Indiana University Women’s Basketball lands former McDonalds All-American and UCLA Transfer Zania Socka-Nugeman Indiana women’s basketball has landed its third transfer portal addition. UCLA forward Zania Socka-Ngueman announced her commitment to the Hoosiers on social media on Saturday. The 6-foot-3 Silver Spring, Md. native played very sparingly for the Bruins as they advanced to their first-ever Final Four. Socka-Ngueman played just 82 total minutes across 16 games this season. She’ll arrive in Bloomington with three years of eligibility remaining. Socka-Ngueman picked UCLA over Indiana, Tennessee, and Michigan in October 2023. She was ranked No. 26 in the ESPN Top 100 for the Class of 2024, which would’ve made her one of IU’s highest-ranked commits in program history. She ranked higher than both Grace Berger (No. 44, 2018) and Mackenzie Holmes (No. 53, 2019). Socka-Ngueman joins guards Phoenix Stotijn (Arkansas) and Chloe Spreen (Alabama) as Indiana’s transfer additions this offseason so far. She enters IU’s frontcourt with sophomore Faith Wiseman and redshirt freshman Sydney Fenn.
Indiana University Football Does Not Tackle in Spring Football Prioritizing Fundamentals and Safety As player safety measures in football have become increasingly prevalent and important in recent years, tackling outside of games has come under fire. Former Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens, who passed away in 2023, pioneered the movement to eliminate tackling in practices. Others around the country took a while to come around, but many programs have followed suit in some degree. Count Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers among those followers. Throughout spring practice, IU is simulating tackling in various ways, without actually tackling each other to the ground. That’s what the team did all throughout last season as well.
“We’ll do a tackling circuit before practice. Guys coach the fundamentals of tackling,” Cignetti said on Thursday. “Last three or four years, we haven’t tackled every scrimmage. Last three years, I think we’ve tackled in the spring game. And the last couple, we didn’t tackle at all in the fall, still led the country in run defense and second in the country in least number of yards.” Cignetti said the Hoosiers are only tackling one time this spring: during the spring game. The team “thuds,” essentially working on wrapping up for a tackle in a safer way, and without bringing the other player to the ground. The numbers he referenced for Indiana’s strong 2024 defense do check out. But according to Pro Football Focus, IU finished last season with the third-most missed tackles in the Big Ten, topped only by Penn State and Purdue. The Hoosiers also finished with the third-worst missed tackle percentage in the conference ahead of the same two teams.
That could be a byproduct of a number of different things, which may not even be related to not tackling in practice. But it does at least illustrate that even despite Indiana’s stout defense last season, the team still had a bit of a tackling weakness. Still, Cignetti is steadfast in his belief that executing the fundamentals of tackling in practice and spring camp will lead to strong tackling in games. “Good players can tackle,” Cignetti said. “Ankles-stiff, hips-stiff athletes have a hard time tackling.”
Indiana University Track and Field Close out Strong Weekend in the Crimson Tide Invitational Indiana track and field closed the final day of The Crimson Tide Invitational at Bernie Moore Stadium on Saturday. The Hoosiers recorded with several personal bests and multiple event wins across the weekend. “The team got better this weekend across the board. We walked away with some event winners and saw serval athletes take strides in the right direction with personal best, moving up on the all-time IU list, the big ten list as well as in regionals,” said assistant coach Valerie Brown. “This meet sets the team up well for the next meets where we are hoping to have some more quality performances. We are looking forward to building on this momentum for the next meets in preparation for another good meet for us.”
The day started on the track, as Olivia Gee (13.68) finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles. Morgan Snow (54.47), and Katelyn Henselmeier (55.05) placed seventh and 11th, respectively, in the women’s 400-meter sprint. Aliyah Johnson moved up to eighth in the all-time list in the 100-meter sprint. She finished in a personal best time of 11.66. Four Hoosiers earned a top 10 finish for the women’s 800-meter run. Veronica Hargrave (2:04.34; PR) took home second with Maddie Russin (2:08.97), Amelia Dodds (2:09.85), and Lily Myers (2:10.40; PR) following in sixth, eighth, and tenth, respectively.
On the men’s side, the Hoosiers continued to dominate, earning three of the top four positions overall. Martin Segurola (1:48.22; PR) earned the win in first, with Aidan Lord (1:49.41; PR) and Andrew Mangum (1:49.62) following in third and fourth, respectively. Jania Hodges (59.30) ran a season best time in the 400-meter hurdles to place third in the event. John Colquitt (51.77) followed with a personal best time in the event to place fourth. Trelee Banks-Rose continues to climb the program all-time lists. Banks placed second in the men’s 200-meter sprint in a personal best time of 20.59. He now sits fifth in school history in the event.
The women’s 1,500-meter run saw personal best times from Joey Rastrelli (4:31.27), Michaela Quinn (4:34.23), and Maddie Rocchio (4:38.34). The men’s side also saw success, with Nolan Satterfield and Cole Raymond placing fifth and seventh, respectively. In the cage, Makayla Hunter (16.40m/53-9.75) moved to eighth in program history as she placed third in the shot put. Kelly Moran earned fifth place in the triple jump with her mark of 12.03m/39-5.75. The 4×400 meter relays each saw success as the top teams for the men and women placed in the top five overall. The women’s quartet (3:39.76) finished second, while the men’s team (3:10.86) place fifth. The Hoosiers will be back next weekend where they will compete in three meets. They will open the weekend on Thursday, April 17th as they travel to Terre Haute, Ind. for the Gibson Invitational and Winston-Salem, N.C. for the Wake Forest Invitational.
Former Butler University Women’s Basketball Player Riley Makalusky Transfers to West Virginia Former Butler guard Riley Makalusky has committed to West Virginia she announced on social media Saturday morning. After playing with one of the smallest backcourts in the country the last two seasons, the Mountaineers add some size with the 6-2 Maklusky. Riley Makalusky, a Fishers, Indiana native, played in 64 games with 37 starts in two seasons at Butler. She averaged 8.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists this season. She was a very efficient shooter as a freshman, making 36 three-pointers on 46.8% shooting, but struggled this past season. As a sophomore, Makalusky shot just 30.3% from range with 27 treys. Makalusky scored a season-high 16 points against Georgetown in February and set a career-high of 23 points her freshman season against Roosevelt. Butler went 16-18 this season, 5-13 in the Big East. Makalusky is the second player to transfer to WVU this Spring, joining Loghan Johnson from Texas Tech. Makalusky’s younger sister Maya will be an incoming Freshman for the Indiana Hoosiers this fall and was named 2025 Indiana Miss Basketball out of Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers.
Former Indiana University Men’s Basketball Player A.J. Guyton’s Daughter Aaliyah Transfers to the University of Illinois Illinois Fighting Illini women’s basketball head coach Shauna Green has announced the addition of Aaliyah Guyton (uh-LEE-uh GUY-ton) to the program. Guyton – a rising sophomore transfer from Iowa – has signed a Big Ten Athletics Aid Agreement with the University of Illinois and is set to join the program beginning with the 2025-26 season. Guyton is a 5-foot-7-inch guard from Peoria, Illinois. She appeared in 29 games, including one start, last season for the Hawkeyes while averaging 4.7 points and 1.2 rebounds across 473 minutes of action as a freshman. During her season in Iowa City, Iowa, Guyton and the Hawkeye squad posted a 23-11 overall record, including an 10-8 mark in Big Ten play. Iowa was a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Round of 32.
Guyton played her prep ball at Peoria High School. ESPN HoopGurlz tabbed Guyton the No. 57 overall prospect in the Class of 2024, and she was the No. 1 player in Illinois in 2024 by PrepGirlsHoops.com. Prior to having her senior season cut short due to injury, Guyton was a four-star, consensus all-state prospect, averaging 21.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists during her junior season. She was named the Big 12 Conference player of the year for a second successive season as the Lions finished third in Class 3A, posting a 29-4 record in 2023. Guyton played her AAU ball for the Mac Irvin Fire. She is the daughter of Adriana Mafra and Former Indiana University Men’s Basketball player AJ Guyton who scored 2,100 points for the Hoosiers from 1996-2000.
Indy Eleven’s Men’s Soccer Match at Hartford Athletic Postponed Indy Eleven was supposed to play a USL Championship match on Saturday afternoon at Hartford Athletic’s Trinity Health Stadium. But that match did not happen. According in a USL Championship news release, “During a pregame pitch inspection, match officials determined ice-patches on the field rendered it unplayable.” As a result, the match was postponed and will be played at a later date. The Boys in Blue are back in action on Wednesday evening when they face Miami FC in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. inside Michael A. Carroll Stadium. Last year, Indy Eleven made a memorable run in the U.S. Open Cup, advancing to the semifinal round of the bracket.