I've taken a look at each of the teams in the conference and have put together a bit of a preview for you all. Will be interesting to see how things pan out in the end...if there is one thing for certain about the conference this year...things will be different as Baylor is no longer the dominant team expected to run away with things. So...here are the teams picked by the coaches to finish in the bottom half of the conference.
#6 Kansas State
KSU has been known as the home of post Ayoka Lee. She is one of the most dominating forces underneath you’ll likely see. But this year she is out after getting a knew rebuilt. And what has KSU done? They are 11-2 with a home win against Iowa and two losses against a good Arkansas team and a very average South Dakota State team. They are led by Gabby Gregory (21 ppg) with Sundell and the Glenn’s also providing offense. You might remember Gregory as she played at OU last year. She’s obviously added some firepower to this team. It has also made KSU a very different team as they no longer try to feed the post. Unlike our Sisters, KSU is very consistent across all four quarters of play averaging 19, 20, 20, and 18 points per quarter. Like our sisters they are deadly at the free throw line (80%), but a reflection of their size shows up as they barely (+2) outbound their opponents. They chuck up threes at an even higher rate than the Sisters and only connect on 30%. They take care of the ball and are aggressive on defense managing ten steals per game.
What to expect?
Teams will have to adjust to this “new” KSU team. They obviously have skills and anyone will have to play perimeter defense and rebound solidly to beat them. They don’t have a good matchup inside for big posts so that is a weakness they have. KSU is one of those teams that will finish mid-pack just because of bad matchups. There are other teams that can out score them, have bigger good posts, and play stout defense. I expect KSU to have a winning record in the conference, but just barely.
#7 Texas Tech
Tech is the poser of the conference at 11-1. We’ve seen this time and time again as they schedule a bunch of patsies and build an impressive record only to falter badly in conference play. Tech is 11-1 with their only loss to (gasp) 3-7 Jackson State. Tech is def a paper tiger so far. Three players lead the way for the Raiders in Maupin, McKinney and Scott averaging 12 ppg each. They don’t put up a lot of three’s, but are connecting at a 40% rate. Decent at the line (78%) and rebound margin(+6). But based on the competition it is hard to take anything away from their stats.
What to expect?
As in the past I fully expect Tech to struggle mightily against conference competition. They will likely finish in a fight for the bottom of the conference as its hard to see who else might be worse than they are. They pulled off 11 non-con wins and that might be enough to see them squeak into the NIT postseason if they have some luck along the way. Getting another six wins is going to be very tough.
#8 West Virginia
Off to a 9-2 start, WVU has fed on some amazingly weak teams and have lost to the good ones….except they somehow beat a Georgia team that appears to have regressed a great deal from last year. They are led by Smith and Quinerly who are the only two double figure scorers on this team. They get out rebounded, shoot free throws very averagely, and only average 67 points per game. What you can expect from WVU is defense. They are holding their opponents (I’m not sure what their schedule says about this) to 50 ppg and they have averaged 12 steals per game.
What to expect?
Not much here. If a team has an off night shooting, WVU will sneak up and get a win. But I believe those wins will be hard to come by in conference play. Fourteen wins is about the ceiling for this team. They start off with OU at home and ISU on the road so we’ll know something after week one. I suspect it will be just how limited this team is.
#9 Oklahoma State
Here’s another team that has a lofty record (10-2) that tells you absolutely nothing. The biggest plus on their schedule was a nice win over Florida State at a neutral site. The rest of the games were against overmatched teams (Harvard, North Texas, Oral Roberts to name a few) or they turned out like you would expect. The other plus for OSU is their loss to Purdue was close, but then you have a loss to Kent State. Very puzzling to say the least. OSU does have (essentially) five ladies averaging double figures in points (10-13 ppg each) which means there are multiple threats. Collins leads the way on rebounds with nearly 10 per game. They are actually one of the better three point shooting teams (with a large number of attempts) in the conference at 37%. Average at the line and barely outrebound their opponents.
What to expect?
Another team that will get a surprise win here or there against the middle or bottom of the pack teams. Like WVU and Tech they have a low ceiling for conference wins. We’ll see their best performances when they face the bottom three. They tend to play tough at home and with some luck might pull out a surprise there…but not many.
#10 TCU
So…here we are at the bottom of the conference. Outside of WVU, any of the other three at the end of the list could finish in last. Their head-to-head matchups will determine this. TCU has the worst record (6-5) of any conference team in non-conference play. It’s not because they have played a rough schedule. The biggest challenge was North Carolina (and we know what they are like). TCU is led by Tomi Taiwo who is their only double digit scorer at almost 15 ppg. Big drop off from there with several scoring 4-8 ppg. TCU is getting outrebounded and is a subpar free throw shooting team. They are only averaging 62ppg and giving up 57 against this schedule. Leading rebounder is Bella Cravens at 6 per game. They are very height challenged. They have one tall player in Morris (6’7”) but she only sees the court about 8 min per game.
What to expect?
TCU will likely finish right where they are predicted to finish. They should be the one team that all others will count as wins. Will be hard pressed to reach double digit victories this season. Just not a lot here to work with.
#6 Kansas State
KSU has been known as the home of post Ayoka Lee. She is one of the most dominating forces underneath you’ll likely see. But this year she is out after getting a knew rebuilt. And what has KSU done? They are 11-2 with a home win against Iowa and two losses against a good Arkansas team and a very average South Dakota State team. They are led by Gabby Gregory (21 ppg) with Sundell and the Glenn’s also providing offense. You might remember Gregory as she played at OU last year. She’s obviously added some firepower to this team. It has also made KSU a very different team as they no longer try to feed the post. Unlike our Sisters, KSU is very consistent across all four quarters of play averaging 19, 20, 20, and 18 points per quarter. Like our sisters they are deadly at the free throw line (80%), but a reflection of their size shows up as they barely (+2) outbound their opponents. They chuck up threes at an even higher rate than the Sisters and only connect on 30%. They take care of the ball and are aggressive on defense managing ten steals per game.
What to expect?
Teams will have to adjust to this “new” KSU team. They obviously have skills and anyone will have to play perimeter defense and rebound solidly to beat them. They don’t have a good matchup inside for big posts so that is a weakness they have. KSU is one of those teams that will finish mid-pack just because of bad matchups. There are other teams that can out score them, have bigger good posts, and play stout defense. I expect KSU to have a winning record in the conference, but just barely.
#7 Texas Tech
Tech is the poser of the conference at 11-1. We’ve seen this time and time again as they schedule a bunch of patsies and build an impressive record only to falter badly in conference play. Tech is 11-1 with their only loss to (gasp) 3-7 Jackson State. Tech is def a paper tiger so far. Three players lead the way for the Raiders in Maupin, McKinney and Scott averaging 12 ppg each. They don’t put up a lot of three’s, but are connecting at a 40% rate. Decent at the line (78%) and rebound margin(+6). But based on the competition it is hard to take anything away from their stats.
What to expect?
As in the past I fully expect Tech to struggle mightily against conference competition. They will likely finish in a fight for the bottom of the conference as its hard to see who else might be worse than they are. They pulled off 11 non-con wins and that might be enough to see them squeak into the NIT postseason if they have some luck along the way. Getting another six wins is going to be very tough.
#8 West Virginia
Off to a 9-2 start, WVU has fed on some amazingly weak teams and have lost to the good ones….except they somehow beat a Georgia team that appears to have regressed a great deal from last year. They are led by Smith and Quinerly who are the only two double figure scorers on this team. They get out rebounded, shoot free throws very averagely, and only average 67 points per game. What you can expect from WVU is defense. They are holding their opponents (I’m not sure what their schedule says about this) to 50 ppg and they have averaged 12 steals per game.
What to expect?
Not much here. If a team has an off night shooting, WVU will sneak up and get a win. But I believe those wins will be hard to come by in conference play. Fourteen wins is about the ceiling for this team. They start off with OU at home and ISU on the road so we’ll know something after week one. I suspect it will be just how limited this team is.
#9 Oklahoma State
Here’s another team that has a lofty record (10-2) that tells you absolutely nothing. The biggest plus on their schedule was a nice win over Florida State at a neutral site. The rest of the games were against overmatched teams (Harvard, North Texas, Oral Roberts to name a few) or they turned out like you would expect. The other plus for OSU is their loss to Purdue was close, but then you have a loss to Kent State. Very puzzling to say the least. OSU does have (essentially) five ladies averaging double figures in points (10-13 ppg each) which means there are multiple threats. Collins leads the way on rebounds with nearly 10 per game. They are actually one of the better three point shooting teams (with a large number of attempts) in the conference at 37%. Average at the line and barely outrebound their opponents.
What to expect?
Another team that will get a surprise win here or there against the middle or bottom of the pack teams. Like WVU and Tech they have a low ceiling for conference wins. We’ll see their best performances when they face the bottom three. They tend to play tough at home and with some luck might pull out a surprise there…but not many.
#10 TCU
So…here we are at the bottom of the conference. Outside of WVU, any of the other three at the end of the list could finish in last. Their head-to-head matchups will determine this. TCU has the worst record (6-5) of any conference team in non-conference play. It’s not because they have played a rough schedule. The biggest challenge was North Carolina (and we know what they are like). TCU is led by Tomi Taiwo who is their only double digit scorer at almost 15 ppg. Big drop off from there with several scoring 4-8 ppg. TCU is getting outrebounded and is a subpar free throw shooting team. They are only averaging 62ppg and giving up 57 against this schedule. Leading rebounder is Bella Cravens at 6 per game. They are very height challenged. They have one tall player in Morris (6’7”) but she only sees the court about 8 min per game.
What to expect?
TCU will likely finish right where they are predicted to finish. They should be the one team that all others will count as wins. Will be hard pressed to reach double digit victories this season. Just not a lot here to work with.
