Teri Moren Talks Challenge of Scheduling for 2020-21 Season

The Big Ten women's basketball season will consist of 20 games. The nonconference will be a minimum of five games. Indiana coach Teri Moren talks the challenges of putting it together this offseason.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Big Ten/ACC Challenge for the women's basketball season is canceled this season.

The competition is set for the men's season, but the women will not be competing in it this season.

The decision seemed to stem from the Big Ten.

"The ACC was committed to playing this year's ACC/Big Ten Women's Basketball Challenge," ACC commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. "And we are disappointed for the student-athletes, coaches and fans that will not have the opportunity to enjoy this premier event in 2020."

For the Indiana women's basketball squad, no nonconference games have been released yet. It's been a frustrating process for head coach Teri Moren.

"We're working on the 15-minute rule around here where everything can change within 15 minutes," Moren said.

The Big Ten is planning to have 20 conference games for the women's season, which leaves a minimum of five nonconference games to schedule.

Moren was banking on the Big Ten/ACC Challenge being one of those games, but now that's no longer the case.

"We're really trying hard for those to be home games for us from a health standpoint to keep everybody safe," Moren said. "It's been really challenging for all of us... We've been challenged to just waiting and watching."

Last season, Indiana had an impressive nonconference resume. The Hoosiers were 10-2 before heading into Big Ten play, including a win over South Carolina, who went on to be the No. 1-ranked team for a majority of the season and had only one loss at the hands of the Hoosiers.

This season will present a different challenge. There will be less room for error.

Moren knows how hard the Big Ten is, so she's trying to be really careful with how to schedule the limited nonconference schedule.

She said she's had zero conversations with the NCAA on what tournament qualification is going to look like, but she thinks the magic number is 14 wins in the Big Ten to be guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament. She also realizes the criteria for March Madness will look different this season.

"I think it will go off the eye test more than ever," Moren said. "I think it will be an usual year."

The eye test could affect a number of teams who might have games canceled due to COVID-19 and don't have the opportunity to play as many games as other teams.

With under a month to go until the season officially begins, there's still a lot of unknowns with the schedule.

"There will be plenty of frustration," Moren said. "There already is with trying to figure the schedule out."

For the nonconference schedule, Moren thinks it's important to schedule wins, but she also wants tougher opponents to get her team ready for conference play.

She said maybe the Hoosiers will schedule two Power 5 schools, and she might be willing to go a little stronger than safer.

"I want to win as much as anybody else does," Moren said. "But I also want to prepare my basketball team."

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