Ultimate Honor
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Brenna Wise was a consistent baskeball player.
The Cranberry Township resident and University of Indiana senior forward is being recognized for being a versatile human being.
Wise has been named to the Senior CLASS Award first team in NCAA Division I women's basketball. CLASS is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School. Only five players are selected for the first team through a nationwide vote of Division I women's basketball coaches, national basketball media and fans.
“This means the world to me because I'm being recognized for academics and community work, along with basketball, as part of a group of very special women,” Wise said.
To be eligible, the student-athlete must be a senior and have notable achievements in the areas of classroom, community, character and competition.
Wise joins Lauren Cox of Baylor, Ellie Harmeyer of Belmont, Mikayla Pivec of Oregon State and overall winner Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon.
A two-year captain at Indiana after playing her first two seasons at Pitt, Wise averaged 7.9 points and a team-leading 5.9 rebounds per game for the Hoosiers this season. She is a two-time Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.
After scoring more than 2,000 points in high school at Vincentian Academy, Wise accumulated 1,421 points and 849 rebounds in college.
Between her years at Pitt and Indiana, Wise started all 127 games she played in. Indiana was 24-8 overall this year — 13-5 in the Big Ten — before losing 66-51 to No. 6 Maryland in the second round of the conference tournament.
“No doubt, we would have received a bid to the NCAA Tournament,” Wise said. “We were getting better every day. We had to come together as a team.
“I think we were prepared to get in there and make a run at it for as long as we could, Playing in that tournament was a dream of mine that was taken away.”
The Hoosiers were 47-18 in Wise's two seasons there.
An Academic All-Big Ten selection, she carries a 3.89 grade point average as a double major in marketing and professional sales. She will graduate in May.
Wise is an executive member of the IU Student Athletic Advisory Committee. Organizations she has volunteered her time with include Hoosiers Helping Hoosiers, Emerging Leaders, Hoosier HEROES, Hoosier Readers, IU Best Buddies, Camp Riley, Hoosier Outrun Cancer, Candy Stripe Crew event for disabled and handicapped adult and children, Slam Dunk for Literacy and Habitat for Humanity.
“Besides school and basketball, one of the pillars in this program is to serve,” Wise said of Indiana women's basketball. “That example is set by Coach (Teri) Moren. If she can take the time to do it as a coach, I can do it as a student-athlete.
“You always find time to do the important things in life.”
While Wise's basketball playing career is over, her basketball career is not.
“I'm stepping to the other side of the line,” she said. “I'm reaching out to various schools about being a graduate assistant coach. I love baskeball and I always want to be a part of it.
“I've gotten some feedback from schools. I want to stay at the collegiate women's level. Division I, II ... It doesn't matter, whatever helps me grow,”
Wise's dream has changed.
“I can't win a national championship as a player,” she said. “My dream now is to become a head coach at some point. Maybe I'll get there that way.”
