MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Despite finishing fourth with an 11-7 Big 12 record last season, the West Virginia women’s basketball team did not earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
The reason was simple: “We did it to ourselves,” head coach Mike Carey said.
More to the point, the Mountaineers’ RPI ranking of No. 83 and a weak non-conference strength of schedule was enough to keep the Mountaineers out of the NCAA tournament and sent them to the WNIT for a second consecutive year.
A year later, the No. 23 Mountaineers (4-0) are about to set out on a non-conference journey they did not see before.
“We’re about to get into the bulk of our non-conference schedule and see some really good teams,” said guard Kysre Gondrezick, who is tied for 17th in the country in scoring at 21.5 points per game. “We’re going to find out where we really stand.”
WVU enters today’s 6:30 p.m. against Creighton (4-1) in the first round of the Cancun Challenge with an RPI ranking of No. 121 and a strength of schedule ranked 308th in the country.
It’s four wins against St. Francis (Pa.), Presbyterian, Radford and Coppin State produced four wins against teams ranked no higher than No. 174 by the RPI.
That will change against the Blue Jays, who are ranked No. 37 by the RPI and already own a 79-74 victory against Nebraska.
The Mountaineers will play New Mexico (5-0) on Friday, a team ranked No. 25 in the RPI.
“We learned last year that your RPI ratings probably means just as much, if not more, than what you do in your conference,” Carey said. “We went out and upgraded our non-conference schedule. We didn’t have much choice.”
Following the Cancun Challenge, the Mountaineers will travel to No. 10 Mississippi State for the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 8 in the RPI.
At the end of December, WVU will travel to Orlando to take on No. 15 Michigan State and No. 17 Syracuse, giving the Mountaineers three games against AP Top 25 competition before the start of Big 12 play.
WVU faced just one — an 84-81 loss against Iowa — last season before entering conference play.
“We definitely have to step up our play as a team,” WVU forward Kari Niblack said. “We’ve got to keep improving and stay focused, because the teams we’re about to see are much better.”
The Blue Jays are led by senior forward Jaylyn Agnew, who averages 18.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Creighton utilizes a four-guard starting lineup that averages 10 3-pointers per game.
Creighton is also solid in defending the 3-point shot. Its opponents are shooting just 23.6% (17 of 72) from behind the arc.
But, the Blue Jays have just two players on their roster taller than 6-foot-1, meaning the Mountaineers will have the size advantage inside with Rochelle Norris and Blessing Ejifor, who are both 6-5.
Meanwhile, the Mountaineers are still working on their own consistency on offense. WVU is eighth in the Big 12 in scoring at 71.5 points per game and are shooting 43% from the field as a team.
This will mark just the third game back for senior Tynice Martin, who is averaging 11.5 points per game.
“We’re still a work in progress offensively and we have a ways to go,” Carey said. “I have no doubts that we’ll get it, but we’re still working on our timing and Tynice is still working on her timing with the other players. We’ll get it, but we’re just not there, yet.”
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