Today IU Athletics sent us fans this:  IUWBB - A Season in Photos (2020-2021). 
What a season it was! 
Let me write as an IUWBB fan who remembers when 500 fans in the seats was a lot. When winning did not always happen. When there were only old banners in the hall.  Mostly I remember when getting a Behind the Bench Bunch seat was easy. Not anymore! You have to get there the minute the doors open in order to get those seats. 
And it is good. :) 
Well done IU WBB players, coaches, and staff. You have risen from going to the NCAA was a pipe dream in this fan's heart, to Elite 8. 
Never doubt we love you and will always be with you. 
​Now remember to hold our seats. ;) 

As I write this blog post the IU Women's Basketball team is getting ready to play their Elite 8 round in order to move to Final Four in the 2021 NCAA competition. It is breathtaking. I have talked with hubby and friends and we all wanted, knew this moment would come, and it is here and we are in awe. In awe of  our players, our coaching staff,  all of it. 

In all honesty, I don't know if I will be able to watch tonight. I may need to be hooked to an oxygen tank. I'll definitely need a huge pot of calming chamomile tea. 

To see more of my thoughts about this monumental occasion, go to my Twitter account @mmlion then my Facebook page and then of course, for the full love and archiving, here. 

Don't forget to CHEER. 

Remember the hashtags:

#WeAreMorenIndiana
#GoIU

So this coming Sunday, November 17, I get to watch the third game in the IU WBB season! Starts at 2pm against Jackson State. Not only do I get to cheer on the Hoosier Women, I will also receive a Faculty/Staff Appreciation Award. I had to be nominated by one of the players to receive this. Ms. Hannah Novroske nominated me. I am so honored. 

So come on down to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for a wonderful game of basketball. And yeah, I'm getting an award. :)

The IU Women's Rugby Club is having a fundraiser tonight at Chipolte. From 5-8pm, on Monday April 16, at the  420 E Kirkwood Avenue Chipolte, order some delicious food and then make sure that the cashier knows to give 50% of the sales to the Rugby club!!! YAY!!
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I am so lucky. I have the best students in the world.* I have been asked to throw the first pitch of the game against Butler on Tuesday, April 10th! This will be at 5pm, start of the game. I am so honored because I adore my students and thank them for asking me. Plus I will have another opportunity to humiliate myself publicly by "throwing" the first pitch. This will all happen at the Andy Mohr Field - Softball located at 1873 N. Fee Lane, Bloomington, IN 47408, aka  on the north edge of the IU Bloomington athletics campus near the State Road 45/46 Bypass. 

Come on down and LAUGH at me and CHEER on our fabulous Women's Softball team. 

*Which is obvious because I teach at IU. 

This week the IU Board of Trustees congratulated the Women's Basketball team and the Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving teams for outstanding achievements, i.e., victories this season! Read the wonderful article here and well done IU!!!!
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Go Hoosiers!

Check out this EXCELLENT commemorative WNIT 2018 IU Victory Site!!!  I am so pleased that this is up and out in the world. Our Hoosier Women deserve the accolade. 

Oh and as you can see there were times in the game I got nervous. 

Well done Hoosier Women WELL DONE!! So proud of you all. 

I'm so excited I cried. The IU Women's Basketball team WON the WNIT! Women's National Invitational Tournament. This is BIG! Plus we had a record crowd of over 13,000 people! I wrote about this on the home page of this site. Here are some fun links about the victory. Click and Enjoy!!

• My Instagram Account - My 7 Minutes Video of The IU Victory. 
• WNIT Official Website with IU Win!
• IU Hoosiers Website and Victory Page!!!
• WNIT Twitter
• Coverage on the Indy Star Website
• RTV6 Website with Coverage​

Hello All! I have made site updates to Behind the Bench Bunch because new year means new fun! New team members and new ways to win. Go IU Women's Basketball.
​#goiu

Our Hoosier Women can hold their heads high! They earned Elite 8 status in the WNIT for the 2016-2017 season! The BtBB was there to cheer them on and we are so proud of their accomplishment. You can see some of us - including myself - in the pictures below. A kind friend sent these pictures to me.

Go Hoosiers!  #GoIU @IndianaWBB

Dear Readers last night the IU Women's Basketball team came from behind by 15 points at half time to soundly winning their 10th home court game against Iowa. Wow what a game! They showed true grit and determination when they came back and made up a huge point deficit to win. This marks the 10 straight home game win making it the BEST in IU WBB history. Huzzah!!

Last night I was inspired to create a new hashtag in honor of Coach Moren - #WeAreMorenIndiana Use it.

Enjoy the link and the picture of the history making moment in Assembly Hall.

Hoosiers Storm Back Against Hawkeyes

I just an email with the below picture attached. There is a call out for all of us to go to the Wednesday game and help IU defeat Rutgers. In short, go to cheer! Not sure how? Check out the Cheers page here: http://www.behindthebenchbunch.com/cheers.html.

See you there!!

Hubby and I are looking forward to Wednesday, January 27, 2016. Our Hoosier Women will be playing Rutgers on the home court! I will be taking my visiting friend Alicia who loves basketball with us too! She loves basketball. We love our Hoosier women and rooting them on. Hope to see you at the IU Assembly Hall at 7pm this Wednesday.

In a little over an hour Hubby and I will be "rootin' in" our Hoosier Women! At 7pm in Assembly Hall IU takes on Samford. I'll be in my usual spot: Behind the Bench!

You can read all about it here: http://iuhoosiers.com/news/2015/12/10/WBB_1210152417.aspx?path=wbball.

Go Hoosiers Go!

This Thanksgiving week marks the last two home games for the IU Volleyball women. It has been such a fun season - thank you ladies and coaching staff! As usual IU Volleyball contributes to the community so in excellent Hoosier fashion, they sent out the below copied email:

"Hoosier Nation –

During our final two matches of the regular season – we encourage you to help us spread holiday cheer to the children of our community. Please help us by donating a new toy to the third annual: Holidays with the Hoosiers! During the past two seasons, we have collected nearly 200 toys for the kids of our community. Please help us again this year! By bringing in a toy to either match (or both J) this week – tickets are just $2.00!
 
Don’t forget that our match with Michigan on Wednesday has a special start time of 6:00 p.m.!
 
We hope to see you at University Gym this week! GO HOOSIERS!!"

And yes Hubby and I have our toys ready for delivery.

Be well and see you at the games.

So the first game Hubby and I got to see this season was against Chattanooga. It was a close game at times but our IU Women took on the fight and we won 70-51. Read more about the game here: Indiana vs. No. 24 Chattanooga Postgame Notes.

I'm going to admit my heart stopped a few times the game was so exciting. I was very proud of our IU Women. Well done ladies! Also huzzah to the coaching staff and Head Coach Teri Moren. The team is looking good. :)