Players lost:

  GP/GS Min FG FGA FG% 3 Pt 3Pt A 3 Pt % FT FTA FT %
Cindy Kerns 31/31 31.5 193 372 .519 18 49 .367 67 97 .691
Dani Thrush 31/30 30.6 109 306 .356 22 69 .319 65 83 .783
Kristi Green 31/31 35.4 69 225 .307 42 146 .288 49 72 .681
Summar Maines 31/0 17.2 59 124 .479 1 2 .500 45 67 .672
Yasina Radmanovich* 17/0 6.9 23 35 .557 0 1 .000 10 17 .588
Staci Mueller 21/4 6.1 12 38 .316 2 11 .182 11 13 .846
LaKale Malone 19/0 3.6 5 16 .313 2 6 .333 14 20 .700
Kristin Miller 10/0 1.7 0 4 .000 0 2 .000 1 2 .500

 

  Off Reb Def Reb Reb PF-D Assists Steals Blocks TO A/TO High Points Ave
Cindy Kerns 68 166 234 104-6 49 42 17 109 0.45 37 471 15.2
Dani Thrush 35 118 153 91-5 146 61 5 106 1.38 17 305 9.8
Kristi Green 22 65 87 26-0 91 27 0 84 1.08 17 229 7.4
Summar Maines 42   83 125 94-5 23 16 4 58 0.40 14 164 5.3
Yasmina Radmanovich* 10 22 32 20-0 1 2 5 10 0.10 8 56 3.3
Staci Mueller 8 4 12 9-0 8 5 1 4 2.00 10 37 1.8
LaKale Malone 4 4 8 9-0 5 3 0 6 0.83 11 26 1.4
Kristin Miller 1 3 4 1-0 3 1 0 1 3.00 1 1 0.1

*Radmanovich quit the team mid-season

 

Players returning:

  GP/GS Min FG FGA FG% 3 Pt 3Pt A 3 Pt % FT FTA FT %
Jill Chapman 31/31 26.9 193 351 .550 7 19 .368 47 89 .528
Kay Morgan 31/28 27.5 126 313 .403 70 192 .365 32 41 .780
Heather Cassady 30/4 21.9 46 131 .351 25 74 .338 22 45 .489

 

  Off Reb Def Reb Reb PF-D Assists Steals Blocks TO A/TO High Points Ave
Jill Chapman 99 136 235 101-6 15 19 36 57 0.33 31 440 14.2
Kay Morgan 23 54 77 55-0 102 41 7 60 1.70 21 354 11.4
Heather Cassady 6 30 36 57-1 61 22 1 54 1.13 16 139 4.6

 

Players returning from redshirt years:

Rachael Honegger (5'11 Jr F): Averaged 7.5 ppg and 4.6 rpg and led the team in steals with 57 as a soph in 1997.  Missed the 1998 season due to pregnancy.

Tara Jones (5'11 Soph G):  Was a reserve guard for 7 games in 1997 before tearing her acl.

Additions:

Jill Hartman

 5'11 F Evansville Ind
Rainey Alting 5'5 G LaFayette Ind* 17@
Jelena Lazic 6'6 C Yugoslavia* 2@
Allison Skapin 6' F Beavercreek Oh
Erika Christenson 6'4 C Fairborn, Oh 278!
Jamie Gathing 6' F Kankakee, Il 161!

*Junior college transfer

!All Star Girls Report ranking

@All Star Girls Report junior college ranking

 

The 1999 Indiana Hoosiers have many, many more questions than answers.  They return only four players with experience and one, Rachael Honegger, is coming off a red-shirt and now has a child to care for.

The four returnees will likely start and be joined by Lazic.  That will be one of the tallest front lines in the country, and should make Indiana a better rebounding team.  It also means that Chapman will move to power forward, where her lack of mobility could be a problem.  Morgan will start at shooting guard.  She has proven to be one of the top three point shooters in the league.  Cassady is likely to run the point.

But the first questions this team will have to answer will be questions about their team character, and the questions that raise about coaching.  They will have to establish that they can play hard and with intensity for an entire season.  Izard's teams have frequently felt that it was time to stop playing before the schedule was done, but last year was far and away the earliest his team packed it in.  If Indiana is ever going to be other than mediocre, Izard will have to do motivate his teams much more than he has been able to.

The area where experience may well be most important is defense.  Indiana was an abysmal defensive team in 1998.  In conference games, they gave up 14 more points a game than they scored.  They don't look to be capable of scoring as much as they did last year.  The inexperienced Hoosiers will have to figure out a way to improve their defensive performance in 99.

There are very few positive givens on the 99 Hoosier squad.  If they are to be even an average Big 10 team, an awful lot of things will have to go right.  That's just not likely to happen.  Izard's teams usually do not play up to their talent level.  If this team does that, it could get real ugly real fast.

By position:

  Point guard.  Cassady was the back-up point last year and played more as Green became less and less of a factor.  She's wasn't much of a shooter and could be a real liability if her free throw shooting doesn't improve significantly.  She also needs to cut down on her turnovers.  JC transfer Alting could push her for the starting job.

  Swing players.  This should be the strength of the starting line-up.  Morgan and Honegger are established players who can both score.  Both are solid all-around players.

  Post players.  Chapman is expected to move to power forward and Lazic should start at center.  They will be the tallest pair in the league, but jc players have not traditionally been impact players in the Big 10 and Chapman's mobility will be suspect.

  Bench.  Who knows?  There will be no experienced players sitting on the Hoosier bench.  It will be composed mainly of freshmen of no great repute.  Izard likes to use his bench, but there may not be much there to use.

Strengths: Height, Chapman

Weaknesses: Inexperience, Defense, Coaching

Key Games: Michigan Jan 6, Northwestern Jan 16

Key Player: Rachael Honegger.  She has the ability to be the type of all-around player around which a team can be built.  She will have to be a student, athlete and parent in order to reach her basketball potential.

Question Hoosier fans are asking:  Does anyone at Indiana care about this program?

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