Indiana Women's Basketball Receives No. 3 Seed and Will Host First and Second NCAA Tournament Rounds
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana women's basketball will take the No. 3-seed in the Bridgeport region of the NCAA Tournament bracket and face No. 14-seed UNC-Charlotte in the first round on Saturday, March 19.
"This is what we envisioned," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. "Every year to take a step, and a lot of our growth has to do with the players that we've recruited. They all believed in the vision of what we wanted to do."
This is the highest seed the Hoosiers have received in program history improving from last year's fourth seed selection. Because of the high seed, Indiana will host the first and second rounds of the tournament also for the first time.
"It really made everything worth it, all the adversity we've been through, that we battled that adversity and hard times, and we're still a three-seed hosting," junior forward Mackenzie Holmes said.
Graduate student guard Ali Patberg said when the Hoosiers played Oregon in the second round of the tournament in 2019, she remembers how huge of an advantage it was for the Ducks to have their home crowd.
Oregon fed off its fans winning 91-69 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen that year. The fans make a difference.
"We're grateful that we can have Hoosier Nation included in this moment with us," Moren said. "We're ready to go."
No. 6 Kentucky and No. 12 Princeton will also face off in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Saturday. Kentucky team members have expressed excitement at the thought of playing Indiana in the tournament.
The Hoosiers have only met the Charlotte 49ers once back in 2009 when Indiana won 72-61 in the Bahamas.
This year, the 49ers finished their regular season with a 22-9 record and also claimed the Conference USA regular season and tournament championship.
This will be the eighth NCAA tournament and third consecutive appearance for Indiana. The Hoosiers finished their regular season with a 22-8 record and as runner-up to Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament championship.
Last season, Indiana made its first Elite Eight appearance after upsetting No. 1-seed North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen.
"All of us remember that feeling," Patberg said. "It's been driving us in the offseason."
Moren and her team said they didn't have any preference on regions or opponents, and they didn't follow bracketologists too much. They were only concerned about hosting in Bloomington.
"There hasn't been a secret sauce to this or secret recipe other than hard work that's been put into this program," Moren said.
Related stories on Indiana women's basketball
- HOOSIERS IMPROVE TO NO. 11 IN AP POLL: Not only does Indiana jump up three spots from last week in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, but the Hoosiers are now the second highest ranked Big Ten team following No. 8 Iowa. CLICK HERE.
- INDIANA FALLS TO IOWA IN BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP: It was neck and neck for the majority of the game until Iowa pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 74-67 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament win over Indiana on Sunday in Indianapolis. CLICK HERE.
- HOOSIERS BEAT OHIO STATE IN SEMIFINALS: No. 5-seed Indiana brought down No. 1-seed Ohio State 70-62 in the semifinals of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament on Saturday afternoon. The Hoosiers will advance to the championship game on Sunday for the first time since 2002. CLICK HERE.
