Indiana was picked to finish third in the Big Ten conference in preseason media and coaches polls released Monday.
Along with that preseason ranking, junior point guard Tyra Buss was selected by both the coaches and media to the preseason All-Big Ten team. She was a unanimous selection by the coaches.
IU is coming off a 21-12 finish in 2015-16, which included the program’s first NCAA tournament win in 33 years. Buss was a first-team All-Big Ten selection last year after averaging 18.8 points per contest. Amanda Cahill, also a junior in ’16-17, was a second-team All-Big Ten selection by the media last year.
“This preseason ranking serves as a reminder of the strides our program made a year ago,” IU coach Teri Moren said in a statement. “But we are going to leave the past in the past and we’re focused on the next challenge, as we continue to take this program to new heights. We are we’re moving in the right direction, but there is still much work to be done. The daily goal is the same and that’s to be better than what we were the day before.”
In both the media and coaches polls, IU was slated behind Maryland and Ohio State. In the coaches poll, IU was tied for third with Michigan State.
OSU’s Kelsey Mitchell was picked by both the media and the coaches as the preseason player of the year.
Here are the results of each poll:
2016-17 COACHES BIG TEN PRESEASON RANKINGS
1. Maryland
2. Ohio State
3. (tie) Indiana and Michigan State
2016-17 COACHES PRESEASON ALL-BIG TEN TEAM
TYRA BUSS, Jr., G, Indiana
Ally Disterhoft, Sr., G, Iowa
BRIONNA JONES, Sr., C, Maryland
SHATORI WALKER-KIMBROUGH, Sr., G, Maryland
KATELYNN FLAHERTY, Jr., G, Michigan
Tori Jankoska, Sr., G, Michigan State
Jessica Shepard, So., F, Nebraska
Nia Coffey, Sr., F, Northwestern
KELSEY MITCHELL, Jr., G, Ohio State
Teniya Page, So., G, Penn State
2016-17 COACHES PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kelsey Mitchell, Jr., G, Ohio State
2016-17 MEDIA BIG TEN PRESEASON RANKINGS
1. Maryland
2. Ohio State
3. Indiana
2016-17 MEDIA PRESEASON ALL-BIG TEN TEAM
Tyra Buss, Jr., G, Indiana
Ally Disterhoft, Sr., G, Iowa
Brionna Jones, Sr., C, Maryland
SHATORI WALKER-KIMBROUGH, Sr., G, Maryland
Katelynn Flaherty, Jr., G, Michigan
Tori Jankoska, Sr., G, Michigan State
Carlie Wagner, Jr., G, Minnesota
Jessica Shepard, So., F, Nebraska
Nia Coffey, Sr., F, Northwestern
KELSEY MITCHELL, Jr., G, Ohio State
2016-17 MEDIA PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kelsey Mitchell, Jr., G, Ohio State
Unanimous selections listed in ALL CAPS
IU women picked 3rd; IU men 5th. The times they are a’chang’in!
This is certainly not surprising when you consider our success last year and returning all starters from that team. This year’s team will certainly not be sneaking up on anybody like they may have on occasion last year. This year’s team should be quite a bit better than last year’s based on all starters returning and the new additions to the team including transfer’s; Amber Deane and Tia Elbert who will add great depth to the backcourt along with freshman Ria Gully who I think will be a dark horse on this years team. Freshmen Darby Forseman and Bre Wickware will supply great depth up front. This is going to be a very exciting team to watch, I only hope that we can get some new fans to start attending the games to give these girls a much needed home court advantage. We had some terrific crowds last year with great enthusiasm although not exceedingly large. I don’t see why we couldn’t average around 5,000 per game or above? Perhaps with all the expectations this year after a very successful last year, the students will finally start coming out. Go Hoosiers!!
Would like to see a double-header some weekend with both the men’s game and the women’s . Maybe once the fans see the Hoosier women in action…?
Most positive things going on right now in major sports for IU in terms of coaching are 1. T . Moren and 2. Tom Allen.