Indiana Women's Basketball Needs These Three Things to Happen to Make a Deep Postseason Run
By Dante Pryor
The Hoosiers Look to Make a Run this Postseason
Indiana has been here before. Last year, the Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular-season title and made it to the tournament semifinal before falling to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Mackenzie Holmes hurt her knee and was less than 100 percent in the NCAA Tournament. As a result, the Hoosiers fell at home to Miami.
Teri Moren and the Hoosiers want to make a run this season. They felt last year should have gone better, especially during March Madness. Here are three things that need to go well for Indiana Women's Basketball to make a run deep in the Big Ten Tournament and March Madness.
3. Chloe Moore-McNeil has to Play Huge
Moore-McNeil is Indiana's most reliable guard on offense. She doesn't turn the ball over and gets the Hoosiers in the correct offensive sets. That's not where Moore-McNeil's value lies in the postseason, however. Her actual value is her ability to guard one through four, specifically, the opposition's best player.
Moore-McNeil does what the team needs from her that night. If they need her to score, she'll do that. If they need her to distribute, she'll do that. In the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments, Indiana will need her to clamp down on the other team's best player.
2. Force Teams to Play at Their Pace
There is a formula for defeating Indiana: turn them over, spread the floor, and run. Ohio State, Iowa, and Illinois took the ball out of Moore-McNeil's hands, spread it out, and ran in transition. While the Hoosiers can run the floor, they want to play at a more methodical pace.
Playing in the half-court also benefits Indiana's defense. They are one of the better rebounding teams in the conference, and playing half-court defense allows them to get out in their transition game. Indiana needs to slow it down.
1. Mackenzie Holmes' Knee
The star forward left Indiana's season finale against Maryland with a little over one minute left in the third quarter. Holmes had not been healthy the previous two postseasons. She has battled knee injuries her entire career in Bloomington. If she isn't at her best, Indiana doesn't have a player who can score as reliably as she can.