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100 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 f Nicole Elmblad (11.4 points, 7.6 rebounds) to lead. Michigan isn't a particularly big team, with only 6-4 freshman Terra Stapleton being a true post player. But that fits Barnes Arico's up-tempo style. NORTHWESTERN 17-16 OVERALL, 5-11 BIG TEN T he Wildcats have a lot of reason to be hopeful this season, as they return their top seven players, including All-Big Ten forward Nia Coffey. Plus, Northwestern sees the return of senior point guard Karly Roser, an All-Big Ten selection in 2013 who sat out most of last season due to injury. "You just want to get playing and returning five starters for the first time since I've been at Northwestern and two starters from the year before," NU coach Joe McKeown said. "So we call them the Magnificent Seven. We really have seven that have started, that played a lot of basketball for us." The Wildcats played in the postseason WNIT last sea- son, winning a couple games before losing at Indiana. But Northwestern hopes that was the first step toward bigger postseason aspirations: Getting back to the NCAA for the first time since 1997. "I think the biggest thing is to go from playing spectac- ular minutes to being consistent," McKeown said. "And it's not an easy thing to do. We had some great games, great minutes. We had some highlight reels last year. "But to be consistent now going into the sophomore, junior year for a lot of our players, I think is the hardest thing." ILLINOIS 9-21 OVERALL, 2-14 BIG TEN I llinois is hoping that a roster of five seniors and three highly regarded freshmen can help in Matt Bollant's rebuilding project. Senior guard Ivory Crawford could lead the way, after she averaged 14.4 points per game for an Illini team that finished only 2-14 last season. But roster additions could help. Fifth-year senior trans- fer Brittany Carter is immediately eligible after graduating from Ball State and Kyley Simmons can play now too, after sitting last season following her transfer from Missouri. Plus, Mikaala Shackleford and Kennedy Cattenhead, who were injured as true freshmen last season, are good to go now. And 6-3 freshman center Chatrice White, a McDonald's All-American, will help right away. "I'll say they've had great attitudes," Bollant said of the newcomers. "It's not easy. We talked a lot about the incoming freshmen and about the transfers and our re- turning players, they have some pride, too, and they want to be on the floor." INDIANA 21-13 OVERALL, 5-11 BIG TEN T he Hoosiers haven't had a typical offseason. In late July, Coach Curt Miller abruptly resigned, leaving Indiana to scramble, at an odd time of year, to find a new head coach before the start of the season. On Aug. 9, Teri Moren, a two-year starter at Purdue in the early 90s, was hired away from Indiana State, where she had guided the Sycamores to 20 wins last season. "There's no question that we are behind when we got there in August in a lot of areas," Moren said. "But our No. 1 priority with the staff was to build those relationships with our players we needed to get to know who they were, what they stood for, get them on the floor, evaluate their skill set." Miller left Indiana on an uptick, with the Hoosiers win- ning 21 games last season, 15 more than the year before, and their most since 2008-09. Sophomore guard Larryn Brooks will lead IU, after aver- aging 16.3 points per game as a freshman. WISCONSIN 10-19 OVERALL, 3-13 BIG TEN T he Badgers have fifth-year senior guard Michala Johnson, an All-Big Ten selection from a year ago. However, the former UConn player is surrounded by little else. Bobbie Kelsey's group needs a couple veterans to step up their games, including senior forward Jacki Gulczynski (7.9 points, 6.7 rebounds) and junior guards Dakota Whyte (6.2 points) and Nicole Bauman (6.1 points). "When you're talking about a team that maybe hasn't had the success yet, it's important for us as coaches to build their confidence," Kelsey said, "because I always say you can't necessarily give kids confidence but you can surely take the little bit they have, if you don't coach them correctly and encourage them to excel and make them make some mistakes." j