Best Women’s Basketball Players Of The 2020s So Far: No. 8 Aleksa Gulbe

Aleksa Gulbe started nearly every game from 2019-22 when Indiana made its rise to the top of the Big Ten. Was Gulbe undervalued at the time?

Indiana Hoosiers forward Aleksa Gulbe (10) drives the ball against UConn Huskies forward Aaliyah Edwards (3) during the first half in the Bridgeport regional semifinals of the women's college basketball NCAA Tournament at Webster Bank Arena. / David Butler II-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The period from 2019-22 represented the period in which Indiana reached its zenith as both Big Ten and national contender.

It was during this time that the Hoosiers became a regular NCAA Tournament participant. It was also during this time that the Hoosiers would become a perennial contender for the Big Ten championship.

That goal was achieved in the 2023 season, but the climb in the years preceding that moment includes familiar names.

Grace Berger, Mackenzie Holmes, Ali Patberg, and later, Nicole Cardaño-Hillary, are the primary contributors of the period.

So was Aleksa Gulbe, and yet she isn’t mentioned as often as some of her teammates. Perhaps she should be.

Gulbe, a native of Latvia, played at Indiana from 2018-22. From the 2020 season onward, Gulbe started 89 of the 91 games she played and averaged nearly 30 minutes per game. During the 2020s, Gulbe averaged 10 points and 6.2 rebounds.

In the scoring department, Gulbe rates 11th-best among players who qualified for inclusion, but she was no worse than eighth in any other category. She was sixth in 2020s starts and sixth in win share average at a solid 3.8 per season. That puts her ahead of Chloe Moore-McNeil and Sydney Parrish.

Gulbe left in 2022 as one of the winningest players in Indiana history.

Gulbe had six career games over 20 points, including a peak of 28 points in a 2022 game against Minnesota. Gulbe also had a 15-rebound game against Belmont in 2021.

Gulbe’s playing career has continued with both the Latvian national team and in European professional ranks. Gulbe played for Hungarian team Miskolic in 2025.

Gulbe didn’t receive any Big Ten or national honors when she played at Indiana, but she should be remembered along with the rest of her early 2020s teammates as one of the players who brought the Hoosiers to prominence in women’s basketball.

Cardaño-Hillary is the first of the core group of starters who played more than one season for Indiana to enter the top 16. From her spot on up to No. 1, all of the Hoosiers had careers that lifted Indiana into a position as one of the best teams in the Big Ten in the 2020s.

Previous women's basketball top 16 players of the 2020s

No. 9 - Nicole Cardaño-Hillary
No. 10 - Brenna Wise
No. 11 - Shay Ciezki
No. 12 - Jaelynn Penn
No. 13 - Karoline Striplin
No. 14 - LIlly Meister
No. 15 - Kiandra Browne
No. 16 - Julianna LaMendola

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• THE TOP 16 EXPLAINED: Todd Golden explains how he ranked the top 16 players of the 2020s. CLICK HERE.