A first-time No. 1 seed, IU glad to see more parity in women's college basketball

BLOOMINGTON — The Indiana women's basketball team knew it was coming, a No. 1-seed in the NCAA tournament. But it was still surreal to see Hoosiers' name on ESPN with a No. 1 next to it atop the Greenville 2 regional.

This is IU's ninth NCAA tournament appearance, and its first as a No. 1-seed, marking the third consecutive season it has received the highest seed in program history. It was a 3-seed last season (Sweet 16) and a 4-seed the year before (Elite 8).

"We had a pretty good idea that we would be a 1-seed but to actually see it on the big screen — that's something that, looking back on it, I might not have ever thought was possible," senior Grace Berger said. "It's really special just to see where we came from when I first got here in 2018 to where we are now. It's definitely one of those moments where it kind of feels surreal."

"We're grateful," added coach Teri Moren, whose team will play Saturday (11:30 a.m., ESPN2) against the winner of Thursday's play-in game between Tennessee Tech and Monmouth. "There's only 68 teams that get selected each year, and to not only be selected, but to also get that No. 1 seed — which has never happened in this program — is both thrilling and very humbling. We're grateful for the opportunity that's ahead of us."

That the Hoosiers are a No. 1-seed is a testament to the growth of both the program and the sport of women's college basketball as a whole, the continuation of a massive shift from the same few programs dominating the landscape to nationwide parity.

"It's really cool to see different teams getting those one seeds and being in those top-two, top-five teams, because in years past, it was pretty consistently the same team," Mackenzie Holmes said. "To see how much the game has grown is just really cool."

To Holmes' point, IU was joined on the 1-line by defending national champion South Carolina, ACC champion Virginia Tech — which was in Bloomington for the WNIT championship game in 2018 — and Stanford, whose announcement as the final No. 1 over Big Ten tournament champion Iowa drew cheers from the players inside Assembly Hall.

Even the other top seeds in IU's bracket are occupied by relatively new powerhouses with No. 2 Utah (25-3), which is coming off its first regular-season Pac-12 title in program history, No. 3 LSU (28-2) out of the SEC and No. 4 Villanova (28-6), which lost to UConn in the Big East championship game.

"(Virginia Tech) is a different team, just like Indiana is a different team that you don't really see as a No. 1, and I think it's so great for women's basketball," Moren said. "It's also great for women's basketball fans who have been waiting for this moment in time. … It's changed everything and I can't tell you how good I think it is for our game as a whole."

The Hoosiers laid claim to a top-seed long before Sunday's selection show. Led by Holmes, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, they constructed a resume that includes notable nonconference wins over then-No. 11 Tennessee and then-No. 6 North Carolina, plus ranked Big Ten wins over Maryland, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa en route to the program's first-ever outright conference championship (second overall).

Indiana's lone regular-season losses were on the road during conference play: At Michigan State on Dec. 29 with Berger sidelined due to injury, and at Iowa on a buzzer-beater by Caitlin Clark in the final game of the regular season. It avenged the loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, before falling to Ohio State in the semifinals.

IU has used the week since its trip to Minneapolis to rest and recover. They continued practicing, Moren said, but were able to "shut down a little bit" both physically and mentally. They ran shorter, more intense practice sessions, focusing on areas to improve upon following their past three games.

"I'm not going to lie. It was a challenge for these guys to come in every day and get excited about our improvements and what we were asking them to do," Moren said. "But they handled themselves in the right kind of way."

"That Big Ten season is no joke, so afterwards we all took a deep breath and tried to get ourselves feeling good again," added Holmes.

The winner of Saturday's NCAA tournament game will advance to face either No. 8 Miami or No. 9 Oklahoma State in the second round.

First- and second-round games will be played at Assembly Hall. Should IU advance, it would travel to Greenville, S.C. for the Sweet 16. Dallas will host this year's Final Four (March 31) and National Championship (April 2) games.

"Nothing against Seattle, but that's a long trip. We're thrilled with where we're being sent," Moren said of being placed in the Greenville regional. "I don't know how these guys feel, but I think a great dose of sunshine is in our future — we hope."

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana women's basketball gets No. 1 seed in NCAA tournament 2023