Indiana Loves You, Mackenzie Holmes

Dear Mackenzie,

Where do we even start? YOU came to Bloomington as a small town girl from Maine with big time dreams. Before your Hoosier career began, YOU were among the top recruits in the country and everyone knew about the massive amount of potential YOU had. The question was whether or not YOU could deliver with all of the hype surrounding your name.

Not only did YOU deliver, YOU put Indiana women's basketball on the map.

Not only are YOU the 2nd all-time leading scorer in the history of Hoosier basketball (trailing only the legendary Calbert Cheaney), but YOU are an inspiration to young basketball players everywhere. Not only did YOU and your teammates keep the entire Indiana basketball program afloat amidst the struggles on the men's side of the spectrum this season, but your squad made a profound statement indicating that Indiana women's basketball is not to be taken lightly.

YOU were the catalyst of this movement.

Perhaps the twilight of your tenure did not turn out as triumphant as everyone was hoping for, but we sure have an abundance of memories in our collection of mental trophies. The entire Indiana women's basketball team deserves an immense amount of credit for all of the work that they have put in, and we tip our caps to Teri Moren and her staff for resurrecting this program over the course of the last few seasons.

YOU spearheaded this renaissance.

We may never see YOU trot out of the locker room in your candy stripe warm-ups again, and we may never see YOU play another game in your cream and crimson #54 uniform. Regardless, we all know that there are nothing but great things that lie ahead in your future. We absolutely hate to see YOU go, and reflecting on your career brings bittersweet butterflies to our hearts as we reminisce on your greatness while simultaneously remembering the first sentence of this paragraph.

YOU will always be a major member of the Indiana Hoosier family.

Keep going, Mackenzie! We love YOU!

Sincerely,

The Entire State of Indiana