The new face of the frontcourt.
Welcome back to Crimson Quarry’s 2024-25 Indiana women’s basketball player preview series. Today, we’re previewing junior forward Lilly Meister.
The Story So Far
Meister’s spent the last two seasons as Indiana’s backup center. The Rochester, Minn., product’s averaged 8.6 minutes and 2.4 rebounds across 63 appearances in relief of All-America forward Mackenzie Holmes.
The main storyline surrounding Meister is how she handles taking over for the greatest player in program history. The two will inevitably be compared but Meister’s attitude at Media Day told us she’s not overly concerned about that.
This year will be a great opportunity for Lilly to make herself known for her game instead of who she sat behind. She’s not baby Mack. She’s Lilly Meister.
Meister’s play as an underclassman usually came in short spurts but Holmes’s injuries increased her action at the end of each of the last two campaigns.
Offense
Meister was quietly as efficient as Holmes, who finished last year third in the country in field goal percentage (65.0%) for stretches of each of the last two seasons.
Most of her run has come in short spurts so we’ve yet to see Meister truly get into rhythm as a scorer. She’s great with her back to the basket but used the offseason to work on her 3-point shooting. Meiser’s only attempted 2 triples as a Hoosier but grew up playing in a five-out offense and has said she feels most herself on the perimeter.
Meister’s shooting ability was the talk of Media Day and the versatility she’s developed will allow her to play multiple roles in a different-looking Indiana system.
Defense
Meister was in the weight room this summer and looks strong in preseason. She is a smart and dependable defender who’s been asked to guard numerous formidable posts on the Big Ten circuit.
With four new teams, however, the conference’s frontcourt flavor will be different this year.
The West Coast teams are tall. Meister, who stands 6-3, will be giving up four inches to UCLA’s Lauren Betts and five to Oregon’s Phillipina Kyei. How she and her teammates handle these taller posts is one of our most pressing questions heading into the season.
Outlook
Lilly has had two solid years as Mack’s understudy. The lead role is big, but she’s ready for it.
Indiana’s frontcourt additions of Tennessee transfer Karoline Striplin (Sr.) and Faith Wiseman (Fr.) plus the return of Sharnecce Currie-Jelks (Jr.) should allow her to both ease into being top dog down low and exist as a threat outside of the paint.