Indiana's women's basketball team celebrates after being named a No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament Sunday.
(Patrick Beane / WTIU)
Indiana’s women’s basketball players leapt to their feet cheering Sunday night when the No. 1 seed in the Greenville II Regional was unveiled.
Watching together from the stands at Simon Skojt Assembly Hall, they celebrated becoming the first team in program history to earn a top seed in an NCAA women’s basketball tournament.
The Hoosiers will host the first two rounds this Saturday and Monday. IU will play the winner of a first four matchup Thursday between 16-seeds Tennessee Tech and Monmouth at 11:30 a.m., followed by No. 8 seed Oklahoma State and No. 9 Miami (Fla.). The winners playing Monday for a spot in the Sweet 16.
A No. 1 seed wasn’t unexpected.
Indiana went 27-3 overall and 16-2 in the Big Ten, winning their first conference title since 1983. IU peaked at No. 2 in the rankings before finishing the season ranked third.
“To actually see it, you know, on the big screen, actually see that No. 1 next to our name, I mean, it's something that, looking back on, I might not have thought was possible,” fifth-year senior Grace Berger. “So, it's really special.
“Like I say all the time, just to see where we came from when I first got here in 2018 to where we are now. It's definitely one of those moments where it kind of feels surreal.”
When Berger arrived in 2018, Indiana had been to the tournament just twice since the turn of the century. Since then, the Hoosiers have made the last four tournaments. It would be five, but the pandemic wiped out the 2020 postseason. They’ve gone to the Elite Eight and the Sweet 16 the past two seasons.
It’s that postseason experience, along with the grind of playing in a high-powered Big Ten, that senior Mackenzie Holmes thinks will benefit the Hoosiers.
“Obviously, the Big 10 is, I think, the best conference in the country,” Holmes said. “So, we're going against tournament ready teams every single night. I think that that helps us along with our past experiences in the tournament as well.”
Holmes led the Hoosiers with 22.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and was named first All-Big Ten and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Men earn No. 4 seed
Indiana was seeded fourth in the Midwest Regional and will play No. 13 seed Kent State Friday night at 9:55 in Albany, N.Y.
The Hoosiers finished tied for second in the Big Ten with a 12-8 record. Overall, Indiana finished 22-11.
Led by senior All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis’ 20.8 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, the Hoosiers will be favored against the Flashes.
“It's a game of inches in tournament play in you know,” IU head coach Mike Woodson said. “I can relate back to when I was in college, how we lost a Villanova at the buzzer after being up the whole game.
“I mean, nobody wants to go home in March Madness, and I get it. That's why you've got to be ready to play every minute, every second of every game that you get an opportunity to play.”
Kent State finished 28-6 and won the Mid-American Conference tournament championship after finishing second in the conference.
If Indiana wins, it would face the winner of No.5 seed Miami (Fla.) and No. 12 Drake on Sunday.
It’s the second straight year the Hoosiers have made the tournament after a six-year drought. Last year, Indiana beat Wyoming in a First Four game but lost in the first round to St. Mary’s (Calif.).
