On the Bubble
February 20, 2007 02:02 PM | General
February 20, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The women’s basketball version of the “Backyard Brawl” is taking on a little extra meaning tonight. Both teams playing at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh are still very much in the mix for NCAA tournament consideration.
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| West Virginia junior guard LaQuita Owens is averaging 12.9 points per game to rank 23rd in the Big East Conference. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The Pitt Panthers, 20-6, 8-5, have lost just once at home this year and have a very strong RPI of 20 in the latest women’s basketball ratings released Monday afternoon.
West Virginia, 17-9, 8-5, has played one of its toughest schedules in school history and is looking for a signature road victory to add to a resume that includes 10 games this year against RPI Top 50 teams.
“It’s getting down to where we need to get one (road win),” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. “We felt like we had an opportunity at Rutgers and we let that one get away. We’ve got Pitt now and I think we match up well against them. This is one we hope we can get on the road.”
West Virginia is very much in contention for an NCAA bid with an RPI of 55 heading into this week’s action. After tonight’s game against Pitt, the Mountaineers also have a home game against No. 97 Cincinnati before wrapping up the regular season on the road at No. 33 Louisville.
In ESPN.com’s latest Bracketology Report, the Mountaineers are one of four bubble teams on the outside looking in.
“They say strength of schedule should not be an issue. I think it’s just a matter of us getting two to four more wins,” Carey said. “We have proved that we will go out and play people and the majority of those games were on the road.”
There are several critical games this week in the cut-throat Big East – carrying both NCAA tournament implications and teams simply surviving to make the 12-team Big East tournament in Hartford.
“Even the bottom teams trying to get (into the Big East tournament) are going to knock each other off,” Carey said. “It’s going to be interesting to see who doesn’t make it to the Big East tournament. We were in that situation last year and we were fortunate enough to get in.”
Second-place Marquette travels to 16-9 Seton Hall and first-place Connecticut goes to 18-8 South Florida for games tonight. Later this week, Rutgers has a key game at Notre Dame, DePaul plays at Pitt and USF plays at Marquette.
There are currently 10 Big East teams with 16 wins or more heading into the last two weeks of regular season play.
“It’s coming down to the last three games. We feel fortunate to be in the mix but we’ve still got to take advantage of it,” Carey said.
The sixth-year coach admits it would be a feather in his team’s cap if it can steal a road win at either Pitt tonight or at Louisville on Feb. 26.
“We’ve got to be consistent,” Carey explained. “I thought we played extremely hard against Rutgers -- we just didn’t score. Defensively we played well enough to win that game. Our intensity was great; we came out and were focused. I told the girls after the South Florida game, ‘If we come out with the same focus and the same intensity and we can it a couple of shots we’d have an opportunity to beat Pitt.’”
The Panthers’ only loss at home this year was to St. John’s on Jan. 13. The Red Storm have struggled this year winning four of 13 conference games and are fighting for their post-season lives.
“I’m sure (Pitt) took them lightly,” Carey said. “We realize we’re going to have to go there and play one of our better games this year.”
Pitt has one of the Big East’s top players in sophomore guard Shavonte Zellous, who averages 19.8 points per game. Junior Mercedes Walker averages 15.2 points and 9.8 boards per game.
“They are a very good basketball team and we’ll have to play extremely well and stay out of foul trouble (to have a chance to win the game),” Carey said.
Realistically, Carey believes his team is going to have to win at least three more games to have a legitimate shot of making the NCAA tournament. He thinks the Big East can stake a claim to having five or six teams worthy of NCAA bids this year.
“Some of those teams that are on the bubble like ourselves, it depends on what we do down the stretch and also in the Big East tournament. In our situation we can’t go there and lose our first game,” he said. “We’ve got to go there and win at least one or two if we can win a couple here during the regular season.”
That quest begins tonight in Pittsburgh.
