Just one member of Indiana women's basketball's 2026-27 roster has logged NCAA Tournament minutes for the Hoosiers: fourth-year guard Lenée Beaumont.
Indiana not only made the NCAA Tournament, but advanced to at least the second round every season since 2018-19 with the lone exception of 2020, when the tournament was cancelled. The Hoosiers reached the Sweet Sixteen three times during that span with an Elite Eight appearance in 2021.
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That NCAA Tournament streak was snapped in 2026, something Beaumont is determined to make a fluke rather than the start of a trend.
Beaumont started all 32 games for the Hoosiers in 2025-26 after missing the 2024-25 season due to knee surgery. She was Indiana's second leading scorer with 13.3 points per game, third leading rebounder with 4.8 per game and second leading passer with three assists per game.
Off the court, Beaumont has taken on a leadership role and even functioned as another recruiter with Indiana's staff going as far as calling her "Coach Beau."
"When you think of Lenee, obviously she's so passionate about Indiana," head coach Teri Moren said at Big Ten Media Days. "She's a fierce competitor, she wants to win."
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That passion comes from the way her career has unfolded through three seasons. Sitting in the locker room after Indiana's Big Ten Tournament loss to Ohio State this past March, having gone through her first full season as a starter, the first thing that came to Beaumont's mind was gratitude. For Indiana as a program and Moren as a head coach.
She'd averaged just 9.6 minutes per game as a freshman behind Indiana's more experienced rotation and sat out all of her sophomore season rehabbing from surgery. With such little time spent on the court, she doubted her ability as a player.
"Is this even where I belong?"
"Can I play at this level?"
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Moren, however, remained firm. She spoke of and treated Beaumont as a key part of the program's future, something that's stuck with the latter.
"The loyalty she has to me, when I committed to her as a junior in high school, nothing I do can really repay that," Beaumont said at Big Ten Media Days.
She's certainly trying. She was active when Indiana was hosting visitors out of the transfer portal, answering questions and letting prospects know what kind of program they'd be joining. That role extended to high school recruiting, took a hands-on role in helping recruit every member of the Hoosiers' highly-rated 2026 signing class and has helped guide their transition into the program and college as a whole.
Beaumont is a positive force in the locker room, Moren says, giving teammates confidence and belief the same way Moren has done for her. The one thing the staff wants to see more from Beaumont? Saving some of the same energy she gives her teammates for herself.
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Everyone in the program knows the kind of player Beaumont can be save for Beaumont herself. Moren wants to make sure she knows just as well.
"I think sometimes she questions her own ability," Moren said. "Nobody believes in Lenée Beaumont more than me, but also more than her teammates and more than her staff. Beau has to have that same kind of confidence that she is one of the best players in the Big [Ten] and she needs to behave like that. That's what I want to see her do."
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