Hello and welcome back everybody to another episode of the
Crimson Cast Podcast, Cameron Vera and Amanda Foster for you
here today. As always, it's the first week
of March, and that means the regular season is over.
And, well, now the Hoosiers have their attention towards the
postseason. Amanda, it's it's been a fun
season. It's been a fun regular season.
But how are you? I mean it's I mean it's already
March 6th. Which is crazy that it is
already marched. And I know that we were last
week when we recorded our episode, it was March 1st and we
were talking about how it was insane that it was already
marched. And now I can't believe we're
already almost a weekend and it is going by so quickly And this
the season flew by like I can't even.
But it's weird because part of me, like I don't remember the
beginning of the season, like the Stanford game and like those
games in Florida feel like they were forever ago and they were
back in November. But it also feels like they
could have been a couple weeks ago.
And I wouldn't question it because it's there's so much has
happened this season and it has. It's absolutely flown by and I
can't believe that we're already in the postseason and it kind of
makes me sad because this is my last time covering them as a
student at least. And I'm, I haven't thought about
it a whole lot. But now I'm starting to think
about it and I don't like that I'm thinking about it.
But obviously it's like it's very it's kind of it's kind of
bittersweet. Like I wish it could just be
regular season basketball for like the whole year because then
it wouldn't have to end. I don't know.
It's there's a lot going on. But no I'm good.
It's it's almost, but I'm traveling to Minnesota tomorrow
so there's a lot to prepare for for that, but it's going to be a
good time, so. Yeah, so the regular season ends
and and Indiana, the final game of the year, they get the 71 to
54 victory over Maryland. We can.
That's not the point of today's episode.
We can touch on it a little bit, I guess.
What did you see from from that game?
I mean, The thing is with that game is that that day was not
about that game. And even the game, like the
final score and everything is not the big thing about that
game Because first of all, it was senior night or Senior Day.
So you got Mackenzie Holmes and Sarah Scalia and Ariel Wisney.
We were all honored and it was very sweet and very nice and
everybody loved it. But I mean the the big thing
about that game, and it's undeniable, is the injuries that
Indiana had. And so when I think about that
game, like as as good of a night that Sarah Scalia had from
shooting and from from the three-point line, and, you know,
as successful as Indiana was in terms of beating Maryland, I
hate to say it, but I think the win to me does not really mean
as much as maybe it should as their final regular season game
just because of how Mackenzie Holmes and Lily Meister went
down and the uncertainty that is around them.
That's that's the big thing that you have to think about when you
think about that game. Yeah, we'll touch on it a little
bit more as we get deeper into the episode.
But I don't want to shy away from this game just because it
was a it was a great defensive performance by Indiana.
Just some, just some quick numbers.
Maryland only shot 28% from the field and they shot 18.8% from
three. They went three for 16 from deep
and then only made nineteen shots out of 67 attempts from
the field. It was it was a really good
defensive game by Indiana. Very physical game, Amanda.
Very. Very physical game.
You made me laugh because it was in the in the first quarter you
tweeted out, oh, I think this game is about to be a very
physical one. There's something along those
lines. And then literally like 5
minutes into the game, you know it it became that and Terry
touched on it a little bit in the post game.
But yeah, I mean obviously the the storyline of that game or
everything or the thing that everybody took out of was
obviously the Mackenzie and Lily injury, which we'll get into
later. But obviously regular season's
over. So that means the Big 10
tournament is coming up and and you know, Amanda, you're going
to be there. Could be fun.
I'm very excited. Yeah, I mean right now, in the
grand scheme of things, before we get into the tournament,
let's actually talk about just Indiana and the regular season.
So they finished 24 and four, a perfect 15 and O record in
Assembly Hall this year. They finished third overall in
the conference, won 15 games in the Big 10 this year, and I mean
they're entering the tournament as the number overall three
seed. They'll have a buy up until the
Friday into the corner quarterfinals, so they won't
play for a little bit this week. The tournament starts today,
actually the day we're recording Wednesday, so the first couple
games will be played today. We're going to go over just a
little bit of the season. The obviously the four losses
that Indiana suffered game against Stanford, Iowa, Ohio
State and then Illinois back on February 19th.
You know when you look at those losses on paper, they are the
the besides the Illinois one, they're the ones, the losses
that Indiana suffered are kind of the ones that you expect on
the schedule. There's not really one.
Even that Illinois loss isn't horrible because, you know, it's
on the road. Yeah, it's like it's Illinois.
Was expected to be good. Expected to be good.
It's deeper into the season on the road, right?
You know, obviously you didn't want it to happen, but you know,
Stanford, Iowa and Ohio State are kind of the ones that you
expected. Yeah.
Go ahead, go ahead. If I may, I was about to ask.
Yeah, yeah, the the Illinois game was kind of a fluke game in
my mind. I think in in some ways.
And you're always going to have like you have 4 losses on the
season. One of them's just not going to
be a good loss. Like that's kind of how it
works. And going to the the Stanford,
Iowa, Ohio State game, I know that we've talked about this.
A lot of people have talked about this.
Terry has talked about this. You play any of those teams at
Assembly Hall, Indiana beats them.
They beat Iowa at Assembly Hall. I think if you bring Ohio State
and you bring Stanford and Indiana would have won.
And so that's something that at least for me, I am considering
and I'm thinking about just when when we talk about those losses
and we talk about Indiana season as a whole is that it's AI think
it's a really big shame that Indiana was not able to play
Ohio State twice and play them here in Bloomington as well as
in Ohio, which I don't know how that came up high, how that was
scheduled. But I think for me that was
disappointing if for a lot of ways.
And then if Stanford had played Indiana here, I think Indiana
would have beaten them. And I think if they happen to
match up again in the NCAA tournament, which in some of the
bracketology stuff that has come out has been a possibility,
depending on how things shake out like that, Indiana has
improved a lot. A lot has happened since that
Stanford loss. So I think like they were good
losses and I think they could have been wins, I guess, if that
makes sense in different environments, different
scenarios, whatever. But I don't.
You can't discount what those games would have been at home, I
guess, if that makes sense. Yeah.
And and I mean, look, all three of those, all four of them
really are quality opponents and you know the Stanford loss was
early in the year. So that holds a little bit less
weight I would say. And then I mean look Iowa is,
is, is projected right now to be a top two seed, could easily
have been a number one seed and and Ohio State is, is really, I
mean I don't know if there's many teams better than Ohio
State moving out through the out throughout the rest of the year.
So I mean look, I think I think you look at those four losses
for Indiana and you understand them right, you understand how,
how they. They're understandable losses,
which I think is a big it's a big thing.
Yeah, they're, they're understandable.
So look, I mean 24 and four is still a great record.
And you know, let's forget about the losses for a second.
I want to look at the best wins that Indiana had this season.
Obviously the two wins over in Fort Myers against Tennessee and
Princeton, the win at Nebraska that was probably the their most
dominant performance of the season just from from start to
finish, it was. It was really, I mean 40 minutes
of Indiana basketball at its finest.
The win here at home against Michigan State was another, the
quality one, just considering how offensively powered the
Spartans are this year. And then of course the the the
win against Iowa here this season, all five of those teams,
right? Is that 5 teams?
Yeah, all five of those teams are projected to be in the NCAA
tournament come they're from 7th to the 9th seed.
They're kind of floating around. Obviously right now it's just
purely off projection. But I was looking at it last
night and and all five of those teams are supposed to make the
NCAA tournament. They're going to make the NCAA
tournament against something unless something crazy happens.
But yeah, those are all quality wins right there.
I think the best one, obviously is the Iowa win.
Oh, no doubt. Yeah, no doubt.
But really, the one that sticks out to me, the the Tennessee
one, the Tennessee one, I think is, is a really good one.
Well, the interesting thing about the Tennessee one is that
it looked good and then it didn't look good because
Tennessee was not playing very well.
But then they came out and on Sunday went toe to toe with
South Carolina for the majority of the game.
And so that I there was a time where I would have hesitated to
list that Tennessee win as a good one.
But I think in the long run, you're right, Is that it?
It could definitely stand out when you now that the season is
over, looking at Tennessee's overall season because there was
kind of that concern before, especially before Indiana beat
Iowa. Like, OK, well you have some
decent wins, but like are they against teams that have been
consistently good and have been like, you know, super
competitive and maybe Tennessee hasn't been consistently good or
all around competitive, but they've shown that they are a
very talented team. And so looking back at the way
that Indiana beat them is is impressive and Tennessee had
injuries when Indiana played them and all of that.
But no, I agree that that is one of their best ones.
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that because you are 100% right
that after that game that was kind of the first block that you
know broke down for Tennessee's season.
I mean they kind of struggled a little bit after that.
But yeah I mean the Nebraska I'm curious to see what the
committee or I guess how the committee weighs non conference
over conference wins right you know if you take away and.
Because it was a neutral site. Yeah, it was neutral site.
I mean, take away the Iowa game out of out of those, like like
is Princeton a better win than Michigan State, right.
Like that's a question the committee is going to have to
answer come Selection Sunday. But regardless, I mean those are
Indiana's best wins looking over the entire regular season.
Yeah, they get two really good wins in Florida, a good win over
at Nebraska. I think that was, you know, I
touched on it just a few seconds ago, but that was the
performance I was most surprised with, most impressed with, I
should say by Indiana. Just a really, really good game.
The quality team over there at Nebraska, I mean the Nebraska
could very easily make a little bit of a run this NCAA
tournament. They're a deep team, a very,
very polished team. But yeah, some some regular
season numbers just to round out the year.
The top three leading scorers for Indiana, obviously McKenzie
Holmes was first with 20.7 points per game.
Sarah Scalia was coming in that second with 16.3 and then
yarding Arizona was a final one with 11.7.
Those three were the only ones that were averaged double digit
numbers in the regular season. Also the biggest stat in my
opinion that the fines Indiana season this year is they're one
of the best, if not the best shooting team in the country
when it comes to field goal percentage 51.6 to round out the
regular season. So just some numbers, I guess in
your mind, just looking back at it, what are some of the biggest
moments? Good and bad, right?
We got to talk about it both. That's a good question.
And this goes back to what I was saying where everything has kind
of just like blurred together. So now I have to actually think
about specific things that were that were good or bad.
Some recency bias, I think, is that one of the worst things
from the season is the injuries to to Mackenzie and Lily.
Sarah or not Sarah, I'm sorry, Sydney as well.
Sydney, I mean, that was she. That that was a big one.
I'm glad that she seems to be kind of back in her in her
group, but that was, that was big.
But it wasn't. I hate to say that it wasn't
detrimental to Indiana because obviously it was, but it also
gave players like Lexus a chance to step up and be more
comfortable in their role and take on a little bit more
responsibility, which was necessary and will be necessary
going forward. So it's kind of a little bit of
a double edged sword. But yeah, the city city injury
was obviously a negative. The win against Iowa has to be
one of the best parts of the season, especially in the way
the Indiana did it and and what it meant, especially after
losing to Iowa and coming off that lost Illinois.
I'm scrolling through the schedule now trying to see if
there's anything else I wanted to touch on.
I feel like those are probably the biggest things, though.
The injuries, how Indiana was able to to bounce back and keep
winning without Sydney was impressive.
The way that Lexus stepped up was impressive.
But now there's just so many questions about where Mackenzie
and Lily will be at for the postseason that for me, that's
like one of the main things that I'm focused on right now,
despite all of the positives. Because that can, if you don't
have your All American Post player and you don't have the
player behind her, that there's a lot of questions there.
Yeah, we'll get. We'll get into it again later as
we say that, we keep saying that, we keep saying that.
But later, later, later. I I guess there's some moments
that that stake out to me when I look back at this season.
Obviously the main game was really important for the
program, really important for Mackenzie Holmes.
I've got another one after Sarah's game in Florida against.
I don't remember if it was against Tennessee or Princeton.
That's that's bad because I wrote about it.
I think it was against Tennessee.
But I remember that was one of the first games that she showed
emotion because she went down and got an and one call, I think
it was and like did one of those things, you know, where you're
like sitting on the floor and you like yell.
I was like, I've never seen Sarah do that.
And it was like right in front of me.
And so that I think was not like a turning point for her.
But that was a really big moment for her and for the team in
terms of Heard her showing emotion and Heard playing the
the way that she is and setting the new single season record for
three pointers at Indiana, which is huge.
Yeah, So that that just popped into my head.
Your turn. Go ahead.
I would go the 30 point performance by yard in against
Evansville back on December 18th, that's.
So long ago I forgot about that it's.
That's a good one right there. The win on New Year's, New
Year's Eve for Indiana against Illinois, That was just a really
good game overall. And then you know you have some
moments where you know you kind of look back at this team and
you and you realize kind of where they're come coming from.
I mean after the Stanford loss they get two wins against Murray
State and Lipscomb. But that if you remember back, I
mean Terry really got on the team about at that point in the
season just because of how they were going up against teams
defensively that's that was really one of the interesting
more interesting points of the season that that some people may
forget and and the reason I'm talking about this and the
reason I'm bringing this up just kind of recapping the season is
because me if I, if I take my journalistic hat off for a quick
second, I really love looking back and and looking at the good
and the bad moments of a season. Right, Because it's the little
things they stack up against. Each other By no means a perfect
season. No, no, not at all.
But, but what I mean by that is kind of like, I mean just for
example, look at the Murray State and the Lipscomb game.
I mean, I think they're not, Indiana is not as good of a
defensive team as they are right now without those games, right?
I mean, yes, yes, you blow them out by 30 points, 3040 points in
both of those games. And and just looking at the
numbers, just looking at the box score, you would be like, well,
why is there a negative? Not connotation, because there
isn't, but like a negative viewpoint on these games by
their head coach, Well, I mean, you got to look deeper into it,
right? You got to look deeper into the
story. But no completely agree.
Yeah, so, I mean, those are some of the moments that stick out.
I mean, obviously the Illinois loss, we touched on it a little
bit, wasn't great for Indiana. Mackenzie Holmes in that post
game presser was very visibly upset.
She she cried a little bit in the post game.
So yeah, just a lot of moments. I mean, it's it's a long season,
it's a long season, but at the same time, it's short.
So there's a lot to go over. And I bet you, you know 100%
that we're missing a few few key moments, a few big moments, both
good and bad. But yeah, so that does it a
little bit for the regular season.
Like I said, Indiana finishes 24 and four, but now that brings in
the tournament season. So now Indiana will be in the
third, the third season. Conference title hopes,
obviously. Conference tournament title
hopes so. They will play one of these
three teams, Rutgers, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Minnesota. Or I'm sorry.
Yeah, Minnesota. What did I say?
Wisconsin. Wisconsin.
Yeah, I'm sorry, Rutgers. Minnesota and.
Michigan, I think they're the bottom team in the, in the, in
the seeding. Hold on, let me pull up the.
I've so I've got the I've got the bracket minute.
It's the Rutgers. Minnesota game is the 14,
Rutgers is the 14 seed. Minnesota is the 11 seed.
And then they'll play the winner that will play Michigan, who's
to succeed? And then the winner of that one
will play Indiana. Yeah, and Wisconsin.
If anyone is wondering, I guess we'll play Penn State and then
the winner of that plays Iowa. Yeah, so, so that that those are
the probable or those are the teams that Indiana will play.
One of those three teams, the top 4 seeds in the tournament
this year, Ohio State #1, Iowa #2, Indiana #3 and then Michigan
State #4. Those are all the ones that
sorry, that get the buy. And on the other side of the
bracket assuming or saying if Indiana wins and reaches all the
way over to the semi finals, they have the chance to play
Wisconsin, Penn State or Iowa. It's.
Kind of a scary, yeah, scary 3 three teams, to be honest with
you. Yeah, I mean, look, I think
you'll take Wisconsin out of that, right?
I can't. But Wisconsin's had their
moments. They've had their moments, yeah.
They actually had their. Moments like that's and that's
the thing that when you get into postseason play you do, you just
need a couple good moments and a couple of good games to knock
somebody out. So that's you know you out of
those 3. Wisconsin is in the bottom in
terms of getting super far, but you also can't count them out, I
think in my mind. Yeah, I mean 100%.
And I mean, that's the thing with with the tournament as it
makes it. So fun.
March basketball in general is like everybody's been playing
together for so long and you kind of don't know what to
expect to a certain level, but you do at the same time.
So it's, you know, it's a fun little dynamic, right.
You know, and I mean last year, I mean obviously you saw Indiana
exit a little bit earlier than everybody had thought.
So that's just that just proves our point on just how unexpected
it can be. But I get, you know, first
question that I wanted to ask you is who do you think scares
you the most? Who might be maybe not who
scares you the most, but who maybe is you know one of the
sleeper teams. I guess that could make a little
bit of a run come this tournament.
That's a good question because so the team that scares me the
most is not the team that I would point to as a sleeper team
because the team that scares me the most is Ohio State and then
one season, so they can't be right.
So Ohio State, just because we've seen how they can play and
we've seen how their press can dominate and they're just such a
deep, well-rounded team in so many ways that that's they're
just a scary team to be to be straight up.
They they're scary to go against.
They're fun to watch and they have a lot of potential to go
far in this tournament and in the NCAA.
In my mind, a sleeper team. I haven't really thought about
this that much. I'm going to be honest, Probably
Nebraska. That's what I was going to say.
Which? I and again I don't know if you
could count the five seed as a sleeper team, but I think they
are going to get discounted because you have teams like
Iowa, Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State that especially
those top three that will dominate conversations and
Nebraska is the kind of team that's going to be like well you
should talk about us too because we're just as good in some ways
and. We're just as talented and so I
think they could come in kind of with a vengeance if that makes
sense, wanting to to prove themselves and wanting to get
far to to keep themselves in in those conversations.
So that's probably that's probably who I would go with as
somebody who might surprise some people would would be Nebraska.
Yeah, I think when I'm looking at Indiana's side of the
bracket, I would assume I the the team that it might be a
little bit of a sleeper team for me as Penn State.
That's what I was saying. Penn State has shown to be able
to score the ball well. They shoot the ball well, you
know, and I say that. But then I mean assuming they
beat Wisconsin in the fifth game they play Iowa and and it's
tough and and you know I mean that's what you get right when
you're top four or when you're not outside of the top four like
you're going to play a your net. Like if you win your first game
the next game is going to be against a quality opponent no
matter what. But for me Penn State is on that
list. I was going to say Nebraska as
well but I think really this most sleeper ish team that I
have today or that I have for this tournament is Michigan
State. I I.
As a four. Seed as a four seed I I I again
look I I I hate to call a four seed a sleeper team but I think
in the OR the big 10 this year was so focused on the top three
teams yeah. I mean, that's why I said
Nebraska, that's yeah, no, I get it.
I get it. I, I I just think you know
people are sort of looking at this and I was kind of scrolling
through Twitter and and reading some articles yesterday getting
ready for today just kind of trying to see what the
conversations are like before the tournament.
And I mean the conversations mainly are surrounding Iowa,
right and they're mainly surrounding Ohio State even
Indiana a little bit isn't necessarily being talked about
to the level that they should be and you know out or outside of
those three teams is Michigan State and I look I I've really
enjoyed Michigan State this year.
I think they can score really well.
Obviously, they give up a lot of defense for the offense that
they that they're able to produce.
But I mean, they'll play Nebraska, right?
And here's the thing. Let me just say this That 1312
game against Purdue, NW Northwestern, I think Purdue
wins that game comfortably. But I would tend to agree.
I do not. I would not really be surprised
if Purdue goes in and beats Nebraska like like like one of
those tournament wins. I think that's that's a very
possible thing, and that sets up Purdue in in.
Michigan State in the quarter finals.
But again, look, I think I think Michigan State's in a really
good position and I don't know if they would be able to compete
against Ohio State. I feel like if they were on the
other side of the bracket, they would have a better chance just
because Ohio State is a much bigger team than Michigan State
this year. They're.
Much bigger than a lot of teams. Than everybody.
Yeah, I should than everybody pretty much.
But I do think, I mean look if Michigan State can catch fire a
little bit, I think, I think they're, I like what they're
doing over there. They can score the ball really
well. I'm more I all when it comes to
tournament play, I always prioritize offense a little bit
more because it's a game of runs, right?
You're going to go through spurts where you're not going to
be, you know, as efficient on the offensive ball, but when
you're on offense. But if you can be efficient for
the majority of the game, right. I think that's, I think that's
what you know, what wins games in March.
And I mean, look, it's March. A lot of people are tired.
A lot of people are, you know, I mean every athlete is
conditioned to play at this time of the year, but people are
tired, right? Bodies are bodies have been
working since November. And and to go back on the injury
thing, I mean some people might be dealing with injuries that
you may not even know, right? It's just that time of year.
So those are all factors that you have to consider when you're
looking at a conference tournament.
And I think look, I think Michigan State's got a chance
but right now if I had the pick in the semifinals, I think it's
going to be the top four. I think it's going to be Ohio
State and Michigan State over there on the on the other side
of the bracket. And then Indiana and Iowa
ultimately I if you ask me, I think it's going to be Iowa and
Ohio State and and I think I was going to I think I was going to
win it. I really.
See, I disagree. You disagree?
I disagree. Well, I went to go.
You said Ohio State was your scariest team.
Yes. And I, I mean, you have every
valid reason to think that way. But I part of me hates to go up
against the greatest player in college basketball.
And I and I hate that. You know what I mean?
I I can't in in a sport like basketball, right.
I mean, I'm just saying this to use his name, but like if LeBron
was was in a you know, you can't go up against them, right?
You can't bet up against them. Yeah, but it's the same thing
with Caitlin. Here's my thing, right So Iowa,
for all intents and purposes, will be without Molly Davis for
the Big 10 tournament. Correct.
That is a big factor. Right.
And here here's why. Indiana's side of the bracket I
think is so hard to predict because you have injuries to
both Iowa and Indiana. I honestly don't know if Iowa
will make it to the championship game.
I would be honest. I would have them in theory, so
they they would make it to the semi finals.
Let's say they play Indiana If and here's here's there's so
many ifs because if Indiana has Mackenzie Holmes and Iowa does
not have Molly Davis, let's assume that Iowa doesn't have
Molly Davis. I think Indiana wins, but if
Indiana doesn't have Mackenzie Holmes, then I think they lose.
But I don't think Iowa without Molly Davis can win three
straight games in three states in three straight days.
Like, I think if they make it to the championship, they're not.
And it's like against Ohio State, Ohio State's winning
because I don't think Iowa can continue that level of play for
three state days, Three days without Molly Davis.
To be to be perfectly blunt, I don't care that Caitlin Clark is
on the team at that point because because it's three days
of games and I would equate you know, the the pressure that they
are, all of these teams are putting themselves on for the
for the Big 10 tournament. I would equate that to the
pressure of the Indiana, Iowa game at Assembly Hall honestly
in terms of like what how much those teams wanted to win and
what that environment was like and everything and Iowa lost and
Caitlin Clark, like she she's great.
She's fantastic. But everybody feels the pressure
at some point and I think, but I would be surprised if it doesn't
get to her at some point because we saw it last year when they
made it. Obviously they made it in the
very far in the NCAA tournament. But there were, there were
moments where she was not perfect and she was not on her
game. And so I don't know.
I don't think I was going to run the table this year in the
tournament. I don't.
I and I don't. A lot of it comes down to
injuries for everybody, but I don't see them winning like I I
don't. Do you think I was a how do I
say this? I I think you would agree with
saying that I was a deeper team last year than they were this
year. Deeper in terms of roster right.
If you look at it, I don't know it it I was such an interesting
team because obviously they are they're.
They're a confusing team. Yeah.
When you have a player like Caitlin, you build around her no
matter what you do. But you know what to say.
I don't know it it's it's weird. It it's interesting.
I I I will say this, I mean, if Indiana is without Mackenzie
Holmes and and Lily Meister, who knows?
Comes out of who? Who comes out of that?
In my mind. Section out of the Rutgers,
Minnesota, Michigan. Well, let's.
So Terry Moore just had a press conference this morning that I'd
like to to mention to touch on what she said.
So as of right now, the middle of what, almost 1:00 on
Wednesday, March 6th, She doesn't know if Mackenzie Holmes
and Lily and Lily Meister will be available Friday night.
Neither of them practiced yesterday and neither of them
are going to practice today. They're day-to-day.
They're being evaluated. She also said something.
I'm trying to find this quote. She was like, she said we're
going to do whatever we can to help them play, but if it's at
any point, it's not safe, we won't do it.
There's a bigger picture here. So I think that is kind of like
they have to consider the NCAA tournament and if neither are
available or if they're limited, then Terry said that Yarden
would shift over to the five and they would play small ball,
which is like what they did in that fourth quarter after after
Lily got hurt. But I, you know it's kind of the
same thing where you said you build a team around Caitlin
Clark. So much of Indiana's offense
revolves around having a post player, whether it's Mackenzie
or Lily, especially Mackenzie. But like they they haven't had
to play small ball because they've always they've had one
of those two available and pretty much fully ready to go
this season. So I just, I question if they're
both limited and they're or they're both questionable or if
they both don't play. I if they both don't play, I
don't see Indiana making it really very far.
And I hate to say that because I feel like I don't want to
discredit the rest of the team and how how talented all the
other players are, but I have a bad feeling of if both of those
players are not able to play. Yeah, I mean, look, Indiana is
clearly not the same team without either of those two.
It's so and the The bad luck that Mackenzie has had with
injuries these last few years is like gut wrenching.
It's awful. Yeah, and and here's the thing,
now that we we've opened it up finally in the podcast, we
finally talked about this. 20 minutes ago, Kevin.
With the injuries, you know the neither injury was.
It was like gone contact injury which.
Are sometimes worse. It was.
It was Mackenzie, just was she was she coming down with the
rebound? I think she was either coming
down with a rebound or coming down from trying to go up for a
layup. I don't.
One of those. Two, it was one of those Two,
she's because there's a whole tangle of people and that's all
I saw. Yeah.
And she just, you know, got caught up and and and landed
awkwardly, I guess. And Lily, I'm.
Lily apparently has like a It's a sprained ankle.
I'm like, I'm more worried. Fairly severe sprained ankle.
I was about to say I'm more worried for Lily, to be honest
with you. I would think it's based off the
reaction that I saw from both of those players.
And look, Mackenzie came back out.
That's a good sign. She came back out for all the
senior festivities after the. Game you.
Have to. You have to guess.
But yeah. You very easily could by the way
guys, I am so sorry for keeping. I've been sick for the past week
and 1/2 no. Now you're making me cough.
Yeah, I've been sick for the past week and 1/2, so my
apologies on that. But you know it isn't.
Better sign anyway. It's a better sign that
Mackenzie came back right because.
And walking on her own and was telling people she was fine.
Yeah, and look, Lily was. I don't know.
Lily just looked very, very uncomfortable in a lot of pain
when she went down and. I think she was.
I'm pretty sure she was crying when she was over on the bench.
I didn't have a great. View I didn't have a great.
View, but I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure.
And she didn't get up when everybody else got up for the
senior, for the senior stuff, she was still sitting on the
bench. And the thing that sucks too is
they happen not that long after each other.
It was first Mackenzie and then what, like two or three minutes
after? Then it was.
Like I think actually I was going back when I was post game
trying to figure out when each happened.
Mackenzie's happened in the third quarter.
Lily's was in the fourth. Lily went out like she got hurt
with only a few minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
But I so it felt like they were varied soon after.
But I don't think they I really don't think they were but but
because everybody was so focused on when is like where'd
Mackenzie go, Is she coming back out?
I think that the everybody's sense of time shifted.
Mine did, mine did. Because as soon as she went out
and she went back to the locker room like I was, I hate to say
it, but like, I was barely focusing on the game because
there's so much going through your head.
And I saw that her dad got up and went back to the locker room
and her brother went back to the locker room and then her brother
came back out and her dad wasn't back out.
So, like, I was watching all of that and then Lily goes down.
And so I think because everything kind of stopped when
Mackenzie went down, it felt like they were like back-to-back
injuries, but they really weren't because they they had a
significant amount of time where Lily was playing and Mackenzie
was not because they really didn't have Yarden in the five
for that long. When you think about.
It like because Yarden's a lovely.
There it was a couple minutes left in the fourth quarter when
Lily went out. And I know that Mackenzie got
hurt in the third. Yeah, you're correct.
But it's strange how that because it did they it felt like
it was one after another. So because that's what it feels
like because that's that's the impact that they have.
I want to touch on this and and we've talked about this a lot of
time or several times throughout the season on on podcast and I I
think you know you you said the reason I'm bringing this up is
because you said Indiana's offense or Indiana's plan in
general revolves around a lot of of post play and obviously
Mackenzie. But I just it's so difficult to
me if I was a coach on the staff heading into the season.
You have to say, well, OK, what if I lose Mackenzie?
Or what if I lose Lily? Like, who am I going to go to,
right, I think. They thought they would lose
both. Though I I get that.
But you have to play that in consideration, right?
You have to when you're constructing a roster.
And look, I'll be the first one to tell it or say it and I'll
be. I want to make myself very
clear. I have no idea what goes into
recruiting players, how to build a roster, how to get a 12/13/14
maybe. I mean, some teams run 15
players deep, right? I have no idea what that
consists of, and I probably never will have a good enough
idea as coaches, but. Probably not.
Yeah, but I just cannot get around the idea of starting the
season like they did this year with the amount of players that
they did. I mean, you got to.
It's like I never liked going into a season with with, you
know, limited players. Zion brought this up last week
in the Iowa game, and I'm just using this as an example.
But look at Kansas men's basketball.
I mean, they have seven players at most that can play the floor.
And then it's a different situation with Indiana.
But now that you subtract Lily and Mackenzie, how many do you
have really? Right, Six.
Right. Six.
And so you have Sarah, Sydney Jordan, Chloe, Alexis. 5.
Five, right. I mean, are you going to play
both of the freshmen, the Angelina?
How much are you going to play them?
Well, you haven't played them as much as you've talked that you
were going to this season. Hannah's gotten some minutes,
but you're not going to put Hannah out in in tournament.
Big time situations and she. Doesn't even necessarily see
because she's a, you know, she's a small guard, so.
Right. Well, that's the thing that like
I could see both Juliana and and Lynnae getting significant
minutes because they've proven that they can play in high
pressure situations but not to the level of the other five.
And so that's the thing that like you can put them in in high
pressure situations when you have other pieces to work with.
But when you take out your two post players and you're left
with five like your best five players, are you going to
sacrifice that? And that's that you're you make
a really good point is that I just don't I don't know there's
that's there's so many questions and I don't I don't I have no
answers and it's just kind of where we're at which is a really
unfortunate place to be in in the first week of March that
we're having to talk about the team like this because it's like
you know we we have to but it is it's unfortunate and I think
it's kind of put a damper on the excitement just because you
don't know what's going to happen and you know God forbid
something happens where you know Indiana loses or they can't host
in the NCAA tournament. And then everyone's like all the
questions are about if Mackenzie wasn't hurt or if Lily wasn't
hurt or if this had happened or that or happened because then
that's you know that's that's it.
And that's the worst way to end a season just with two with so
many questions. Well, let's let's look at the
numbers for a quick SEC. There's twelve players on the
roster. Yeah, subtract 2 because
Sharnese, Curry jokes hasn't played this year.
Yeah, Ariel Whisney hasn't played this year.
So then you're down to 10. Now you have your starting five,
but you haven't necessarily given that much playing time
enough for her to be a significant, significant impact
for Henna. Yeah.
So that's nine, right? 9 -, 2 is 7.
You lose. You lose Mackenzie and Lily, you
have seven players, seven. And two of those seven are
freshmen that are still learning.
So you essentially have a starting five, right?
Flashbacks to two years ago. Flashbacks to two years ago and
and look and and I think it's a fair criticism because that's
what what's been the situation like these past couple of
seasons with these Terry teams and and again look I have no
idea what goes into making a roster at the NCAA level
especially at Division One Big 10, basketball Power 5.
But if I'm the coach, if I'm a coach, I do not feel
comfortable, no matter how great my players are going into the
season with only twelve players really only 8 to 10 players.
You know what I mean? I just, I just don't.
I just don't And and look it's it's it's it's it's tough to say
because even if this, imagine if this team had you know a a A8
person roster like they were 8 deep, right.
You have your starting five and you can confidently trust, you
know, three off the bench, right?
Where would this team be, right? Yeah.
And look, well, so here's the thing that I I don't want to
make it seem like they're not confident in their bench because
we've seen like to a certain extent, Terry has a lot of
confidence in her freshman. Yeah, to a certain extent.
I would agree more you. Know like I don't.
I don't want to discount what they've done.
They've been they've been good. They've been able to to help.
You know you bring LEXIS off the bench.
She's been they. They trust their bench, but not
as much as they could. I think if the bench was strong,
like they trust their bench, but their bench isn't necessarily
super strong because I don't want to make it seem like
they're not going to their bench and like that.
They don't want them like you know, everything like that like
they do. Terry, Terry trust them.
But we're we're in the postseason now, and so things
are a little bit different. And another thing about the just
the way this roster is built, I mean, we bring up the three
players that mainly come off the bench, Lynnae, Juliana, and
LEXIS. They've all given Indiana
quality minutes, but in the in their in their own way, right?
I mean, this is not going to go out and score more than four
points on any given night. Lenae Lenae is a good ball
handler and can score a little bit, but she's the weaker of
those 3 defensively, right? Juliana's the other way, right?
She can rebound really well, she can box out really well, she's
good defensively but she cannot handle the ball for more than
two seconds. Right.
That's just my point is like you're.
You're pigeonholed. Yeah you're you're being you're
cornering yourself up against the up against the wall when you
when you build the roster this way that you did.
And look, I know there's so many different factors.
And I, and I'll say it again, I I just, you know, I just don't
know how you can go into the season with this.
Because you have to think if I do lose Mackenzie again, right,
If I do lose Lily Meister, for example, or if I do lose,
however, number of players, who am I going to play?
And look, that's the conversation that we're having
right now. Right.
And I think that was The thing is that they didn't ever want to
have those thoughts or have this.
Nobody wanted to have this conversation.
Nobody, nobody ever wants to think about what's going to
happen when you lose Mackenzie Holmes again.
But you're right that that's, it's unfortunate that this is
shedding light on the weaknesses out of Indiana's team right
before they get into the most important part of the season,
arguably, if you want to go for tournament titles and whatnot.
So I have. I have no, I don't know at this
point. You know it's kind of like you
you have to hope that Mackenzie and or Lily can play decent
minutes down the down the line. And I mean it's like Terry said
that they're they're looking at NCAA, they're not necessarily
looking at Big 10. I think you have to win a couple
games in the Big 10 to secure your host spot.
But I think they should host anyway.
Yeah. I think any Anna should host
like as long as you don't lose your first game in the Big 10
tournament on Friday night. I think they should be fine.
Yeah. And then then they set their
sights on that and comfortably maybe sit Mackenzie or rest Lily
or however that's going to work. Who knows.
But no, it's it's a it's a it's a strange time.
I feel like because people are so excited about this team, but
then this, there's so many concerns.
That's like the right under the surface that if you think about
it for just like a little bit, then you're like, Oh well, I
don't really know what's going to happen because nobody knows
what this team is. Realistically, nobody knows what
they're going to look like on Friday.
Yeah, so. Yeah, well, well, you brought
this up about Indiana being focused on the NCAA tournament.
And my thing is, is, you know, I think Indiana's proudly and very
commendably made themselves one of the national brands these
past couple years. Look, you know, there's a lot of
basketball left to be played during Terry Moore's tenure.
But if they aren't able to have much success in the NCAA
tournament and you know the after these past couple years
and and and in the near future or in the future like if they
don't have that success in the NCAA Tournament.
I think one of or if not the biggest factor for that is just
simply how these rosters have been built well.
We saw that like they made it to the three. 16 and.
There was still criticism about that roster, so yeah.
Yeah, it's, I mean it. It is what it is, right?
I mean, Indiana didn't want to have to be dealing with this at
the start of the tournament season, but they're they're
going to have to, right? They're going to have to and and
look we have no answers. We have no, we have nothing on
their current status besides what you mentioned earlier that
you said earlier today in the press conference.
But one only asked to what right Your mind only goes to the to
the worst option right that you have.
To think if they can afford to not play, especially Mackenzie.
If you can afford to not play her at this point, you're going
to not play her in my in my mind.
So that's I'm. I'm curious to see what that
looks like because they've talked about throughout the
entire season limiting her minutes, like keeping her
healthy for the postseason. Well, here we are.
Unfortunately, she's in a worse spot than she was.
But if there's any if there's any way that they can keep
Mackenzie on the bench, I think they're going to.
Yeah. But we'll see.
We'll see just a few more things before we go, because we're
almost up at our our time is almost up, yeah.
It's been a long episode. It is.
It's been. I was about to say it's been our
longest episode. We're at 44 minutes.
Oh my gosh, Right now, 45. It's pretty much whoever's.
Still listening. Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you.
There's a lot to talk about. Final rankings for Indiana in
the AP poll. They finished 12th in the
country. That was their final ranking of
the season. 4 Hoosiers were named to the all Big 10 teams.
Mackenzie Holmes and Sierra Scalia were named to the first
team, Holmes being unanimous. Chloe Moore McNeil was named to
the second team and then Yard and Gear Zone was named to the
on rule mention team. And with that, Indiana is going
to start their tournament title or excuse me, their tournament
play and they're going to be looking for their first Big 10
tournament title since 2002. That was a while.
Ago I was born. I was about.
I was literally about to say I was not born in.
That was 2002. I would not have been born when
they won, because they would have won in March and I would
have been born in June, so it was before I was born.
Neither of us were born at that point.
That's crazy. That is crazy.
A lot of the team wasn't born at that point, either.
Yeah, that's a good way to put it, too.
Yeah, so it's been a while since Indiana's won the Big 10
tournament Well, but that does it.
For this week's episode, Amanda will be in Minneapolis, so make
sure you follow her on Twitter. I unfortunately won't be in
Minneapolis. I'll be in good old Saint Louis.
But make sure Amanda, you follow Amanda on Twitter and read all
her stuff. And inside the hall, she's going
to be breeding you guys a lot of coverage from over in
Minneapolis, not just in Minneapolis, but obviously once
the NCAA tournament starts. So once again, Indiana will have
the buy. And so their first game is this
Friday on March 8th, so make sure you you watch that.
But as always, it was a pleasure talking to you guys.
We'll talk to you after the Big 10 tournament as we get ready
for all things March Madness. So enjoy the rest of your week
and we'll talk to you guys soon.