2025/26 Women's Basketball Thread

[1SycFan]

As one of the longtime women's supporters on SP, I'll try to keep this thread updated!

 

[1SycFan]

Sycamore trio named to MVC’s Players to Watch list - Indiana State University Athletics

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State senior guard Kennedy Claybrooks, sophomore forward Amerie Flowers and sophomore guard Tierney Kelsey were named to the 2025-26

gosycamores.com

 

[TreeTop]

As one of the longtime women's supporters on SP, I'll try to keep this thread updated!

Would love to get your take on the upcoming season, coach's second season, all new roster, etc.

 

[Darth Sycamore]

I'll give my thoughts. On paper, this is arguably one of the worst rosters Indiana State women's basketball has ever had.

The pros:
- Seem to be a bit bigger
- Might be more athletic?

Cons:
- No returners, couldn't keep the valuable pieces
- Not a single freshman. I get the transfer portal has changed the game, but that's WILD in year 2
- We only brought in two transfers who averaged over 10 points per game at their last stop
- Speaking of last stops, let's see how their previous teams were: SEMO (6-23), Jackson State (16-15), Mercer (8-22), Mississippi Valley State (8-23), Delaware State (5-24), Alabama State (6-24), Livingston (D2, 12-17), Governors State (NAIA, 29-6), Northwestern Ohio (NAIA, 20-10), Union College (D2, 13-13), Emporia State (D2, 10-19), McLennan CC (Juco, 28-4)

There are problems with this program, anyone with eyes can see that. I just don't see drastic improvement incoming in year two. Hope I'm wrong because the program has a history of good support and has had some success, but the outlook isn't great.

 

[1SycFan]

Chat GPT predictions​

​

2025-26 Indiana State Women’s — Projected Results​

Date / Opponent	Location / Notes	Projected Outcome	Comments / Key Factors
Nov 3 — at IU Indy	Non-conference	Win	Indiana State should be favored vs. a local smaller program
Nov 11 — Eastern Illinois	Home	Win	EIU is a mid-major; this should be a winnable non-conference game
Nov 14 — at Western Kentucky	Road	Loss	WKU in a stronger conference, tougher opponent
Nov 16 — at Austin Peay	Road	Win	More manageable road game
Nov 19 — at SIU Edwardsville	Road	Loss	SIUE at home will be tough, especially early in season
Nov 24 — Saint Mary-of-the-Woods	Home	Win	Smaller local opponent, likely manageable
Nov 29 — Eureka	Home	Win	Expect ISU to win vs. this opponent
Dec 3 — Northern Illinois	Home	Loss	NIU is a stronger mid-major, challenging match
Dec 11 — at Butler	Road	Loss	Butler is typically solid at home
Dec 17 — Drake *	Home, MVC opener	Loss	Conference opener against a solid MVC team
Dec 21 — vs Michigan State (Neutral)	Tournament site	Loss	Big Big Ten program, tough matchup
Dec 22 — vs Old Dominion / Ole Miss (TBD)	Neutral	Loss	These will be challenging games
Dec 29 — at Illinois State *	Road	Loss	ISU likely struggles on the road in conference play
Jan 1 — vs Valparaiso *	Home	Win	More even matchup, slight edge at home
Jan 4 — at UIC *	Road	Loss	UIC in home territory will be tough
Jan 11 — at Bradley *	Road	Loss	Bradley on home court
Jan 15 — vs Belmont *	Home	Loss	Belmont tends to be competitive
Jan 18 — vs Evansville *	Home	Win	Among the more winnable MVC matchups
Jan 22 — at Southern Illinois *	Road	Loss	SIU home environment tough
Jan 25 — vs Illinois State *	Home	Loss	ISU should try to pick up wins, but home gives small edge
Jan 29 — at Valparaiso *	Road	Loss	Away matchup, Valpo gets home advantage
Feb 1 — at Evansville *	Road	Loss	Evansville at home may be dangerous
Feb 5 — vs Murray State *	Home	Loss	Murray is among top MVCs, tough challenge
Feb 7 — vs Bradley *	Home	Loss	Home helps, but Bradley is solid
Feb 12 — at Northern Iowa *	Road	Loss	NIU stronger in conference
Feb 14 — at Drake *	Road	Loss	Drake is often a top conference team
Feb 19 — vs UIC *	Home	Loss	UIC is tougher, but home gives some chance
Feb 21 — vs Southern Illinois *	Home	Loss	SIU strong on road challenges
Feb 26 — at Murray State *	Road	Loss	Murray strong, tough away game
Feb 28 — at Belmont *	Road	Loss	Belmont strong at home
Mar 5 — vs Northern Iowa *	Home	Loss	Final conference game, possibly close but lean loss

 

[1SycFan]

I'll give my thoughts. On paper, this is arguably one of the worst rosters Indiana State women's basketball has ever had.

The pros:
- Seem to be a bit bigger
- Might be more athletic?

Cons:
- No returners, couldn't keep the valuable pieces
- Not a single freshman. I get the transfer portal has changed the game, but that's WILD in year 2
- We only brought in two transfers who averaged over 10 points per game at their last stop
- Speaking of last stops, let's see how their previous teams were: SEMO (6-23), Jackson State (16-15), Mercer (8-22), Mississippi Valley State (8-23), Delaware State (5-24), Alabama State (6-24), Livingston (D2, 12-17), Governors State (NAIA, 29-6), Northwestern Ohio (NAIA, 20-10), Union College (D2, 13-13), Emporia State (D2, 10-19), McLennan CC (Juco, 28-4)

There are problems with this program, anyone with eyes can see that. I just don't see drastic improvement incoming in year two. Hope I'm wrong because the program has a history of good support and has had some success, but the outlook isn't great.

This is a pretty good view of this season. This team was awful last season and lost every bit of talent they had and replaced it with no one that would make you excited from a talent standpoint. Honestly I'm still pissed about what this current staff has done to run off some great talented ladies from last year's roster. I almost didn't renew my season tickets for the first time but ended up doing so again. Like Darth said, this is likely to be one of the least talented rosters in maybe the programs history and that would be saying something sadly. I don't have ANY faith in this staff to recruit,retain or fix this once proud program. Hopefully we are wrong!