MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Through 14 games last season, the West Virginia women’s basketball team was 10-4 with its best showing possibly being a close loss to nationally-ranked Iowa.
By the end of the season, the Mountaineers were hunting wins just to build up enough of a resume to get off the NCAA tournament bubble.
It didn’t happen.
A year later, make no doubt that the resume still matters to the 17th-ranked Mountaineers (13-1, 3-0 Big 12), who host Oklahoma (9-6, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Just for much different reasons, which WVU players get a near-daily reminder of from head coach Mike Carey.
“I just go, ‘This game is for the resume’ and all of that,” Carey said. “If you lose this game, the next game doesn’t matter as much. You just have to win these big games for the resume and you have to win at home and you have to play hard.”
As of now, the Mountaineers are not on the NCAA tournament bubble. WVU already has a quality road win against No. 10 Mississippi State, neutral-court wins against Michigan State and Syracuse and Sunday’s home win against Texas on their resume.
They are on the bubble when it comes to possibly creating some history by becoming the first WVU team to host a NCAA tournament regional.
The top 16 seeds host first- and second-round games of the NCAA tournament, a format that began in 2015.
The Mountaineers did host a NCAA tournament game in 1992, but it wasn’t a full regional and the tournament field was 48 teams as opposed to 64 now.
“That would mean a lot to me, especially since I’m a senior and we were in the WNIT the last two seasons,” WVU guard Tynice Martin said. “This program deserves better than that. We want to put together something for our fans.”
For the Mountaineers to get there means avoiding upsets over the final 15 games of the season and a strong showing in the Big 12 tournament.
Playing well against the Sooners prior to Saturday’s road showdown against No.2 Baylor would be a great start.
“With Oklahoma, you have to chase them on their threes,” Carey said. “They would rather take a three than a lay-up. So know you have to chase them all around and there’ll be some long rebounds.”
The Sooners are led by guard Taylor Robertson, who is second in the Big 12 in scoring at 20.4 points per game.
The sophomore’s 78 3-pointers lead the nation and Oklahoma’s 137 3-pointers lead the Big 12.
“She’s much improved from last year,” Martin said about Robertson. “We’ll have to fight through a lot of screens and things like that, but we can’t leave her or she’ll start making those threes.”
The Mountaineers may be without forward Kari Niblack, who injured her left knee in Sunday’s win against Texas, but returned to that game to become the hero with a crucial offensive rebound with 44 seconds left.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Carey said. “I’m not sure about her on Wednesday.”
Freshman guard Kirsten Deans is also dealing with a shoulder injury and was limited against Texas.
“She couldn’t even lift her arm up for shots,” Carey said. “We need to get her healthy, too, because her shoulder is really bothering her.”
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