WBB: 2026-27 Lineup/Rotation Discussion
- Thread starter mred
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With opportunity, I’m confident some of these players will step up their play. I could very much see Harvey as one given her international experience even though she is just a sophomore. It will be interesting to see who takes advantage of the situation. If I am honest, I do question if we have enough talent and size to compete with most P5 teams but time will tell. Not the first time we will be cheering for an underdog.
Reach and vertical mean more than height. Crooks being a prime example. Having someone who is quick, can jump and good reach can cause a taller player fits. Now…6’2” versus 6’7” is a different beast. Giving up 1-2” won’t be huge.
Height is the most overrated thing in wbb. If you can't move your feet you are useless. There is very very few 6'4+ girls who can move their feet and the ones who can all end up at the same 5 schools pretty much.
If height was all that mattered TTU's Stephanie Okechukwu would be an all-star.
I looked at the last ten Big XII WBB Regular Season Champion starting lineups:
2026 - TCU - 6'3 Marta Suarez & 6'7 Clara Silva
2025 - TCU - 6'7 Sedonna Prince
2024 - OU - 6'1 Payton Verhulst & 6' Sahara Williams (Waterloo West)
2023 - OU & Texas - 6'2 Liz Scott & 6'2 D. Gaston, 6'4 Faye
2022 - Baylor - 6'4 Nalyssa Smith & 6'3 Queen Egbo
2021 - Baylor - 6'4 Nalyssa Smith & 6'3 Queen Egbo with 6'1 Didi Richards
2020 - Baylor - 6'4 Nalyssa Smith & 6'4 Lauren Cox with 6'1 Didi Richards
2019 - Baylor - 6'7 Kalani Brown & 6'4 Lauren Cox with N. Smith & D. Richards
2018 - Baylor - 6'7 Kalani Brown & 6'4 Lauren Cox with 6'2 D. Cohen
2017 - Baylor - 6'7 Kalani Brown & 6'2 Alexis Prince
Only 2023-24 Oklahoma has won a regular season conference title without a significant post presence, though they played 6'3 Beatrice Culliton quite a bit and went out after that season and bought Reagan Beers in the portal. Jennie B knew she needed height to compete in the SEC.
I believe reach and quickness are very important. Reach is more important in the women's game because there are fewer players with a high verticals. Shot blocking flat footed with reach is quite common.
Looking at past statistics can be rather eye opening. Sometimes it's hard to believe how forgetful you are or even how biased you may have been. I know everybody in Iowa and Kansas prefers KC for the tournament and that's natural, its right in their own backyard. Do the other 13 teams feel that way? Just take a look at the top 6 attendance records.
#1 2007 OKC 48,900
#2 2025 KC 39,188
#3 2003 Dallas 35,619
#4 2009 OKC 35,515
#5 2013 Dallas 35,183
#6 2004 Dallas 34,857
Even though Dallas was in my backyard I actually preferred OKC by far. I could stay at a nice motel just a few miles away for 60% less. Park just across the tracks in Brick town for $10 as opposed to $25 - 40 at KC. And hang out in Brick town all day and night at good restaurants and bars. My tab for downtown motel and parking in KC is getting absurd. Holiday Inn charges a $20 a day arena fee imposed by the city. That rubs you the wrong way. I haven't seen attendance records for 2026 yet but it appeared to me that it was considerably less than last year. But of course they've split the mens & women's dates up so they're not playing in the same week. I haven't met anybody yet that likes that
Look at per-session average instead of total attendance, since the tournament has had anywhere from 5-8 sessions over the years.
The three biggest factors in women's tournament attendance have been:
(1) Which days of the week it was held
(2) How close were the best teams to the venue (and how far did they advance)
(3) Co-location with MBB tournament
Of the top 10 average attendances, 9 have been same time/same city as MBB. 2013 has been the only exception.
#1 - 2007 OKC (6 sessions)
Both tournaments same time, same city
WBB semis on Thursday: #5 ISU over #1 A&M, #2 OU over #3 BU
WBB final on Saturday: Oklahoma vs Iowa State
#2 - 2013 Dallas (5 sessions)
Different time, different cities
WBB semis on Sunday: #1 BU over #5 OSU, #2 ISU over #3 OU
WBB final on Monday: Baylor vs Iowa State
There was also a significant effort to push tickets locally in order to impress that Dallas could draw for the upcoming 2016 regional and 2017 Final Four
#3 - 2009 OKC (6 sessions)
Both tournaments same time, same city
WBB semis on Saturday: #4 A&M over #1 OU, #2 BU over #3 ISU
WBB final on Sunday: Baylor vs A&M
Sunday's final drew less than half of Saturday's semis due to OU loss
#4 - 2003 Dallas (6 sessions)
Both tournaments same time, same city
WBB semis on Thursday: #1 UT over #4 CU, #3 Tech over #2 KSU
WBB final on Saturday: Texas vs Texas Tech
#5 - 2004 Dallas (6 sessions)
Both tournaments same time, same city
WBB semis on Thursday: #1 UT over #5 BU, #6 OU over #2 KSU
WBB final on Saturday: Texas vs Oklahoma
#6-10 are all Kansas City and all with MBB/WBB overlapping.
There is no question that separating the tournaments has hurt the women's attendance. At first it seemed not to effect the mens much. But watching the men on TV this year I saw quite a few empty seats especially up high.
There’s really no way it wouldn’t hurt attendance.
The only potential for increased attendance would be there being 16 teams instead of the previous 10. But how many fans of the 11-16 seeds are making the trip to KC?
On the negative side, all of the men’s fans that would also attend the womens games are gone. It has to be a pretty small group that’s now going to both weeks.
This may be true, but right now our roster lacks size and depth in the front court. We have two post players. One is a 6'2" freshman and the other is a 6'1" transfer that didn't get to play much at Florida.
I do not think we are done looking for post players as post #30 stated we are not talking till after the 10th.
Trying to get another international. Probably another 6'2ish player. I think Bill really wants to go back to his 5 out ways
There are also many exceptions (and also take into account those players listed and who they were surrounded by). Last years national champion UConn team had a 6’2” post.
i agree about several things. OKC has better facilities overall…two good stadiums and lots of food options that don’t exist in KC. I also found it relatively affordable.
As for attendance there are lots of factors that come in to play for the women. At Baylor’s peak, they drew well and it was Mulkey’s ******** that got the tournament in that god forsaken place called Dallas. That whole location sucked all the way around.
There's are some folks that don't go to KC because it's in a state with an SEC school and no Big 12. They have a point but some folks would complain if you beheaded them with a new sword. Now that the conference is spread out from Tucson to Morgantown, Provo to Orlando, Houston to Cincy , I say put it in New Orleans. I wouldn't get any sleep then.
