Miller was the right hire for women’s basketball

The 2011-12 basketball campaign was all about the revival of IU basketball, from
then-junior forward Christian Watford’s shot to the team’s Sweet 16
appearance.

That took a lot of attention off an abysmal season from the women’s basketball team.

Last year, IU went an all-too-forgettable 6-24 with a 1-16 record in conference play, losing by double digits 18 times.

The season was such a failure that former IU Coach Felisha Legette-Jack was fired after her sixth season.

More optimism surrounds the team’s direction this year after the hiring of current IU Coach Curt Miller.

Miller comes into his first season at IU with an impressive 258-92 career record, making him the 16th winningest coach of all time in terms of winning percentage.

This was a big hire by IU Athletics Director Fred Glass.

The women’s basketball program was falling apart after three straight seasons without even making a WNIT appearance.

Miller was the right choice.

This team needs to be competitive again, and Miller is the one to bring respectability back to the team, just like he did for Bowling Green.

In his tenure, Bowling Green won eight straight regular season conference titles during 2005-12 and made a Sweet 16 appearance during a 31-4 campaign in 2006-07.

The Hoosiers should consider themselves lucky that Miller fell into their hands.
His contract at Bowling Green had a “dream clause” that allowed Miller to void his contract and go to a select few schools.

IU was on this short list.

Now, it’s time Miller turns this IU team into a “dream team.”

However, we shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves. IU knows better than anyone that a
rebuilding process can take some time.

While Miller doesn’t quite have the appeal of IU Coach Tom Crean, he will make this a better program and will take them out of the conference cellar.

At Bowling Green, he turned a mediocre team into a winning team in just three seasons, so it’s natural to allot him the same benchmark here at IU.

Miller reached his initial milestone with a 63-62 win against Murray State on Monday.
There will be more milestones in the future, but it is a relief the Miller era has begun.
His winning ways reflect in his first recruiting class at IU.

Miller brought in Indiana native Carmela Roeschlein, the Clay City High School all-time leading scorer and four-time all-conference guard.

Joining Roeschlein in the backcourt is Nicole Bell and Brionna Arnold.
Bell was the Southwest Ohio Player of the Year in 2012, and Arnold was a Hoosier Basketball Top 100 Senior last year and went 95-8 during her four years at Ben Davis High School.

Forward Jocelyn Mousty was brought in to help make IU’s paint presence. Mousty averaged a double-double in her senior season.

The final recruit is a redshirt freshman brought by Miller from Bowling Green.

You could say Kaila Hulls is where she belongs after suffering an ACL injury last year.
Her older brother, Jordan, is a starting guard for the men’s basketball team. Like her brother, Hulls is an excellent 3-point shooter.

With these recruits, Miller is off on the right foot and, in a rather short matter of time,
should bring this program back to the NCAA Tournament.

­— zstavis@indiana.edu