By RICHIE HALL
Kelsey DuBois can honestly say that her first season of college basketball was perfect.
After four successful years at University High School, DuBois went to the Big Apple to continue her basketball and academic career, committing to New York University. The Violets had a young team, but it turned out to be a winning team: NYU completed a 31-0 season, culminating with the NCAA Division III championship.
“We never expected anything to actually happen, but we always had it in the back of our minds, there’s a chance this group could go all the way,” said DuBois. “We didn’t want to waste any opportunities.”
The 2023-24 Violets could be called a youth-movement team: eight of the women on the roster were freshmen, including DuBois. But there was solid experience on the NYU squad as well. Two players tied for leading-scorer honors: Senior Natalie Bruns and graduate transfer Morgan Morrison both averaged 14.3 points per game.
“I think going into the season, we had great people coming back, we had fantastic upperclassmen coming back,” said DuBois. She also said those players “had experience on winning teams.”
That’s something DuBois also has. She was a four-year player for the Trailblazers, with the team compiling a 77-16 record over that time. University won regional championships in 2021 and 2022, DuBois’ sophomore and junior years.
After graduating from UHS in 2023, DuBois and her fellow freshmen moved into the NYU campus a week before school started, giving them time to get adjusted. They began activities a couple weeks later such as lifting and pickup games.
DuBois said that because the game was quicker and the court is longer “you’ve got to be at a different level of conditioning,” calling it “definitely something that took me a while to get adjusted to.”
The Violets began their season Nov. 10, 2023 by hosting Massachusetts Institute of Technology – the world-famous MIT – as part of the Scholars Classic. New York won that game 88-55, with DuBois coming off the bench to play eight minutes.
“Something I’ve been dreaming about since I was super little was actually happening, it was crazy,” said DuBois. She admitted that she was “very, very nervous going into” the game.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said DuBois. “Even just putting on the jersey for the first time, it was like, ‘Oh shoot, this is for real.’ But she credited the upperclassmen with doing a “great job of calming my nerves,” helping her to remember that she has playing for a while.
New York rolled through its regular season, winning all 25 of their games. Only two teams were able to get within 10 points of the Violets during that stretch. Because of that, NYU was the overall top seed in the D-III tournament.
And the Violets played like a top seed, cruising through six more games to win the championship. New York played its final two games of the year in Columbus, Ohio, beating Transylvania 57-42 in the semifinals on March 14, then taking care of Smith College 51-41 in the March 16 championship.
The 10-point victory was the closest of the tournament for the Violets. DuBois didn’t play, but said the atmosphere was “super exciting that whole game.”
“It felt a lot close than what I feel like it actually was,” said DuBois. “It was fun to see the team in that manner, that fashion. It was a really loud game. We tried to make it feel like it was a home environment, yelling, calling out plays. It was so fun to watch.”
DuBois played in 26 of the Violets’ 31 games, averaging 2.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per contest. She got to start in one game, NYU’s Dec. 3 date with Connecticut College. DuBois collected eight rebounds in that game and scored four points, all from the free throw in a 4-for-4 effort.
“We had meetings with our coach scheduled that week, and during that meeting, our coach told me that our starting center went down with an ankle injury,” said DuBois. She was told she would be starting that game; DuBois was told ahead of time since her coaches were aware she might nervous.
But DuBois said her teammates did a good job of helping her stay calm. The team chemistry was important, as the eight freshmen were joined by three graduate students who transferred on to the team.
“We outnumbered the returners,” said DuBois. So, the returners had to teach several new people about being a student-athlete and living in New York. As a result, DuBois said “there was a good adjustment period with everyone” as they figured out how to become a team.
“Within the first week, they had us on the subway, teaching us how to live in New York,” said DuBois.
Living in New York is obviously different from living in Noblesville or Carmel, the places in which DuBois grew up. She called the adjustment “a little bit abrupt. But I think I adjusted fairly well.” DuBois now loves New York and doesn’t want to leave.
“Other girls came from big cities, so they helped me adjust as they were adjusting, which was very helpful,” said DuBois.
With her sophomore year soon to start, DuBois said she is considering a major in “public policy, a pre-law track.” Her plan as of right now is to go to law school and is thinking about “something in the realm of working with non-profits or things like that.”