Things 'always circled back to Butler' for 2026 commit Joslyn Bricker. 'A dream come true'
When someone asked Joslyn Bricker what her dream school would be growing up, she always answered Butler. The Warsaw senior basketball standout didn't know much about the coaching staff or school in general at the time — aside from "Hoosiers," one of her all-time favorite movies, filming inside Hinkle Fieldhouse — but she knew a number of Butler grads and everyone had positive things to say about their experience.
"They all loved it," she told IndyStar on Thursday morning.
Butler maintained a prominent place on Bricker's list of potential destinations as she learned more about the university and its women's basketball program, and over the past few weeks, her interest was reciprocated.
Coach Austin Parkinson offered Bricker a scholarship during a campus visit earlier this month and on Wednesday, she made things official, verbally committing to the Bulldogs.
Lapel's Laniah Wills commits to Butler: 'That's a pressure off my shoulders. I feel very good about it'
Bricker said Butler "kind of sells itself" with its prestigious academics and, for her individually, the proximity to home and importance of faith to the coaching staff.
"The relationships I've formed with the coaches, they're just great people," she continued. "I felt that way about everyone we met on my visit. It felt like a big hug and a really good fit for me."
A 5-8 point guard and 2026 IndyStar Miss Basketball candidate, Bricker averaged 19 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.6 steals last season for Class 4A state runner-up Warsaw. She shot 59% from the field, 43% from 3 and 82% from the line, and enters her senior season with over 1,000 career points.
Bricker said Parkinson, a former point guard himself, compared her game to that of New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson — which is who her dad had been encouraging her to play like.
"That was kind of like, 'Wow, he has a really good grasp and understanding of my game and how I want to play,'" she said. "That was really impressive."
These past few weeks have been "a whirlwind" for Bricker, who added offers from Butler, Florida Gulf Coast, Penn, Southern Indiana and Belmont to an already extensive list earlier this month. She visited Butler on June 11, then took trips to Belmont and Ball State — two of the other schools she was "very interested in" — a week later.
Scheduling those visits consecutively made it easier to compare schools, she said, but it was "exhausting and a lot to process."
And in the end, "it always circled back to Butler."
After talking through things with her parents earlier this week, Bricker reached out to Butler freshman Addi Baxter to ask the Columbia City grad about her experience and why she chose the Bulldogs.
"Everything she told me was reassuring of what I was feeling, too," Bricker recalled. "We're very similar, have similar values in the way we look at things, so hearing all the great things she had to say and why she chose Butler helped it make sense for me."
Bricker is Butler's second in-state 2026 commit, joining Lapel's Laniah Wills, a 6-0 wing.
"It's a dream come true," Bricker said. "I know the coaches and some of the players and they're all just really great people. … I'm excited to build something special with special people."
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