open three to cut the game to seven and unfortunately that shot didn’t go in,” Miller said. “I think the momentum would have really changed.”The IU-heavy crowd was ready to explode if the Hoosiers (18-12) would have been able to cut the lead to single-digits.But after the ball didn’t go in. It caused the Hoosiers’ shoulders to drop and broke their spirit, Miller said.“You could see some of the wind come out of our sails,” he said.Michigan (18-12) responded with a 12-0 run.What could have been a seven-point game quickly turned into 22-point deficit.“You’ve played nearly 11 minutes,” Miller said. “And you’ve only been able to cut the lead to 10 and you’re looking up and going, ‘We’re giving our heart and soul out there,’ and you still only cut it to ten.”The Hoosiers pulled within 10 points six times during the second half, the final coming when Brooks missed her 3-pointer. All six times, Michigan stymied IU’s comeback chances.Freshman guard Alexis Gassion initially cut the deficit to 10 with 17 minutes 49 seconds remaining in the second half, the first of IU’s comeback attempts.Smith responded with a layup nine seconds later. She finished with 11 points in the second half and repeatedly had an answer to IU’s run.“The game’s a run,” Smith said. “They make a run, we try to make a run back.”Many of those runs were fueled by second-chance opportunities.Michigan outrebounded IU 42-31. Michigan’s 12 offensive rebounds led to 24 second-chance points.The 5-foot-7 Smith had two possessions where she managed to win an offensive rebound against IU’s post players and finish with a layup. Junior forward Cyesha Goree scored a game-high 18 points, most of which came in the paint off of rebounds.Other times it was self-inflicted mistakes that cost the Hoosiers. IU had a stretch where the Hoosiers turned the ball over because of charge calls three times around the 10-minute mark in the second half.“It felt like things weren’t going our way,” Gassion said.Miller said IU fought in the second half to make a comeback, but those efforts simply fell short. Michigan’s 15-point halftime lead and IU’s inability to get stops late in the game effectively put an end to IU’s hopes of advancing in the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2009.“We really competed in that first 10 or 11 minutes in that second half,” Miller said. “We ran out of gas, but I hoped they learned how hard it is to play and the effort you need to play with.”
(03/06/14 5:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s basketball team’s NCAA Tournament hopes have become simple — win the Big Ten Tournament and the Hoosiers are in.The Hoosiers (18-11, 5-11) will need to win the Big Ten Tournament, which starts today against Michigan, in order to claim an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament.Entering the conference tournament as a No. 10 seed, IU is a longshot to win the Big Ten title and clinch the automatic berth. But IU Coach Curt Miller said his team is preparing to compete for the championship until the end.“We’re not packing for one day,” Miller said Monday on his weekly radio show. “We’re packing for a long stay up there, and that’s what we’re going up there to do.”IU is 14-18 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament and last won the tournament in 2002 as a No. 5 seed. The Hoosiers knocked off No. 4 Iowa, No. 1 Purdue and No. 2 Penn State en route to winning the conference crown.IU’s immediate path to the tournament finals this season is not much easier. IU plays No. 7 Michigan at 6:30 tonight for a chance to play No. 2 Michigan State tomorrow.The Hoosiers have not made it past the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament since 2009. Graduate student Sasha Chaplin is the only current Hoosier who was on that team, so experience will be at a premium. Winning will require the Hoosiers to claim four wins in four days. Because of the grind of compact tournament format, senior center Simone Deloach said mental clarity will be the key for stringing together wins.“(We) just gotta stay focused,” Deloach said. “Of course, we’ve got to take it one game at a time, but definitely the focus has to be there.”IU starts three freshmen guards — Larryn Brooks, Alexis Gassion and Taylor Agler — who will all be making their first appearances in the Big Ten Tournament. The trio headline a freshman class that accounts for 60 percent of IU’s scoring this season.Because of the level of inexperience, Deloach said the upperclassmen are trying to use their past experiences to prepare the younger kids for postseason play.Brooks, named Second-Team All-Big Ten on Monday, expects some of the toughest games IU has played yet. The Hoosiers’ leading scorer with 5.9 points per game, Brooks said IU will need to prepare to face adversity.“Everybody wants to be playing their best basketball,” she said. “We just gotta keep our heads when we get down.”The Hoosiers look to quickly rebound after suffering a 20-point blowout loss to Michigan State last Sunday.Although the No. 10 seeded Hoosiers will be underdogs, Brooks said she and her teammates are ready to make a run.“I feel like this whole season, we’ve just kind of been up and down,” Brooks said. “We just want to be playing our best basketball in March. We know what we have to do to get to the tournament. We just want to make a big run.”
(03/03/14 5:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Newly-crowned Big Ten Champion No. 21 Michigan State outscored IU 20-2 during a six minute 10 second stretch en route to defeating the Hoosiers 76-56 on Sunday.The loss secures IU a No. 10 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and a first-round matchup against No. 7 Michigan at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The two teams will compete for a chance to play the same Spartan team that beat IU by 20 yesterday in the second round.Senior forward Simone Deloach said IU (18-11, 5-11) wanted to enter the Big Ten Tournament with momentum, but the Spartans (20-8, 13-3) overpowered IU, ending the Hoosiers’ hopes of entering tournament on a winning streak.After the teams exchanged buckets early, Deloach scored a layup with 12 minutes 17 seconds remaining in the first half to cut Michigan State’s lead to two. Michigan State junior forward Becca Mills responded with a 3-pointer, sparking a 9-0 run to put the Spartans ahead 23-12.During the run and throughout the night, the Spartan defense forced the Hoosiers into taking low-percentage shots. Michigan State Coach Suzy Merchant played primarily with four players on the court who all stood taller than 6 feet. The length of Merchant’s Spartan team gave the Hoosiers trouble throughout the game. IU was held to 37.1 percent shooting from the floor.“(Merchant) has got great length on her team,” IU Coach Curt Miller said. “She’s got strong, powerful kids. Her length and athleticism has always been hard to score over.”IU climbed back within five points when senior forward Milika Taufa converted on a 3-pointer with 1 minute 56 seconds remaining in the first half. Taufa’s trey would be the closest IU would get to retaking the lead.Michigan State opened the second half with an 11-2 run to extend its lead to 49-28. The Spartans would keep the lead around 20 points the rest of the night.IU freshman guard Larryn Brooks — the Hoosiers leading scorer averaging 15.9 points per game — was held to five points on 2-of-11 shooting. The Spartans forced Brooks into five turnovers and stymied IU’s ball-screen offense. Freshman forward Lyndsay Leikem was the only Hoosier to record double-digit scoring.“(Michigan State) has post players athletic enough to switch on fast guards late in shot clocks and give them troubles,” Miller said. “And big enough size with guards so that late in switches you can’t find that matchup fast enough.”The Spartans were led by freshman forward Aerial Powers’ 23 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes of play. IU had no answer for Powers, the game’s leading scorer. Miller said she has made obvious improvements since he saw her play in high school. “Aerial Powers has really grown since high school,” Miller said. “She has all the talent in the world, but didn’t always play hard. Now you have (Merchant) having her play hard and a lot more discipline.”Miller complimented Michigan State’s freshman class after the game. He said he compares both program’s freshmen as he tries to build IU into a program capable of winning the Big Ten crown as Michigan State did.“We’ve had a really, really talented freshman class,” Miller said. “We’ve got to keep recruiting players like Michigan State does for us to rebuild the program like this.”
(02/28/14 5:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU women’s basketball travels to East Lansing, Mich., Saturday with Big Ten Tournament seeding hanging in the balance.The Hoosiers (18-10, 5-10) are in a three-way tie for eighth place in the league with Ohio State and Northwestern, and will finish at best in 8th place — and at worst 10th. Both the Buckeyes and the Wildcats own tie-breakers against the Hoosiers, both defeating IU in the regular season. The Spartans (20-8, 12-3) are in a three-way tie with Nebraska and Penn State for the Big Ten regular-season championship but lose to both in tie-breakers. With both teams fighting for leverage in the overall standings, the result of the 6 p.m. game will help shape the Big Ten Tournament bracket.Because of the numerous scenarios that could play out this weekend impacting seeding, IU Coach Curt Miller said he is trying to have his team focus on the game ahead rather than what it means in terms of tournament matchups.“We can only control what we can control,” Miller said. “We don’t know who else is going to win these last few games.”Michigan State returns home having defeated Northwestern 75-44 on Friday. The Hoosiers will look to rebound from a 73-62 loss to Minnesota.The Spartan offense is led by do-it-all guard Aerial Powers. The 6-foot freshman leads Michigan State with 13.3 points per game while also hauling in 7.7 rebounds per game, the eighth most in the conference.Powers recorded a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds against Northwestern Friday night.Michigan State typically start three forwards who stand taller than 6-foot. Their length has helped the Spartans become the second-best rebounding team in the conference, hauling in 41.4 boards per game. The Hoosiers struggled in matching up with Minnesota freshman Amanda Zahui B. in their last game. The 6-foot-5 post player recorded 26 points and 19 rebounds on Friday. Zahui’s performance in the post, combined with poor shooting, were too much for IU to overcome. IU shot just 30 percent from the field and 42 percent from the free-throw line. Miller will be looking for IU to shoot better against Michigan State. He said the poor second-half shooting against Minnesota was too much to overcome.“All those things add up,” he said. The Hoosier offense will likely rely on freshman guard Larryn Brooks to get back on track. Brooks, IU’s leading scorer with 16.3 points per game, set the IU freshman single-season scoring record on Friday with her nine-point performance. She now has a program-best 456 points on the season.Sunday’s game marks the final chance for IU to pick up momentum before the conference tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse begins on Thursday. Miller said his team has not peaked yet this year, and wants IU to have confidence going into the postseason.“We just need to hopefully be playing well going into the Big Ten Tournament,” Miller said.@Sam_Beishuizen
(02/27/14 4:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Coach Curt Miller said he thinks his team has yet to play to its full potential, but time is working against his Hoosier team.The Big Ten Tournament is exactly one week away. The IU women’s basketball team has only two more games to reach the level of play Miller thinks his team is capable of before every game becomes a must-win.The Hoosiers (18-9, 5-9) have an opportunity to get closer to that level tonight on the road against Minnesota (17-11, 6-8) in Minneapolis.“I’d like this team to peak,” Miller said. “If we can finish strong, and I feel like we’re playing good basketball regardless of wins and losses. Peaking in March would be really important for us.”IU has a chance to complete a season sweep of the Gophers for the first time since 2000-01. Doing so would further solidify IU’s chances for a WNIT at-large bid.Minnesota is playing with its NCAA Tournament hopes hanging in the balance. The Gophers are 43rd in the RPI and are coming off back-to-back double-digit losses to Purdue and Michigan State.“They know they probably got to get to .500 (in the Big Ten) to get an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament,” Miller said. “Both teams are playing for a lot, and we expect a very spirited Minnesota team.”The Golden Gophers rely on a ball-screen offense that runs primarily through junior guard Rachel Banham and freshman center Amanda Zahui B.The two combined to score 54 points against IU in the first meeting between the teams. Zahui B. shot 11-of-12 from the floor and hauled in seven rebounds in the losing effort.The Hoosier most likely to be charged with guarding the 6-foot-5 Zahui B. is senior center Simone Deloach. Miller called Deloach his most physical post player and said IU will need to limit Zahui B.’s touches if they want to contain her.Deloach said she is ready for the challenge of competing against the Big Ten’s leading rebounder.“It’s a defensive challenge for me, but I’m going in there with confidence and feel good about it,” Deloach said. “I’m just going to battle.”At the other end of the ball-screens is normally Banham. She’s the Big Ten’s leading scorer, averaging 22.3 points per game and registered 31 points during Minnesota’s loss against Michigan State on Monday.Banham took 47.6 percent of Minnesota’s shots in the loss to the Spartans, shooting 11-of-30 from the floor. Miller said IU can afford to let Banham score at a high clip as long as they force her to shoot a poor percentage like the Spartans did Monday.On the offensive end, IU will look to push the tempo of the game against a Minnesota team that ranks second in the Big Ten in scoring defense allowing 62.6 points per game.IU has struggled in recent games to make shots down the stretch. Freshman guard Alexis Gassion said she believes the IU offense is best when running the floor.“(Miller) thinks that we’re best when we push,” Gassion said. “We’re not really thinking about it so we just go. I think we all like that better than taking our time up the court.”The Hoosiers can finish as high as 7th in the Big Ten standings and as low as 10th in the conference depending on their games as well as other teams’ results.Deloach said adding more wins in the final regular season games would give IU much needed momentum before a tournament run.“It would definitely mean a lot,” Deloach said. “We’re excited about the Big Ten Tournament, but we’ve got two games left. I think it would just give us that much more confidence going into the tournament.”
(02/26/14 9:50pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Coach Curt Miller said he thinks his team has yet to play to its full potential, but time is working against his Hoosier team.The Big Ten Tournament is exactly one week away. The IU women’s basketball team has only two more games to reach the level of play Miller thinks his team is capable of before every game becomes a must-win.The Hoosiers (18-9, 5-9) have an opportunity to get closer to that level tonight on the road against Minnesota (17-11, 6-8) in Minneapolis.“I’d like this team to peak,” Miller said. “If we can finish strong, and I feel like we’re playing good basketball regardless of wins and losses. Peaking in March would be really important for us.”IU has a chance to complete a season-sweep of the Gophers for the first time since 2000-01. Doing so would further solidify IU’s chances for a WNIT at-large bid.Minnesota is playing with its NCAA Tournament hopes hanging in the balance. The Gophers are 43rd in the RPI and are coming off back-to-back double-digit losses to Purdue and Michigan State.“They know they probably got to get to .500 (in the Big Ten) to get an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament,” Miller said. “Both teams are playing for a lot, and we expect a very spirited Minnesota team.”The Golden Gophers rely on a ball-screen offense that runs primarily through junior guard Rachel Banham and freshman center Amanda Zahui B.The two combined to score 54 points against IU in the first meeting between the teams. Zahui B. shot 11-of-12 from the floor and hauled in seven rebounds in the losing effort.The Hoosier likely to be charged with guarding the 6-foot-5 Zahui B. is senior center Simone Deloach. Miller called Deloach his most physical post player and said IU will need to limit Zahui B.’s touches if they want to contain her.Deloach said she is ready for the challenge of competing against the Big Ten’s leading rebounder, Zahui B.“It’s a defensive challenge for me, but I’m going in there with confidence and feel good about it,” Deloach said. “I’m just going to battle.”At the other end of the ball-screens is normally Banham. She’s the Big Ten’s leading scorer, averaging 22.3 points per game and registered 31 points in Minnesota’s loss against Michigan State on Monday.Banham took 47.6 percent of Minnesota’s shots in the loss to the Spartans, shooting 11-of-30 from the floor. Miller said IU can afford to let Banham score at a high clip as long as they force her to shoot a poor percentage like the Spartans did on Monday.On the offensive end, IU will look to push the tempo of the game against a Minnesota team that ranks second in the Big Ten in scoring defense allowing 62.6 points per game.IU has struggled in recent games making shots down the stretch. Freshman guard Alexis Gassion said she believes the IU offense is best when running the floor.“(Miller) thinks that we’re best when we push,” Gassion said. “We’re not really thinking about it so we just go. I think we all like that better than taking our time up the court.”The Hoosiers can finish as high as 7th in the Big Ten standings and as low as 10th in the conference depending on their games as well as other teams’ results.Deloach said adding more wins in the final regular season games would give IU much needed momentum before a tournament run.“It would definitely mean a lot,” Deloach said. “We’re excited about the Big Ten Tournament, but we’ve got two games left. I think it would just give us that much more confidence going into the tournament.”
(02/25/14 4:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Senior center Simone Deloach said she will always remember Nov. 22, 2010 — the day of her official IU visit as a high school student.It was snowing outside, an unfamiliar sight for the Round Rock, Texas, native, and her host player was now-graduate student Sasha Chaplin.Four years and 96 games later, Deloach said it was her official visit to Bloomington that won her over. She’s now in the closing stretch of her time as an IU player, but though her collegiate career is ending, Deloach said her basketball career may not be finished yet.Provided she stays healthy, Deloach wants the opportunity to play basketball on a professional level after graduation.With only 36 players drafted into the WNBA last year, Deloach’s options for turning professional are not limited to the United States. There are a number of international leagues, headlined by the FIBA EuroLeague Women, which could show interest in the 6-foot-3 forward/center.It’s an opportunity Deloach said she is eager to take.“If my body will hold up, I’d love to go overseas,” Deloach said.IU Coach Curt Miller has reiterated throughout the season that he thinks Deloach will sign with a professional team. He said he believes she has the talent to join a team and help them win games immediately.“Simone will play professional basketball,” Miller said. “There’s always a need for bigs overseas and she could go over to a lot of international leagues, foreign leagues and help programs immediately rebound and defend.”Deloach’s transformation from a backup post player to a professional prospect has come through consistent growth throughout her time at IU.After playing in 26 games as a freshman, she was limited to 15 games her sophomore season at IU due to lingering effects of an ACL tear from high school. As she returned to health, her stats began to rise and she further developed her skills.In her junior season, she played in 29 games and averaged 3.3 points and 4 rebounds per game while coming off the bench for the majority of the season. Now a senior, Deloach has appeared in every game this year and started the last six.She registered a breakout performance on her 22nd birthday against Wisconsin, when she tallied 14 points and 14 rebounds. It was her third of four double-doubles this season and helped lead IU to a win, but after the game she shied away from the spotlight.“I just like to contribute to wherever I can,” she said.As Big Ten play began, Deloach’s season took off. She has averaged a team-high 7.7 rebounds along with scoring 7.1 points per game in conference play. She’s also recorded a team-leading 19 blocks while averaging 17.9 minutes per game.Miller commended Deloach’s improvements on the court since his arrival to IU prior to last season. He said her development has played a vital role in IU (18-9, 5-9) achieving the fourth-highest win total in program history this season.“She might be the biggest success story on court for us in our early tenure,” Miller said. “Just to see where she came from when we inherited her and where she is now.”Deloach credited her improvements on the court this year to her offseason training during the summer in hopes of being able to have an impressive senior season. When she returned to practice, she was keeping up with guards in agility drills.“Over the summer I got in the best shape of my life and I was feeling great,” she said. “I just felt like I could (play professionally). The dream hasn’t died.”While Deloach’s dreams still has sights on a professional career, her work at IU is not done. The Hoosiers have two road games, against Minnesota and Michigan State, left to play before the Big Ten Tournament.Deloach said she wants to end her IU career on a high note. But although her days as a Hoosier are limited, her dreams of being a basketball player will live on past March.“Right now, I just want to finish the season as strongly as I can,” Deloach said. “Once the season is over, if the opportunity is still there, then absolutely.”
(02/24/14 5:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Coach Curt Miller said he wanted to send his senior class out of Assembly Hall with a win.He got his wish.The Hoosiers (18-9, 5-9) never trailed and coasted to a 79-61 victory against Illinois (9-18, 2-12) Saturday on senior night.“We have a lot of young kids that contribute on the floor, and they played their hearts and souls out for that senior class today,” Miller said. “(I’m) really excited for our seniors on senior day to go out with a victory in Assembly Hall.”IU opened the game on a 20-5 run, during which the Hoosiers’ starting guards combined for 16 early points. Quick hands early on the defensive end led to four steals during the game’s opening minutes. Those steals led to 13 points off of Illinois turnovers, helping IU build its 15-point lead.Turning turnovers into points became a major scoring source for IU, which scored 27 points off 16 Illini turnovers.“We wanted to run early in transition,” Miller said. “I thought our defense was really aggressive early, and we got a lot of deflections which set the tempo.”Illinois responded to IU’s quick start with a 7-0 run of its own to cut the deficit to eight.That would be the closest Illinois got to threatening the Hoosier lead.Senior forward Simone Deloach scored on a layup in the post, and freshman guard Larryn Brooks walked into a 3-pointer to spark a quick 5-0 run and build a 13-point lead. The Illini never got within nine points the rest of the game.Illinois was without 6-foot-3 freshman forward Jacqui Grant — the team’s third-leading scorer — who missed the game due to illness. With Grant’s absence, the Hoosiers put extra emphasis on attacking the Illini’s remaining post-players. The Hoosiers scored 42 points in the paint and got a career-high 14 point performance from Deloach.IU’s success in the paint opened the floor for its 3-point shooters to score from beyond the arc. The freshman guard trio of Brooks, Alexis Gassion and Taylor Agler converted on all nine of IUs made 3-pointers, setting the IU single-season record for made 3-pointers with 206 in the process.Brooks led all scorers with 20 points and finished one assist shy of a double-double. Agler, Gassion and Deloach all joined Brooks with double-digit scoring, and senior forward Tabitha Gerardot added nine points of her own. IU’s starting five accounted for 73 of the team’s 79 points.Gassion said creating balance between 3-point shooting and attacking the post was a major talking point in practice this week.“That was one of our goals,” Gassion said. “We wanted to balance inside and out, so we wanted the post to get some catches, but the guards to shoot some threes, too.”Miller said IU still has improving to do if they want to continue to win games this year.With two games remaining before the Big Ten Tournament and a potential postseason tournament left to play, he said IU has yet to play a complete game where all five positions were playing well this season. Miller said the quick start against the Illini made up for IU’s mistakes.“We weren’t perfect,” Miller said. “There was still some scout mistakes. There was still some fundamental mistakes, but we survived them because we had a cushion.”Follow reporter Sam Beishuizen on Tiwtter @Sam_Beishuizen.
(02/21/14 4:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The seniors on the IU women’s basketball team don’t want to end their careers at Assembly Hall like they did Wednesday against Michigan.IU (17-9, 4-9) led by six at halftime, but its lead quickly evaporated in the second half. Senior forward Simone Deloach said the Hoosiers lost their toughness, leading to a 70-58 loss.Deloach and the rest of the senior class — Sasha Chaplin, Andrea Newbauer and Milika Taufa, along with senior transfer Tabitha Gerardot — have one final regular season home game at 3:30 p.m. Saturday against Illinois.The seniors have put extra emphasis on the game to end their careers at Assembly Hall on a positive note.“It definitely is (added motivation),” Deloach said. “It’s going to be an emotional game. It will probably bring out some better emotions within us for the seniors and the entire team. I think it will be a good boost to help push us through.”IU’s three true seniors went 26-63 during their first three years at IU, winning only six Big Ten games.Following a 6-24 season their sophomore year, IU fired Coach Felisha Legette-Jack and hired IU Coach Curt Miller.Miller quickly drew up a rebuilding plan and began to work on revitalizing the struggling IU program. He not only brought in new schemes on the court, but he also put an emphasis on setting the foundation for making IU a program capable of regularly competing for national championships in the future.Miller said this year’s seniors were a big part in building the locker room he needed.“The initial buy-in happened off the court,” Miller said. “They tried to build a locker room chemistry and not smaller cliques. It was really important that we had their buy-in early, and they did.”Chaplin, a sixth-year graduate student who is celebrating her second senior day after being granted an extra year of eligibility, said she has been impressed with the way the program has grown since coming to IU six years ago.She watched as Cook Hall was built during her tenure, but said the biggest growth has been the fans.“We’ve had good moments in those previous seasons where we did well, and we had those moments where we didn’t do so well,” Chaplin said. “Just the community actually coming and standing behind us these past seasons. It’s really cool to see more fans show up and to embrace the game.”This season, fans watched IU win 17 games with at least four more games remaining. It’s the most games the program has won since the 2008-09 season.Though there is still basketball left to play, this year’s senior class leaves the program well before IU is ready to become the powerhouse team Miller is trying to create. Instead, they’ve laid the framework for future players.“It’s actually pretty good to see the program making those stepping stones and us this year as well as last year laying that foundation for the program,” Deloach said. “It’s a great feeling leaving with a positive note with the system.”Follow reporter Sam Beishuizen on Twitter @Sam_Beishuizen