WVU Women Boast Strong Tournament Credentials

KANSAS CITY – A late-season surge has the West Virginia University women's basketball team in prime position to earn an NCAA Tournament berth this season, coach Dawn Plitzuweit's first in Morgantown.

Season-ending victories over Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Baylor catapulted West Virginia into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Big 12 standings with Oklahoma State and Baylor.

Fourth place in the Big 12 is significant because every No. 4 team in the conference since 2013 has punched tickets to the Big Dance.

Last year, fourth-place Oklahoma was a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament and won its first-round game against IUPUI. In 2021, fourth-place Iowa State was a seven-seed and won its opening game against Michigan State.

Except for 12^th-seeded Oklahoma in 2018, every fourth-place Big 12 team has comfortably gotten in. The discussion wasn't about making the tournament but rather what their seeding was going to be.

In 2015, Texas made it as a five-seed and went on a run to the Sweet 16, as did fifth-seeded Oklahoma State in 2014.

That certainly bodes well for West Virginia on Selection Sunday, considering the Mountaineers own a pair of victories over Baylor, wins against Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Kansas, and a 10-8 mark in conference play.

Also in West Virginia's favor is an unusually deep Big 12 featuring 90% of its teams with winning overall records and all nine in this week's top 75 NCAA NET rankings. That's significant because the Big 12 is the only power conference in the country playing a double round-robin schedule, meaning West Virginia has faced 16 grueling league games to get to its current 19-10 overall record.

West Virginia counts six wins versus NCAA NET Top 50 teams projected to be in the tournament, based on latest Bracketology projections. They are:

* No. 14 Iowa State
* No. 33 Baylor (twice)
* No. 34 Georgia (nonconference)
* No. 35 Kansas
* No. 47 Oklahoma State.

Sweeping Baylor is particularly eye opening considering the Lady Bears own a recent nine-point win over 12^th-ranked Texas and will be one seed lower than West Virginia for this week's Big 12 Tournament. Winning twice against an NCAA Tournament team seeded below you in the conference tournament will be difficult for the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee to ignore.

The Big 12's recent strong showing in the tournament must also be taken into consideration. It has gotten at least four teams into the dance each year since 2013 (West Virginia's first in the league), including seven that season.

Last year, the Big 12 sent six teams to the tournament, as it did in 2017, 2016 and 2014. The conference has had a winning record every year the tournament has been played since 2013, the exception, of course, being the year COVID-19 canceled the event in 2020.

And, West Virginia is jelling at the right time with senior guard Madison Smith scoring 52 points in her last two games, including barely missing a triple-double with 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in last Saturday's impressive 63-52 win at Baylor. Sophomore guard JJ Quinerly was recently recognized as a consensus first team All-Big 12 choice, giving the Mountaineers one of the most dynamic backcourts in the country.

CBS Sports.com's latest Bracketology report released yesterday has West Virginia comfortably in the tournament, the website slotting the Mountaineers on its 10-seed line with several significant women's tournaments already concluded last weekend.

The Big 12 Tournament will be the showcase event in women's basketball later this week with many eyes on Kansas City.

West Virginia will meet Oklahoma State in the first Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal game at noon on Friday, March 10, at Municipal Auditorium. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

WVU's last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2021, its 13^th bid since 1989. Eleven of those have been at-large selections.

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Players Mentioned

JJ Quinerly

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