Big Ten tourney awaits Hoosiers

The IU women’s basketball team has had one goal since the beginning of the season: an NCAA tournament berth.

Starting today, the Hoosiers will make their closing argument to the tournament selection committee.

IU starts Big Ten Tournament play against Michigan this afternoon in Indianapolis.

IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said she is not sure how well her team has to do in order to secure a bid in the 64-team NCAA Tournament.

“This is a place we have not been before,” the third-year coach said in a teleconference Tuesday. “This is all brand new, this next step they call the NCAA tournament.”

If the Hoosiers secure a bid, it will be their first since 2002, when they won the Big Ten Tournament.

Junior point guard Jamie Braun said she thinks the Hoosiers could hoist a Big Ten Championship trophy on Sunday.

“I think if we keep playing together like we have been ... if we just come every game, we definitely have a chance to win it all, and that’s what our goals are set at,” Braun said after IU’s 67-61 win against Michigan on Sunday.

Tipoff for today’s game is scheduled for 25 minutes after the first game of the afternoon, which starts at noon.

The matchup will be the Hoosiers’ third meeting with the Wolverines and the second contest between the two in only five days. Though the sixth-seeded Hoosiers are 2-0 against 11th-seeded Michigan this season, Legette-Jack said she doesn’t see any pros or cons to playing the Wolverines again.

“We don’t look at it in any way,” Legette-Jack said. “We just believe we have to play whomever we have to play.”

The tournament will be played in Indianapolis, which should provide a home-court advantage for the Hoosiers.

“It helps in the fact that it’s only a hour away,” senior forward Whitney Thomas said Sunday in a press conference. “Hopefully we get some fans there, and that could be our extra boost.”

The quick turnaround for today’s game has forced Legette-Jack to find other ways to motivate her players.

“This is kind of like the WNBA, in a sense. You play someone once and have to play them again, back to back,” she said. “A couple of kids really have aspirations to take it to the next level, so we kind of put it to them like this: ‘This is what you have to do. You have to continue to try to play a great team two times in a row and find a different edge to offset what they already know.’”