Former Indiana University Baseball Player Bart Kaufman Passes Away at Age 83 Indiana alum and former baseball player Barton Lowell Kaufman passed away on December 3, 2024, at his home in Phoenix, Arizona. He was 83 years old. Kaufman, a native of Shelbyville, Indiana, was a two-time All-Big Ten selection as a baseball player for the Hoosiers. In 1961, he was the conference’s second-leading hitter. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the IU School of Business in 1962 and his juris doctorate from the IU School of Law in 1965. He is also a member of the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association (IHSBCA) Hall of Fame.
A longtime supporter of baseball and Indiana Athletics, Kaufman provided a major gift to the university for the construction of a new baseball stadium. In February of 2012, IU’s athletic department announced the stadium would be named in his honor. Since 2013, the Indiana baseball team has played all of its home games at Bart Kaufman Field, one of the premier college baseball stadiums in the entire country. Longtime chairman and CEO of Kaufman Financial Corporation, Kaufman was active in countless philanthropies, including the Indiana University Foundation and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. At Indiana University, he raised funds for the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, the Bess Meshulam Simon Music Library and Recital Center, Simon Hall and the Bren Simon Cancer Center. Bart is survived by his wife, Judy. They raised four children – Grant, Wendy, Emily and Hannah – and had 15 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations to the following organizations would be appreciated: IU Cancer Center and Hospice of the Valley (Phoenix, Ariz.)
Indiana Hoosiers Headed to Notre Dame for the College Football Playoff First Round The College Football Playoff committee has released its final rankings, and the No. 9 Indiana football program will travel to No. 5 Notre Dame for its first-round matchup on Friday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. The game will air on ESPN/ABC. The Hoosiers (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten) make its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance in head coach Curt Cignetti’s first season at the helm. The 11 overall victories and eight Big Ten wins each set program bests and the 28.7 scoring margin leads the FBS. Against Power 4 programs only, Indiana owns the nation’s No. 2 scoring margin at 23.1 points per game. The meeting with Notre Dame (11-1) will be the 29th all-time meeting and first since 1991 when the two teams met in South Bend. A victory would send the Hoosiers to the Sugar Bowl against No. 2 Georgia on Jan. 1 at Caesars Superdome Stadium.
Karoline Striplin’s 27 Point Effort off the Bench leads Indiana University Women’s Basketball to a Big Ten Opening win at Penn State The Indiana Hoosiers are 1-0 in the Big Ten and 7-3 overall after a 75-60 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions Saturday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania. The Hoosiers will a week off before hosting the Bellarmine Knights on Sunday December 15 at 2 pm in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Penn State has dropped to game in a row after a home loss to St John’s Monday Night and are 8-2 on the season and 0-1 in the Big Ten. Indiana has won eight in a row against Penn State since 2019 and 12 of 13 since March of 2015. This is third time that the teams have met in the Month of December since 2021, and Indiana has won all three meetings. Penn State leads the all-time series 33-21.
Karoline Striplin had her best game as a Hoosier since transferring from Tennessee in the off-season. The Senior scored 27 points going 12-12 from the field, 1-1 from three-point range and 2-2 from the free throw line. Striplin pulled down 4 rebounds, 2 steals and had 1 block. Yarden Garzon added 22 points and Lilly Meister added 10 points as the trio combined for 59 of the teams 75 points. Chloe Moore-McNeil added 6 points, Shay Ciezki who played at Penn State the last two season before coming to Bloomington scored 5 points, Henna Sandvik scored 3 points, Juliana LaMendola getting her third straight start in place of the injured Sydney Parrish scored 2 points and Lexus Bargesser played but did not score. Indiana finished the game going 29-56 from 51% from the field, 10-23 from three-point range for 44% and 7-8 from the free throw line for 87%. Indiana pulled down 30 rebounds, dished out 21 assists, 7 steals, 4 blocks and committed 12 turnovers.
Jayla Oden scored 19 points to lead Penn State with Gracie Merkle adding 16 points and Gabby Elliott adding 13 points. Penn State went 24-52 from the field for 46%, 1-10 from three-point range for 10% and 11-15 from the free throw line for 75%. Penn State pulled down 25 rebounds, dished out 11 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks and committed 13 turnovers. Penn State led 14-13 after the first quarter and IU outscored the Nittany Lions 17-16 in the second quarter as the Hoosiers and the Nittany Lions went into the locker room tied 30 all. Indiana controlled the second half as the Hoosiers 45-30. Indiana outscored Penn State 19-13 to lead 49-43 at the end of the third quarter. The Hoosiers pulled away in the fourth quarter 26-17 to come away with the win and open the Big Ten Season with a road win which will be very hard to come by with the conference expanding to 18 teams and only the top 15 get into the Big Ten Tournament in March. Indiana has won 7 seven straight Big Ten Conference Openers and now getting some much-needed rest with just three games in the next three weeks and all at home before the end of the month.
Indiana University Men’s Basketball leads wire to wire in a 19-point win over Miami (Ohio) The Indiana Hoosiers led start to finish as they beat the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks 76-57 Friday Night in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Indiana is 7-2 on the season and 6-0 in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall as they open Big Ten play Tonight at home against Minnesota at 6:30 pm with the game televised on Big Ten Network. Miami falls to 5-3 on the season. Indiana leads the all-time series 23-3 including 7 in a row and 17 of the last 18 and 15 of 17 in Bloomington.
Malik Reneau led the Hoosiers with 19 points, Myles Rice added 18 points, Oumar Ballo scored 14 points and pulled down 18 rebounds and Trey Galloway added 13 points. The Hoosiers finished 28-52 from the field for 53%, 6-18 from three-point range for 33% and 14-19 for 73% from the free throw line. Indiana pulled down 46 rebounds, dished out 15 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals and committed 16 turnovers. This is the fourth game for Ballo with double digit rebounds and his fifth game in double figures scoring but it’s the first double-double of the season for the seven-footer. Indiana Head Coach Mike Woodson was pleased with how they were able to take advantage that Ballo had against the Miami. “Well, I’m pleased with play, this is the first time Ballo in his career has been featured, I mean he is such a big load.” Luke Skaljac scored 14 points off the bench to lead the RedHawks and Eian Elmer had 11 points. Carmel, Indiana Peter Suder who scored 42 points earlier in the week was held to 9 points. Miami finished the game 20-65 from the field for 30%, 11-32 from three-point range 34% and 6-11 from the free throw line for 54%. Miami pulled down 29 rebounds, dished out 13 assists, 7 steals, 3 blocks and committed 8 turnovers.
For Indiana it was the same story that we have seen in most games this season which is get off to a good start and then let the opponent make a run and then put them away halfway through the second half. The Hoosiers started out leading 8-0 before Eian Elmer hit a three to put the RedHawks on the board with 16:50 left in the first half. The Hoosiers led 14-3 with 14:28 left in the first half. Indiana increased the lead to 23-11 with 9:51 left Miami outscored the Hoosiers 25-16 as Indiana went into the locker room up by three at half 39-36. “You go in up three, you got to give them credit because again we controlled it early, but we let it slip away” Mike Woodson said after the game. In the second half Miami cut the lead 46-42 with 16:44 left the RedHawks continued to battle and hang around but could not get over the hump trailing 55-50 with 9:16 left from there Indiana outscored the RedHawks 21-6 as Miami did not score for the final two minutes and four seconds of the game. Ballo had his way with the size advantage inside as he and Malik Reneau were able to do what they wanted to do inside. Miami had a hard time stopping the big man and were not able knock down the outside shot the way the wanted too.
Indiana has not found that level of consistency and Head Coach Mike Woodson knows there is a long way to go. “Just got to keep working and grinding is all could say”. With two Big Ten Games coming up the Hoosiers know it is going to get tougher as there are no nights off against any team. “These are growing pains, man. When you get a team down, you just got to keep stepping and building. We just didn’t do that early on” Woodson added.
Taylor University Men’s Basketball Soars Past Moody in 27th-Annual Ivanhoes Silent Night An offensive masterclass fueled Taylor (8-2, 2-1 CL) past 100 points for the second-consecutive season and fifth time overall for a 107-59 win over Moody Bible, with an electric crowd cheering them on. The Trojans quickly ended the silence with four buckets in the first 90 seconds of action. Nate Paarlberg slammed home a breakaway dunk for the tenth point, and the packed student section came to life and stormed the court to fully begin the party. The brief delay in action did nothing to slow the offense for TU, who scored the first 24 points of the contest, assisting on its first nine made baskets and splashing home ten shots to start the iconic game. All of this happened in the span of just over four minutes of game time, with the game well in hand before Moody (2-7) knew what hit them.
Kaden Fuhrmann paced the electric offense in the opening half, scoring 15 of his seventeen points before the break, as the starters combined for 34 points and missed just four shots, with no one playing for more than 10 minutes. The starting lineup continued its brilliance and ended the night with 57 points on a ridiculous 25-31 shooting from the field, including 5-7 from beyond the arc. A robust 63 second-half points pushed TU over 100, with freshman Joey Heaston calmly hitting a free throw to secure the century mark. The fantastic student section broke out into song shortly after, giving everyone in attendance a beautiful rendition of Silent Night to end the evening in Odle Arena.
Taylor improved to 26-1 all-time in Silent Night contests, with a pair of big men delivering double doubles, both in 17 minutes or less on the floor. Anton Webb put up an impressive line of 12 points, 11 rebounds, four steals, three blocks, and three assists, while Levin Smith scored 12 and pulled down a career-high ten boards to go with four blocks. The crowd was lively, performing skits during every timeout, including a game of duck-duck-goose and a bunch of Caitlin Clarks playing a pickup game while other costumes, including a cornfield, minions, and a group of buzz lightyears.
Indiana Fever Center Temi Fagbenle Selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the WNBA Expansion Draft Once general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and her Golden State Valkyries staff had decided who to pick in the WNBA expansion draft, the first challenge became reaching each player with the news before she heard it anywhere else. That meant considering practice times, game schedules, time zones and potential sleep times. It all seemed worthwhile on Friday night when the roster began taking shape. The way Nyanin looks at it, they are all part of history, about to join something being built from the ground up. “I just want these players to be happy,” Nyanin said. “I want them to understand the opportunity that they have to come and be historians. Once you get to put on that jersey and you get to sit in front of a packed Chase Center, your whole experience is going to change.”
The Valkyries selected center Iliana Rupert from Atlanta, guards Veronica Burton of Connecticut and Carla Leite of Dallas and forward Maria Conde from Chicago with their initial picks on Friday, the first players for the new Bay Area franchise that’s set to begin play next season. Golden State rounded out its 11-woman roster with Indiana center Temi Fagbenle; Las Vegas guard Kate Martin; forwards Steph Talbot of Los Angeles, Cecilia Zandalasini of Minnesota, Kayla Thornton of New York and Monique Billings of Phoenix; and Washington guard Julie Vanloo. The Valkyries did not choose a player from Seattle. Fagbenle averaged 6.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 22 games with the Fever this year, her first season in Indiana after three years with Minnesota. Thornton is riding high after helping the Liberty to a WNBA title. Martin, a second-round draft pick this year who played with Caitlin Clark at Iowa, could get more playing time and enjoy a big jump in productivity after she averaged 11.5 minutes and 2.6 points as a rookie with the Aces.
Nyanin described the process of starting a new team as “complex.” “I think these athletes are a really good step forward in our journey,” said Nyanin, who also had conversations about trades. “I was so excited about the blank canvas, and then behind closed doors it was blank. Nobody’s name just appeared or anything so there was a lot of work that my team and I put into it. The complexities around it are what I want to continue to highlight because these are 11 humans, right? They all thought one thing, and they woke up today or are still sleeping and they’re a part of the Golden State Valkyries.” The team plans to be active when free agency starts in February.
Golden State did extensive scouting work and had discussions on each player to determine how she might fit in a new system. “It’s a long process but it’s also a great process for us,” coach Natalie Nakase said. “We kind of did this cycle, where we collaborate, we discuss and then we go watch film, then do it again … and that went over and over again for about two months. And finally, we decided, we picked the best players that fit our culture. So, we’re excited and can’t wait to get going.”
This marked the WNBA’s first expansion draft in 16 years since the Atlanta Dream joined the league in 2008. Golden State was free to acquire the contract or negotiating rights to one player from each of the other 12 WNBA teams. The Valkyries can also choose one player from the league who’s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent. The Valkyries will play at Chase Center, the 5-year-old home of the Golden State Warriors, and practice across the bay in the organization’s Oakland training facility. Warriors star Draymond Green sported a Valkyries jersey with No. 25 on the back — for the inaugural campaign of 2025 — while sitting out injured during Thursday’s win over the Houston Rockets.
There is already plenty of hype in San Francisco and beyond. And there was excitement on both sides during those initial calls to the players. “We got some really good reactions,” Nyanin said. “We talked about it just internally the three of us, like, ‘Should we have taped that, should we have kind of screen recorded or something?’ I’m very happy that we didn’t. That’s a moment that we will get to share just the four of us with each of the different athletes.”