Indiana University guard Grace Berger, left, drives to the basket during the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball tournament first-round game against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Photo by Gracie Farrall, IU Athletics. The Indiana women’s basketball team entered the NCAA basketball tournament riding a historic season and rise to national prominence. A special half-hour TV program will explore the Hoosiers’ success and impact, and why it matters.

“IU Women’s Basketball: Rising to the Top” will air at 8 p.m. March 23 on WTIU. Joe Hren, assistant news director, will anchor the program.

The Hoosiers (28-4) achieved the most wins in a season in program history and were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time ever before suffering a heartbreaking two-point loss in the second round. They also won their first Big Ten Conference title in 40 years and earned a No. 2 national ranking in the polls, the best in program history.

“We realized this is a historic season, and if someone is going to do something on it, it would have to be us. We decided that we needed to do something more in-depth and fun on the season,” said Sara Wittmeyer, news bureau chief for WTIU and WFIU.

Pat Beane, WTIU senior news editor, said he and a videographer followed the team during the tournament. The program will include stories about the season, the impact the women have had on the community and young girls, and sales of IU women’s basketball merchandise and what that’s meant for Name, Image and Likeness money for players, he said. It also will include on-the-scene interviews with players, coaches and fans, and one with the father of head coach Teri Moren.

The Indiana women’s program has reached new heights under Moren, who is in her ninth season leading the Hoosiers and is the winningest coach in program history. With Moren at the helm, the Hoosiers:

• Have posted eight consecutive seasons of at least 20 victories.
• Won the WNIT championship in her fourth season.
• Reached the Elite Eight in the 2021 NCAA tournament.
• Reached the Sweet 16 in the 2022 NCAA tournament.
• Drew a sellout crowd to an IU women’s basketball game for the first time ever, with 17,222 attending the Feb. 19, 2023, game against Purdue at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

“People always associate Indiana with the Hoosiers and basketball, but not necessarily the women,” Wittmeyer said. “I think that’s why it’s certainly worth doing something new on because of the uniqueness of it, and it’s the women really making history now.”