Indiana Women's Basketball Has Good History With Transfer Portal: Should it Use it This Year?
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Let's rewind to less than a month before the 2022-23 Indiana women's basketball season. Head coach Teri Moren and her staff grabbed three exceptional players out of the transfer portal in Oregon's Sydney Parrish, Minnesota's Sara Scalia and Providence's Alyssa Geary.
Parrish ended up starting for Indiana. Scalia was considered the 'sixth starter'. Geary came in to relieve forward Mackenzie Holmes.
Fast forward to the offseason ahead of the 2023-24 season — which is now — and there has been no transfer portal activity other than forwards Kiandra Browne and Mona Zaric entering it themselves.
Sure, the program is stacked as it's welcoming in two freshman recruits that won their respective state's Ms. Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year who join a slate of veterans. However, there are still holes that will be missing due to the graduation of super star point guard Grace Berger and bench player Geary.
Four starters are returning (five if you count Scalia), and there's a deep bench made up of rising sophomores Lexus Bargesser, Henna Sandvik and Lilly Meister. This is the best possible news for a program looking to win a national title, and it's even better that one of those starters is Holmes, who led the team averaging 22.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.
Indiana's Mackenzie Holmes (54) smiles with teammates Mona Zaric (24), Sydney Parrish (33) and Sara Scalia (14) as they sing the alma mater after the Indiana versus Kentucky Wesleyan women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022.
© Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Hoosiers currently have 11 players going into the season and have room for four more scholarship athletes. If there's more room for greatness, what's been the holdup in the transfer portal for Indiana?
There could be a couple reasons, although these are just guesses as the team has always remained private about these matters until it's the right time to share.
Moren and her staff could be waiting to see which other players enter the portal before May 11, the final day athletes can do so. This seems like a smart approach as the best players could be wrestling with a decision to leave their own schools and take a shot at a new world.
It wouldn't hurt for Indiana to add another point guard with plenty of experience in a power five conference to the mix. The Hoosiers could also use a forward or center as they are down to one starter in Holmes and two bench players.
The other possibility for not acting on the portal is because the team has all the pieces it needs. Let's break it down:
Rising senior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil filled in for Berger at the point last season when she went down with a right knee injury that took her out of nine games. She could easily slide over to the one position and hold her own as she was often tasked with guarding the opposing team's best players this past season ie. Iowa's Caitlin Clark.
Indiana's Chloe Moore-McNeil (22) brings the ball up the floor during the first round of the NCAA women's tournament at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Saturday, March 18, 2023.
© Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
Bargesser and freshmen Lenée Beaumont and Julianna LaMendola could also contribute as either point guards or even shooting guards. Add Scalia to the mix, and it's a solid bunch of guards.
Rising senior Sydney Parrish, who has two years left to play if she wants it, is back and ready to fire from beyond the arc as the Fishers, Ind. native hit 55 triples in her first season as a Hoosier. She's scrappy and often finds herself in foul trouble with 103 personals on the season, but her reliable shooting plus her leadership has proven to make the Hoosiers even more successful.
Rising sophomore Yarden Garzon led the team with 70 three-pointers on the season shooting a Big Ten best of 45.8 percent from downtown. She's a calm player that doesn't get rattled by external circumstances, and now she has a year of experience that's sure to make a difference this season.
Sydney Parrish (33) and Yarden Garzon (12) box out on Nebraska forward Isabelle Bourne (34) in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Jan. 1, 2023.
IU Athletics
The reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Associated Press All-America First Team selection Holmes will be the point guard's target in the post with her spin moves and soft hands. Holmes' scoring ranked second in the Big behind Clark's 27.8 per contest. Meister could fill in for Holmes this season if needed. She did so in the first round of the NCAA Tournament versus Tennessee Tech where she scored seven points.
Redshirt senior Arielle Wisne is an option at center too as she's played 41 games in four seasons with Indiana.
If Indiana were to keep what is has now, it's still a dangerous threat to other conference teams as well as clubs across the country. However, if the Hoosiers add another star point guard or even another option at forward, the depth could make the difference between a banner and a shallow run in the NCAA Tournament.
Related stories on Indiana women's basketball
- GRACE BERGER IN TRAINING CAMP WITH INDIANA FEVER Former Indiana women's basketball guard Grace Berger is in the middle of the WNBA Indiana Fever training camp with the goal of being a sponge to soak in everything the veterans are teaching her. CLICK HERE
- RECRUIT JULIANNA LaMENDOLA WINS TEXAS MS. BASKETBALL Indiana women's basketball recruit Julianna LaMendola was announced as this year's Texas Ms. Basketball. She is also the Texas Gatorade Player of the Year and will suit up for the Hoosiers in the 2023-24 season. CLICK HERE
- GRACE BERGER TO POTENTIALLY SUIT UP FOR FEVER ON MAY 19 Former Indiana women's basketball guard Grace Berger will potentially suit up for the first time as an Indiana Fever player on May 19 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse if she makes the final roster cut. CLICK HERE
