BLOOMINGTON — Indiana women’s basketball coach Teri Moren didn’t sugarcoat the loss of Yarden Garzon to Maryland.
“It stings,” Moren said with a pause. “It hurts, but you realize with revenue share and life-changing money that’s out there, that’s where we are.”
Moren opened up about Garzon’s departure in a wide-ranging interview with The Herald-Times last week.
She envisioned Garzon having a farewell tour next season that rivaled the sendoffs Grace Berger, Mackenzie Holmes, Chloe Moore-McNeil, and Sydney Parrish received in recent years as part of the group who ushered in an unprecedented era of success for IU women’s hoops.
The Israeli native averaged 12.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists as a three-year starter for the Hoosiers. She led the team in scoring last season with 14.4 points per game while averaging a career-best 2.7 made 3-pointers (17th in the country).
She reached the 1,000-point milestone and set the program’s career record for 3-pointers (220), a record that was set by Kris McGrade back in 1994.
“I have talked a lot about legacy,” Moren said wistfully. “You want those kids to stay.”
The Hoosiers lost nine players (three graduated and six transferred) from last year’s roster. The attrition stemmed from a variety of factors — reserves like Lexus Bargesser and Henna Sandvik were looking for expanded roles, while others like Lilly Meister were seeking a move away from center.
It was the unexpected departure of Garzon to a Big Ten rival that stunned IU fans who grew accustomed to seeing Moren keep the core of her team intact as it reeled off six straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including three trips to the Sweet Sixteen.
When Moren told reporters that her staff would have plenty of work to do in the portal after IU exited the NCAA Tournament in Columbia, she fully expected to be building a roster around Garzon, a versatile 6-foot-3 wing capable of playing any position on the floor.
It wasn’t until Moren started having individual sit-downs with her players after the season that she sensed Garzon might be considering her options in hopes of securing a bigger financial commitment.
“We didn’t anticipate it, there’s no doubt,” Moren said. “Do you have to reset? Yeah, you have to.”
International athletes in the United States on student visas do face restrictions on NIL deals, but nothing prohibits them from earning money in their home country. Collectives generally structure NIL deals with foreign-born students to enable them to fulfill their obligations by hosting events such as overseas camps.
The House v. NCAA settlement may create additional exceptions that allow international students to earn passive income through group licensing agreements.
There was a whirlwind of activity in the portal, with programs looking to sign players to deals before the House v. NCAA case is finalized and ushers in a new era of revenue sharing that comes with a clearinghouse to vet NIL deals.
Moren was reluctant to overcommit to any one player at the expense of the rest of the roster, given the new market realities — the price for fours and fives in the portal skyrocketed this offseason — while trying to keep her other returning players happy.
“This isn’t just happening to Indiana basketball,” Moren said. “The next week, it was Notre Dame (losing Olivia Miles) and some schools lost a lot more than others. We aren’t unique; the only thing we can do is adapt and move on.”
Part of that process for Moren was spending time reflecting on how to best prioritize her time. She admitted it was a struggle shifting her focus away from game planning, but the recent departures have pushed her to make a change.
The question she kept asking herself was, “How do I get to their hearts?”
Indiana has plenty of advantages over other schools — a dedicated fanbase, iconic venue, and recent history of success — but Moren envisions the head coach-player relationship is more important than ever in the revenue-sharing era.
“I’m trying to get wise enough to understand that I can relinquish some of the X’s and O’s stuff and spend more time on the development of the relationships, the leadership, and making sure that locker room stays healthy,” Moren said. “I had my hands in everything and relied more on our team leaders in the past.”
“In order to keep these kids on the roster, I have to have a really strong relationship with all of them that goes deeper — I thought I had good relationships with all of them (that left), but obviously they weren’t strong enough to keep them here.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: ‘It hurts’: Indiana women’s basketball coach addresses Yarden Garzon’s unexpected departure
Reporting by Michael Niziolek, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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