After sophomore Tyra Buss was crowned as Illinois’ all-time scoring leader at Mt. Carmel High School (Illinois), there were certainly expectations for the 5-foot-7 guard’s freshman season in Bloomington.
There was also an abundance of changes in her first season at the collegiate level. Buss was playing in the Big Ten as a freshman, a daunting task for any athlete. She also decided to stay at IU after Curt Miller’s sudden resignation and chose to adapt to Teri Moren’s system.
Buss, for the first time in her competitive career, did not bring up the ball on offense as the Hoosiers’ point guard. With now-junior Larryn Brooks occupying the point guard position, Buss was asked to play out on the wing.
Brooks transferred to Texas Tech following the conclusion of last season, though, and now Buss will return to the point guard position with an invaluable year in the Big Ten under her belt.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Buss said. “It was a little different last year because I used to always have the ball in my hands, I was a point guard ever since I was little. It was definitely a change playing the wing and not always having the ball. I’m definitely still used to that, it hasn’t really been a change. Having that responsibility of running the offense and seeing the players is definitely going to be important for me.”
Buss started all 31 games for the Hoosiers last season on the wing, averaging 11.7 points per game as IU’s second-leading scorer. Moren’s squad glided through a relatively easy nonconference schedule with a 10-1 record before struggling through Big Ten play with a 5-15 mark.
“I learned to be a lot more confident and not get down on myself when things go bad, especially this year being the point guard,” Buss said. “I can’t break down, I have to have that positive attitude. My teammates are going to look at me for that. You have to have that leadership and communication.”
Moren enters her second season at the helm of IU women’s basketball, earning the job after back-to-back winning seasons at Indiana State. Buss decided to stick with Moren, and said she couldn’t be happier.
“I knew of her before, and I couldn’t be happier with the choice that Fred Glass and Indiana made to hire Coach Moren," Buss said. "I think she’s done a great job, and she’s going to build this program up to what it should be.”
While last season’s campaign was one that had to overcome monumental change, the Hoosiers return a great deal of experience to benefit from having an offseason together. Junior guards Tyshee Towner and Alexis Gassion are expected to join Buss in the backcourt, while 6-foot-2 sophomore Amanda Cahill and 6-foot-3 junior Jenn Anderson will play down low for IU.
Highly regarded freshman Kym Royster is projected to play forward for Moren.
“The chemistry is the important part,” Moren said. “We didn’t have the time last year that we needed to build our team. We’re in a different place and really focused on a bright future with the pieces that we have. There’s a comfort level that we’ve established now that we have a year under our belts. I don’t think there’s any question that our team is ambitious, eager and hungry to find success.”
Now that both are sophomores in the program, Moren said that she’s comfortable with giving Buss an even larger role in the offense. Buss, meanwhile, said she is eager to return to her familiar position.
“I think it’s a challenge for her only in the respect that she’s going to have the ball in her hands more,” Moren said. “I think if you really got down to the nuts and bolts of Tyra Buss, she enjoys having the ball in her hands. I am going to ask her to run our basketball team. She didn’t have that role last year, but there’s no question that I have the utmost of confidence in her to do that.”
Tyra Buss will make her return as a point guard Nov. 8, when Slippery Rock (Pennsylvania) comes to Bloomington for an exhibition. For Buss, and her teammates, it’s the chemistry that may play a role in a hopeful bounce-back season.
“Having a summer with Coach Moren and the staff really helped us,” Buss said. “We got to spend a lot of time together. It’s just a big change, our team chemistry is so much better. You can just tell that it’s going to be a really good year. Getting to bond with the team and the coaches together will really translate into the game and trusting each other.”
