Indiana

Four questions to open Indiana Fever training camp: How will Caitlin Clark gel?

Published

2 weeks ago

April 27, 2024

Four questions to open Indiana Fever training camp: How will Caitlin Clark gel?

INDIANAPOLIS — One of the most anticipated seasons in Indiana Fever history will start Sunday, as 15 players step into Gainbridge Fieldhouse for their first day of training camp.

Indiana’s most coveted addition is Caitlin Clark, the No. 1 overall pick. She is the NCAA career scoring leader and a two-time national player of the year. The Fever also added Ohio State’s Celeste Taylor and Florida’s Leilani Correa in the draft, as well as Katie Lou Samuelson and Damiris Dantas on protected contracts in free agency.

Camp is about two weeks long with two preseason games: at the Dallas Wings on May 3, and at home May 10 against the Atlanta Dream. Fever brass will have until May 13 to cut the roster to 12.

Here are four questions heading into training camp:

More: Indiana Fever have three cuts to make throughout training camp. Who will make the roster?

How will Caitlin Clark gel with Aliyah Boston, Fever teammates?

Clark is joining a cast of Aliyah Boston, NaLyssa Smith, and Kelsey Mitchell — all of whom have established themselves in Indianapolis already.

Boston, the 2023 No. 1 pick, was the unanimous Rookie of the Year and an All-Star starter. Smith was the No. 2 pick in 2022 and made the WNBA All-Rookie team, and Mitchell was an All-Star for the first time last season.

On the court, Clark should gel perfectly with the Fever’s top trio. Her 3-point shooting ability will space the floor, and it will be a good complement to Mitchell, the only Fever player to attempt over 100 3-pointers last season. Clark and Boston have already started to work out together ahead of training camp, and their pick-and-roll, two-player game could be dangerous.

“To have both (Clark and Mitchell) on the court, with Aliyah Boston in the post, it’s a coach’s dream,” coach Christie Sides said. “We’ve got other players that are going to be around them, and we’re hoping to have five players on the court that can all shoot the 3, that makes it really dangerous for other teams.”

More: Meet the artist who made a portrait of Caitlin Clark with a basketball as her paintbrush

Will Caitlin Clark be able to shoot freely?

At Iowa, Clark could shoot whatever, whenever, and wherever she wanted — which was a good strategy for the Hawkeyes, as they relied on her for about 34% of their scoring. But will she have the same green light in Indiana? Sides addressed that on draft night, especially when it came to Clark’s iconic logo 3-pointers.

“I’ve been asked by several of our players, ‘The logo 3s, how many are we going to take?’” Sides said on draft night. “And I said, ‘Well, how many are we going to practice, and how many are you going to make in practice?’ That’s Caitlin’s range, and that’s what she has shown the world that she can do. We’re going to take the best shot available for our team, but my gosh, she broke the (scoring record) on … almost a 40-footer.”

With Boston, Smith, and Mitchell in the lineup, too, Clark will not have as much of a need to pull the scoring weight as much as she did at Iowa. She likely won’t need to score over 30 points per game.

Clark will have a lot going through her head, including working with her new teammates and getting used to a new coaching staff, facility and city. If she can find the time to practice those long-range 3-pointers, Sides isn’t ruling them out of the playbook.

How will Erica Wheeler fit in?

Wheeler came to Indiana on a two-year, $404,000 contract, and she was the highest-paid player in the WNBA in 2023 when the Fever added a $40,000 time-off bonus (which prevented her from playing overseas for more than 90 days in the offseason) to make her salary $242,000. But Wheeler didn’t end up being what the Fever were looking for to run their offense. She averaged five assists per game, and Indiana ranked 11th of 12 teams with just 18 assists per game.

More: A bonus made Indiana Fever’s Erica Wheeler highest-paid WNBA player, allows her time off

Clark, averaging 8.9 assists last year, should bolster that number. But how will the Fever’s highly-paid point guard fit into the rotation?

Wheeler will be Clark’s biggest competition for the starting point guard spot. Assuming Clark wins that battle, Wheeler will run with the second unit, becoming one of the best backup point guards in the league. Wheeler has shown she’s excited for Clark’s arrival, and she will be a good veteran presence for Clark to learn from.

How will Indiana’s other draft picks fare?

Second-round pick Celeste Taylor and third-round pick Leilani Correa are on an uphill climb to make the roster — as most late-round draft picks are. In 2023, only 15 of the WNBA’s 36 draft picks made opening-night rosters. But Taylor and Correa have something the Fever need: defense. Indiana ranked 10th in the league in defense last year.

Taylor was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a finalist for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, and she was the anchor of a ferocious full-court press with Ohio State. That press muddled Big Ten offenses, including those of Iowa and Indiana, and Taylor averaged 2.5 steals per game.

Correa, the SEC Sixth Woman of the Year, also averaged 2.5 steals a game, mostly off the bench. She also averaged over 16 points.

Either pick could make the roster based on their defensive abilities; they just have the tall task of showing that in a new environment in a small time window.

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Longtime Israel critic loses Indiana Republican House primary after campaign by Jewish groups

Published

3 hours ago

May 9, 2024

Press Room

Longtime Israel critic loses Indiana Republican House primary after campaign by Jewish groups

A former Republican congressman in Indiana who is a longtime critic of Israel failed in his bid to return to the House of Representatives after the Republican Jewish Coalition and AIPAC mounted an effort to support his opponent.

Election returns in Indiana’s 8th district on Tuesday night showed state Senator Mark Messmer, the RJC’s favored candidate, soundly defeating John Hostettler, who represented the district in Congress from 1995-2007.

“Tonight, we succeeded in keeping a vocal anti-Israel candidate out of the Republican conference,” the RJC said Tuesday evening. “This is a major victory for the RJC, the Jewish community, for all pro-Israel Americans, and for common sense.”

The RJC had spent $1 million on ads in the district mostly promoting Messmer, said Sam Markstein, a spokesman for the group.

“The results last night make it very clear that our efforts were very effective in ensuring that a vocal anti Israel voice would not be joining the republican conference,” he said. The District leans Republican and Messmer is seen as a shoo-in in November.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Richmond, Virginia, on March 2. (credit: JAY PAUL/REUTERS)

Hostettler during his time in Congress was an isolationist who wrote a book after he left office blaming Jews for for the Iraq War. “Hostettler’s claim of ‘dual loyalty’ by prominent Jews repeats age-old slanders of Jewish disloyalty to their countries and outlandish notions of secret Jewish cabals pulling international strings,” Abraham Foxman, then the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote at the time.

The Republican and Democratic Jewish organizations have traditionally focused on attacking candidates from the other side, but as politics related to Israel have tectonically shifted in recent years, pro-Israel affiliates of both parties are aiming fire inward. The RJC recently announced plans to target Virginia Rep. Bob Good, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, because he led a group of 21 Republicans who opposed emergency defense funding for Israel.

The Democratic Majority for Israel has in recent years taken on Israel’s sharpest critics in the party, and was recently joined by the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which recently endorsed two opponents of members of the progressive “Squad” who have advocated cutting off aid to Israel, Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of St. Louis.

Ousting white supremacy supporters

The RJC previously worked to oust Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, who had a history of condoning white supremacists. He lost his primary in 2020.

United Democracy Project, a political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, also opposed Hostettler, spending about $1.5 million on negative ads. “What kind of Republican votes against supporting Israel?” one ad said.

“Regardless of party affiliation, we will support pro-Israel candidates and oppose detractors,” AIPAC said in a statement. “Our only criterion is whether the candidate stands with America’s ally, Israel, in its battle against the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah.”

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‘It changes everything.’ Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever react to WNBA move to charter flights

Published

10 hours ago

May 8, 2024

Press Room

‘It changes everything.’ Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever react to WNBA move to charter flights

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides remembers one specific time she and her team got caught up in commercial airline troubles.

Really, she said, she tries to suppress it.

“I don’t remember (what airport),” Sides said. “I was trying to block that one out.”

More: Caitlin Clark, welcome to WNBA… and commercial flights. ‘Will definitely be an adjustment.’

More: How Caitlin Clark is inspiring Indiana’s next generation of stars

Back when she was an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky between 2011-16, the team was trying to make the second game of a back-to-back. But the plane was delayed. Then delayed again. And again. Finally, canceled. The team, coaches and support staff had to sleep in the airport while waiting for a 6 a.m. flight. Then, they played a game that night.

But now, with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert saying the league will start to use full charter flights for all 12 teams this season, commercial flight issues will be a thing of the past.

“It is incredible,” Sides said. “I just sent a message out to the players last night when the news hit, just that this is what they deserve. They deserve this, and it changes everything. It changes their rest, it changes their rehab… Instead of getting up at like, early in the morning to get back here, then they don’t have to practice at four o’clock, five o’clock in the evening. It changes everything.”

With these new charter flights, the only thing they’ll be losing out on is airline miles.

“I guess I’ll have to book some extra flights,” Fever center Aliyah Boston joked.

The league doesn’t have a specific timeline yet for when charter flights will be available for all 12 teams. Engelbert said the program will be implemented “as soon as we can logistically get planes in places,” but added it could take up to a couple weeks or a month, meaning teams will likely start the regular season flying commercially.

More: WNBA plans to provide full-time charter flights for Indiana Fever, league teams this season

The Fever flew commercially from Indianapolis International Airport to Dallas/Fort Worth for their preseason game against the Dallas Wings last week, and they were met with fans wanting signatures and media taking videos.

“There were people (in the airport) like ‘Oh my gosh, can we get signatures, can we get your signatures?’” Boston said. “And obviously you guys saw people like following us with a camera. But I mean, that’s just what it is, we understand. So I’m really glad that we’re taking these precautions, especially with charter.”

Fever rookie sensation Caitlin Clark has been the main reason for a lot of the media attention the Fever have been getting recently. Pacers Sports & Entertainment beefed up its security during Fever travel because of Clark’s popularity, and she was the subject of most of the videos about the Fever’s arrival in Dallas.

Now, Clark and the Fever will have more privacy when they travel. And in the 27th year of the WNBA, it’s been a long time coming.

“I’m just super excited for the players who have been in this league for a really long time and have really deserved this for years and years and years,” Clark said. “I’m just excited, I’m thankful, at whatever point that it is, that it happens. It’ll be great for us, it’ll make recovery easier, it’ll make travel easier, it just makes life a lot easier for a lot of people… I’m just very fortunate to come to this league and have this opportunity the first year that I’m here.”

Boston spent her rookie season flying to games commercially — a stark change from her four years at South Carolina, where she and the Gamecocks flew charter to every game. For the second-year center, who stands at 6-4, flying charter isn’t only about security. It’s about being able to stretch out on planes, get back home after games, and have extra time to rest.

“You play your game, you get back on that plane, and you get to sleep in your own bed,” Boston said. “That’s really what you know, we’ve been used to in college. So coming here and making that change, you know, is going to be great for us.”

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.

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How Indiana's transfer portal recruiting class stacks up nationally and in the Big Ten

Published

17 hours ago

May 8, 2024

Press Room

How Indiana's transfer portal recruiting class stacks up nationally and in the Big Ten

It’s been a wildly successful spring for Mike Woodson and the Indiana coaching staff in the transfer portal.

The Hoosiers landed commitments and signed Myles Rice, Kanaan Carlyle, Oumar Ballo and Luke Goode. Indiana is also viewed as the favorite to land Langdon Hatton, which would help solidify the roster’s frontcourt depth.

While transfer portal class recruiting rankings aren’t as widely available as high school recruiting class rankings, more outlets have started to publish them as the portal becomes more prominent.

Here’s a look at how Indiana’s transfer portal recruiting class stacks up nationally and in the Big Ten:

247Sports

Indiana transfer portal class rank: No. 2

Player rankings: Ballo (No. 2), Carlyle (No. 18), Rice (No. 27), Goode (No. 136)

Notes: With 33.30 points, Indiana trails only Arkansas (33.46 points) in the 247Sports transfer team rankings. The top five teams are Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, St. John’s and West Virginia.

Rankings for other Big Ten programs:

Michigan (No. 8) – 6 commits
UCLA (No. 9) – 6 commits
Ohio State (No. 13) – 4 commits
Illinois (No. 14) – 5 commits
USC (No. 16) – 9 commits
Oregon (No. 21) – 3 commits
Maryland (No. 25) – 4 commits
Penn State (No. 36) – 4 commits
Wisconsin (No. 39) – 3 commits
Nebraska (No. 48) – 5 commits
Washington (No. 52) – 3 commits
Rutgers (No. 58) – 3 commits
Minnesota (No. 70) – 5 commits
Michigan State (No. 86) – 1 commit
Northwestern (No. 113) – 2 commits
Iowa (No. 137) – 1 commit
Purdue (Not ranked) – Zero commits

On3

Indiana transfer portal class rank: No. 4

Player rankings: Ballo (No. 1), Carlyle (No. 13), Rice (No. 36), Goode (No. 237)

Notes: With an index score of 23, Indiana trails Louisville (31), West Virginia (31) and UCLA (27) in the On3 transfer team rankings. The top five teams are Louisville, West Virginia, UCLA, Indiana and Georgia.

These rankings are a bit different than a typical team ranking as On3 attempts to “measure a team’s production during the transfer process, compared relative against its roster and not a comparison against other schools. This proprietary algorithm determines if a school has improved its overall team talent, stayed the same, or declined in talent during the transfer window.”

In other words, On3 is trying to measure team improvement in the portal window.

Rankings for other Big Ten programs:

UCLA (No. 3) – 6 commits
Michigan (No. 6) – 6 commits
Nebraska (No. 9) – 5 commits
Oregon (No. 20) – 3 commits
Maryland (No. 21) – 4 commits
USC (No. 25) – 9 commits
Illinois (No. 28) – 5 commits
Northwestern (No. 30) – 2 commits
Washington (No. 38) – 3 commits
Purdue (No. 51) – 0 commits
Michigan State (No. 52) – 1 commit
Rutgers (No. 54) – 3 commits
Iowa (No. 56) – 1 commit
Penn State (No. 57) – 4 commits
Ohio State (No. 58) – 4 commits
Wisconsin (No. 61) – 3 commits
Minnesota (No. 64) – 5 commits

EvanMiya.com

Indiana transfer portal class rank: No. 5

Player rankings: Ballo (No. 3), Rice (No. 81), Carlyle (No. 155), Goode (No. 178)

Notes: The top five teams in Miya’s transfer portal team rankings are St. John’s, Louisville, Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana.

Rankings for other Big Ten programs:

Michigan (No. 3) – 6 commits
Ohio State (No. 15) – 4 commits
USC (No. 16) – 9 commits
UCLA (No. 17) – 6 commits
Illinois (No. 19) – 5 commits
Maryland (No. 26) – 4 commits
Oregon (No. 37) – 3 commits
Nebraska (No. 39) – 5 commits
Minnesota (No. 67) – 5 commits
Washington (No. 79) – 3 commits
Michigan State (No. 118) – 1 commit
Rutgers (No. 121) – 3 commits
Penn State (No. 127) – 4 commits
Northwestern (No. 143) – 2 commits
Iowa (No. 160) – 1 commits
Wisconsin (No. 163) – 3 commits
Purdue (Not ranked) – Zero commits

Filed to: Transfer portal

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