Senior Swan Song? / Patberg will decide after season whether to return to IU for another year

Columbus native Ali Patberg, right, and fellow senior Keyanna Warthan were honored on Indiana's Senior Day at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, IN. Photo By Missy Minear/Indiana Athletics Submitted photo

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana University women’s basketball fans might be able to forgive Ali Patberg if she didn’t have one of her better games on Saturday afternoon.

After all, the senior from Columbus North who has spoiled those Hoosier fans the past three years, had just gone through emotional Senior Day ceremonies prior to their home finale. She had eight points, three rebounds, three assists and a block in a 74-59 win against Purdue that wrapped up second place in the Big Ten Conference.

"There’s a lot of different emotions," Patberg said after Saturday’s game. I’m just thankful for every game that I get to play for IU and to play for this amazing coaching staff and to play with my teammates. This year, I’ve just been taking one game at a time and just enjoying every moment. I’m just super thankful that I even got an opportunity to play here and be a part of this program."

Patberg has led Indiana to arguably its best season in school history this year. The Hoosiers set a school record with 16 Big Ten wins and achieved its first-ever top-10 national ranking.

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IU will take a 18-4 overall record into this week’s Big Ten Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

"It’s been awesome," Patberg said. "But we haven’t reached our goals. We want to win the Big Ten Tournament, and we want to make it far in the NCAA Tournament. We want to go to the Final Four, everything. So that’s been our goal since I started here. So honestly, we’re just getting started. We’ve taken care of business this year, and have gotten better. We didn’t play great today, but we found a way to win."

The second-seeded Hoosiers received a double-bye and will play in Thursday’s quarterfinals against Michigan or Penn State. A win likely would set up a Friday semifinal game against No. 3-seed Rutgers. The championship game is at 2 p.m. Saturday.

"We’re going to take one game at a time," Patberg said. "Whoever we have first, we’re going to focus on them. We have to win the first one, and then we’ll worry about the next."

Patberg, the 2015 Indiana Miss Basketball and McDonald’s All-American, is in her fourth year with the IU program following two years at Notre Dame, the first of which she missed after tearing her ACL in preseason practice. She sat out the 2017-18 season as a transfer, along with Brenna Wise, who transferred in from Pitt.

That year, Patberg and Wise practiced every day against the team, led by seniors Tyra Buss and Amanda Cahill, that won the NIT.

"When I think about our culture, (the coaching staff has) been here for seven years, and not to take anything away from Tyra Buss or Amanda Cahill because I love those two, and they’ve helped build this program, but when I think back to Ali Patberg, she’s a kid that’s made true everything that she told me she was going to be and do," IU head coach Teri Moren said. "In her gap year, she said she and Brenna were going to be in the gym extra, and they were going to do extra workouts with (director of athletic performance) Kevin (Konopasek), and they did."

The following year, Patberg led the Hoosiers to the NCAA Tournament and a first-round victory before a second-round loss at Oregon. They were in position for another trip to the NCAA last season before it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Patberg having been granted a sixth year of eligibility, Wise was the only senior on last year’s squad.

"I think Ali and Brenna are probably two of our kids that are responsible for this idea of being in the gym and becoming gym rats and understanding that we have to work hard or we have to do more," Moren said. "It’s cool to be in the gym and work on your game outside of practice time, and she’s just been a terrific example of that."

Patberg and IU’s other senior, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, native Keyanna Warthen, were honored with a video tribute and given framed jerseys prior to Saturday’s game.

"Off the court, they’re great people and great friends of mine, and I’ll cherish them for life," sophomore center Mackenzie Holmes said. "Key is just a great personality. She has such a big heart and wants everyone to be successful, and the same goes for Ali. Ali is just a hard worker and great leader, and I couldn’t ask for two better people to be our leaders."

Guard Nicole Cardano-Hillary, who transferred in from George Mason, echoed those sentiments.

"Coming in here, they welcomed me with open arms, and I can’t thank them enough for obviously what they’ve done for the program in the years they’ve been here, but also just including me and helping me through the transition," Cardano-Hillary said. "They’re incredible people."

"Listening to her teammates talk about Ali, talk about Key (Friday) and today was very moving, just what Ali has meant to every one of them differently individually because Ali is a relationship builder," Moren added. "She is going to have a relationship with every one of our kids individually, and she pours herself into those teammates. That’s why she’s so loved, and that’s why, as I said to the kids, ‘Ali Patberg is a kid that makes everyone around her better and not just her peers. She makes her coaches better, as well.’"

Because of the COVID situation, the NCAA has granted athletes an extra year of eligibility. Two Hoosiers opted out midway through the season with the intent on coming back next year.

Patberg, who graduated last May with a degree in finance and currently is pursuing a master’s in recreation administration, said she would decide on whether to come back for a fifth year at IU — and seventh year overall — after the season.

"This whole year, just because we could potentially come back for another year, I just focused on the now," Patberg said. "I’m going to decide whether I’m going to come back or not at the end of the year. So I’ve just been taking every game like it’s my last because it could be. I’ve just been trying to stay in the moment and enjoy everything, enjoy all the memories that I’m making today, and the future will take care of itself, whatever I decide to do."

Those memories have been plentiful.

"I’d just say the people here, from the coaches to the supporting staff, the memories I’ve made, the relationships I’ve made," Patberg said. "I couldn’t tell you one that I’ll always remember; it will be all of them, all the people, just how I’ve been challenged to be a better player, a better person every day. I’ve had fun while doing it, and that’s pretty special, I think. I’m so grateful that I came here."