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Indiana Fever

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Indiana Fever
Indiana Fever logo
ConferenceEastern Conference
Founded2000
ArenaConseco Fieldhouse
LocationIndianapolis, Indiana
Team colorsBlue, Red, Gold
Team managerChris Wallace
Head coachBrian Winters
OwnershipHerbert and Melvin Simon [1]
ChampionshipsNone
Conference titlesNone

The Indiana Fever is a professional women's basketball team that plays in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Fever are based in Indiana's capital and largest city, Indianapolis. Their first season of play in the league was in 2000. The team is the sister team of the NBA's Indiana Pacers. Both Fever and Pacer games are currently broadcasted on FSN Indiana.

Franchise History

File:Fever2.PNG
Fever's alternate logo

Since their inaugural season in 2000, the Indiana Fever have had a fast start as a WNBA franchise. In their first two seasons, they were coached by women's basketball legends Anne Donovan and Nell Fortner. Led by center Kara Wolters, their inaugural campaign was a losing one but they had high expectations after drafting University of Tennessee star Tamika Catchings in 2001. However, Catchings was injured for the entire season and the Fever missed the playoffs yet again.

The 2002 season proved to be the breakout season for both the Fever and Tamika Catchings. Catchings proved to be one of the most versatile players in the WNBA, easily winning Rookie of the Year honors as well as making the WNBA All-Star team. The Fever would make their first playoff appearance in franchise history that year. However the Fever lost their first round series against the veteran New York Liberty, 2 games to 1.

The seasons following the 2002 campaign were seasons of transition for the Fever. The team added Olympian Natalie Williams and Charlotte Sting star Kelly Miller before the 2003 season. Despite lofty expectations, the team failed to make the playoffs in 2003, leading to the resignation of original coach and GM Nell Fortner. Later that year Kelly Krauskopf became the new GM and immediately hired Brian Winters as the new head coach. The 2004 campaign was very similar to 2003 and missed the playoffs again by only 1 game. Then in 2005, they finally made the playoffs and also earned their first playoff series win over the New York Liberty, the team that had defeated them in the first round of the 2002 playoffs. They then went on to play the Connecticut Sun in the Eastern Conference Finals but fell short to the favored Sun 2-0.

Lobby of Conseco Fieldhouse

The 2006 season was a big year for the Fever, adding All-Star Anna DeForge from the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for Kelly Miller. Later that offseason the Fever made another All-Star addition by signing free agent Tamika Whitmore. In the 2006 WNBA Draft they selected athletic swing-forward La'Tangela Atkinson from University of North Carolina along with Kasha Terry from the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Fever started off very stong winning its first 4 games and led the WNBA in total defense and steals. Teammates Tamika Catchings and Tully Bevilaqua led the league in steals 1 & 2 respectively, the first time teammates led the league in 1 statistical category. They made the playoffs for a 2nd straight year as the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference. The season ended abruptly when they lost 2-0 to the eventual champion the Detroit Shock in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

In the 2006 off-season the Fever were unhappy with their shortfall in the postseason and set out to improve their much maligned post play. On January 8th they added a defensive minded swing-forward Sheri Sam from the Charlotte Sting in the Dispersal Draft. The Fever then set their eyes on Key Free Agent Center Tammy Sutton-Brown, who was not available in the Dispersal Draft. On March 22, 2007 the Fever got what they wanted when they signed Tammy Sutton-Brown to a contract. With Tammy Sutton-Brown and Sheri Sam joining the Fever it brought the number of All-Stars on the Fever to 5 along with Tamika Catchings, Tamika Whitmore, and Anna DeForge.

On April 4, 2007, The Fever selected 6-7 center Alison Bales, from Duke University, with their first round pick (9th Overall). They also drafted point guard Lydsay Medders from Iowa State University and Ashley Key from North Carolina State University. Later that April the Fever sent their 2008 3rd Round Draft Pick to the Sacramento Monarchs for Jessica Dickson of University of South Florida. Medders, Key, and Dickson all were later released due to the depth of the Fever. Bales was the only rookie to make the Fever in 2007.

Media Coverage

FSN Indiana provides television coverage for Fever games that are not on ESPN2 or ABC. Chris Denari and Debbie Antonelli are the play by play announcers for Fever games on both FSN Indiana and WIBC, however when Denari and Antonelli are doing TV coverage WIBC will have other radio broadcasters from WIBC fill in. WIBC covers every single Fever game even if it is televised. WIBC is a local radio station that covers Sports, News, Weather, and Talk for the Indianapolis Metro Area. For the most part only home games for the Fever are televised but during the 2007 season a road game at Phoenix was televised in Indianapolis, the 1st road game to be broadcasted on local TV.

Rivalries

Detroit Shock: The Fever and Shock have always played tough defensive battles whenever they meet. The rivalry really heated up when Shock center Ruth Riley broke Fever star Tamika Catchings nose with a swinging elbow, knocking Catchings out for 2 games and requiring her to wear a mask for the rest of the season. The series has also always been close with the Shock leading the all-time series with the Fever 16-15, including the 2006 Eastern Conf. Semi-Finals.

Connecticut Sun: The Fever have struggled with the Sun throughout the years including a 2-0 Eastern Conference Finals sweep in 2005. During the 2007 WNBA Regular Season the Fever lost all 4 matchups with Connecticut although 2 were played superstar Tamika Catchings due to injury. Katie Douglas has played very well against the Fever even scoring a career high 30 points on June 22, 2007 at Conseco Fieldhouse. Tamika Catchings and Douglas have often gone after one another when the team matchup. Katie Douglas was born in Indianapolis and played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers making this rivalry important to the Fever fans. This rivalry may intensify in 2008 because the Fever knocked the Sun out of the playoffs 2 games to 1 in 2007. The 3 game series is one of the most intense and closely contested series in WNBA Playoff history, including a 22 point comeback in game 3.

Team and Coaches

Current Roster

Starting Line-Up

Coaches and Staff

Current

Past


Season-by-Season Records

Note: W = wins, L = losses, % = win–loss %

Season W L % Playoffs Results
Indiana Fever
2000 9 23 .281
2001 10 22 .313
2002 16 16 .500 Lost First Round New York 2, Indiana 1
2003 16 18 .471
2004 15 19 .441
2005 21 13 .618 Won First Round
Lost Conference Finals		 Indiana 2, New York 0
Connecticut 2, Indiana 0
2006 21 13 .618 Lost First Round Detroit 2, Indiana 0
2007 21 13 .618 Won First Round
Conference Finals		 Indiana 2, Connecticut 1
Indiana 0, Detroit 0
Totals 129 137 .485
Playoffs 5 7 .417

Stats updated: August 27, 2007

Uniforms

2000-2006

The home jerseys are white with red, dark blue and yellow on the sides. On the front, Fever is written across. The road jersey are dark blue with red and yellow on the sides. Indiana in red letters trimmed with white on the chest.

2007-Present

These new home jerseys are white with blue and yellow strips/trim from the neck down the side. Fever is written in red across the front and on the back the player name is written in all dark blue under the number also in red trimmed in dark blue. The new road jerseys are dark blue with yellow and white trim/strips. Indiana is written on the front in red with white trim and on the back the number is in red with white trim with the player's name underneath in all white. Each jersey has the Fever's alternate logo at the top on the back.

http://aol.wnba.com/fever/news/070501_newuniforms.html (Shows current uni's and link to view photos).

Not To Be Forgotten

Retired Numbers

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