Mark Kellogg enters Big 12 tournament with less pressure, same goals

MORGANTOWN — Mark Kellogg will walk into the T-Mobile Center on Friday night set to embark on a new experience in conference tournament play.

Not with West Virginia, the program he took over this season and led it to heightened expectations by finishing in a tie for fourth place in the Big 12 after being picked to finish eighth before the season.

But rather with the conference tournament itself, because for the first time in his coaching career, a Kellogg-coached team isn’t forced to win the conference tournament just to get a shot at playing in the NCAAs.

“The feeling of going into the Big 12 (tournament) is different than what it was at the mid-major level,” Kellogg said. “You had to win, like, absolutely had to win those three games or it did not matter in any way, shape or form what we had done.”

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In eight years at Stephen F. Austin, which played in the Southland and then the WAC, Kellogg’s teams went a combined 120-22 in conference play, yet advanced to only two NCAA tournaments.

Twice the Ladyjacks had 25-win seasons yet slipped up in the conference tournament and were forced to play in the WNIT.

“That’s the thing about being at the mid-major level, is you can have a crazy-good year, and then just go out and shoot really bad,” Kellogg said. “We were top-five in field-goal percentage one year, got to the conference tournament and had a night, and it wasn’t in a good way. Then you’re going to the WNIT feeling like you didn’t accomplish your dreams.”

Last season, Stephen F. Austin won 27 games, but again only played in the WNIT.

“One year, I think we were No. 27 in the NET (rankings), which may have been the RPI at the time, but we were not going to get into the NCAA tournament,” Kellogg continued. “A year ago, we were, like, No. 61, one off from where West Virginia was, and we had no chance of getting in.”

Kellogg admits that was one of the reasons he strived to move up in the coaching world to the Power Five level.

Sure, it’s more difficult there to rack up wins in the regular season, but if you do it, the conference tournament itself is just a formality.

That’s where WVU (23-6) finds itself now. The Mountaineers do not need to win the Big 12 tournament to get to the NCAAs. They do not even need to win a single game in this tournament to move on to the national championship tournament.

West Virginia did enough during the regular season, beating two nationally ranked teams along the way and going 9-4 in road and neutral-court games.

“We’re excited about what we’ve done,” Kellogg said. “Lots of basketball still in front of us, but we’re obviously looking forward to the next step after that.”

WVU’s first opponent in the Big 12 tournament is still uncertain. The Mountaineers will play the winner of the UCF-Cincinnati game at 9 p.m. Friday.

The UCF-Cincinnati game ended after press time Thursday.

If WVU advances, the Mountaineers will face No. 16 Kansas State, the third seed, in the Big 12 quarterfinals.

In reality, the only thing WVU can accomplish in the Big 12 tournament is to improve its seeding in the NCAAs. Currently, the Mountaineers are projected as a No. 7 seed in the national tournament, but could move up by advancing into the late rounds of the Big 12 tourney.

“The pressure at (the mid-major) level feels different than it does now,” Kellogg said. “The goal doesn’t change. You want to win the conference tournament and you want to advance. These are big-time games that will help us prepare for the NCAA tournament.”