Getting Noticed
October 15, 2007 05:46 PM | General
October 15, 2007
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| Mike Carey |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – When the West Virginia University women’s basketball team officially begins the season they will do so amid a buzz and a sense of optimism for a program on the rise.
A look at what this team has accomplished during the last three seasons puts into perspective just how far this program has come under seventh-year Coach Mike Carey. The Mountaineers advanced to the WNIT Championship game in 2005, made a remarkable run to the BIG EAST Championship game as a 12 seed in 2006 and finished fourth in the league last year, while advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. West Virginia fell just short of the “Sweet Sixteen,” holding a 35-24 lead against No. 3 seed LSU with about 12 minutes to go in the game before the Tigers rallied down the stretch.
Things look even brighter heading into this season. WVU returns all five starters from last year in guards Ashley Powell, LaQuita Owens and Sparkle Davis, forward Chakhia Cole and center Olayinka Sanni. Throw in senior guard Meg Bulger, who is back after a two-year recovery from multiple knee surgeries, and the Mountaineers appear to be primed for great things.
Carey says this team affords him the most depth he has ever had. He brings back seven seniors, nine of his top 13 scorers from last year and a combined 364 starts.
“We’re further along right now than we’ve ever been. The reason for that is we’ve got a lot of confidence but we also have a lot of people back,” Carey says. “We can really skip some of this stuff but it makes it a little bit harder on some of the younger kids when we go a little bit faster. With these veterans back we need to keep advancing what we do offensively and defensively and not go back.”
With the recent accomplishments and all the returners, many are beginning to take notice of the Mountaineers. WVU is preseason ranked No. 23 in an ESPN.com poll that was released in April and it currently stands No. 14, No. 24 and No. 25 in Athlon, Lindy’s and CBSsportsline.com respectively.
“At least we’re getting some recognition now unlike what we did last year. I thought we finished fourth in the league and we were never ranked,” Carey said. “The fourth team in the BIG EAST ought to be ranked coming down to the end of the season. At least we’re getting a little bit of recognition now but again that’s preseason. If we’re getting recognition at the end of the year I’ll be happy.”
Sanni, who has seen the meteoric rise of the program during her tenure, is pleased to be part of a team that everyone is expecting a great deal from this season.
“It feels good,” Sanni said. “We’ve come a long way since my freshman year and knowing that I still have my friends that came in with me and now coming back with a full team just gives us all the confidence to come out and play hard for each other.”
Despite not being able to play the last two years, Bulger has stood by supporting her teammates and has witnessed first hand all the hard work and sacrifice her teammates have done to get the program in the spotlight.
“We’ve worked so hard for the past couple years to try to get that notoriety. When we play LSU like we did you can’t ignore that,” Bulger said. “As much as people may want to ignore that you can’t. We’re a program on the rise right now and I’m just happy to get some recognition for that.”
While no injury is ever a positive - and two torn ACLs in the same knee is nothing short of horrific - the always optimistic Bulger is choosing to focus on the opportunity she has to be a part of a deep and talented West Virginia team this season.
“I feel truly blessed being able to have the opportunity to come back,” Bulger said. “I look at this like maybe some things happened for a reason because I’m coming back to a team that could do some really great things this year. That’s why I came to West Virginia.”
While the national media appears to be a believer in this team, the next step is to get the Morgantown community and the people of West Virginia excited about women’s basketball. Despite all of the achievements during the last three or four years, attendance numbers have not been what you might expect. Carey and the Mountaineers hope to change that this year.
“I don’t know what else we have to prove,” Carey said. “These young ladies finished fourth in the BIG EAST for the first time in women’s basketball here so I don’t know what else they have to prove to get people behind him and get the support they deserve.”
Exciting basketball puts people in the stands and rest assured this team will be nothing if not exciting. Carey now has the depth to press full-court and he hopes to use his athletes to employ a fast, up-tempo style of basketball that is pleasing to watch.
“We’re going to have a good basketball team and hopefully people will appreciate that and come out and watch us because we’re going to be exciting,” Carey said. “We’re going to be an up-and-down pressing team and we’ve got some people that can play. Hopefully people will come out and support these young ladies because quite frankly they deserve to be supported by the community and everybody else.”
For anyone weighing their options of going to a game or sitting at home watching old reruns of Matlock, Bulger has a simple suggestion: “Just trust us, it will be fun. It might not be the men with dunking and doing all that kind of stuff but we’re trying to make history here. We’re trying to do some things that have never been done at West Virginia,” Bulger said.
“We appreciate that one seat being filled. When we go to games like Connecticut and Tennessee and you see their support it makes a difference. It’s intimidating for every team. I’ve seen our fans be intimidating for football and men’s basketball so we just need a little something like that.”
