The great run of the women’s basketball team is over. They did get to host the first two rounds of the tournament, as a four-seed. They easily handled 13-seed Miami (OH) in the first round (82-54), but lost an exciting game to five-seed Kentucky in the second round.
It has been said by many people who know more about basketball than I do, that in the NCAA Tournament, matchups are key. Perhaps WVU’s biggest matchup vulnerability was a tall team (no one on the roster is over 6-3). Kentucky had three starters taller than WVU’s tallest player. That created some problems, for the smaller Mountaineers. That said, WVU did not go down without a fight. Kentucky had the lead after the first quarter, but WVU battled back to tie it at halftime. The third quarter ended up being critical, as the Wildcats outscored WVU, 26-14. But Sydney Shaw got hot from three point territory, and the Mountaineer defense was able to force key turnovers, and WVU closed to within one point, and had the ball for a last shot. It ended up being a good look from near the foul line, but it rattled the rim and bounced out. WVU had lost a heartbreaker, 74-73.
One cannot talk about these two games without mentioning the crowds. The Coliseum was sold out for both rounds, and the crowds brought plenty of energy – and noise. In all honesty, the crowd during the Kentucky game got about as loud as I can remember in the Coliseum for any WVU contest, men or women.
Mark Kellog will have some rebuilding to do, but he has been a consistent winner, and next year should be a good one.
The men’s team does get to play on. They accepted a bid in the Crown Tournament, which is an eight team tourney held in Las Vegas from April 1-5. WVU will play Stanford on Thursday, April 2, at 8:00pm. (Television: FS1). The winner of that game faces the winner of Rutgers vs Creighton on Saturday, April 4 (4:00pm, Fox). The championship game would be on Sunday April 5, at 5:00pm (TV: Fox). The four teams on the other side of the bracket are Oklahoma, Colorado, Baylor, and Minnesota.
Other teams have wrapped up their seasons. The wrestling team finished 23rd at the NCAA Championships, and had Ty Watters as an All-American with a sixth place finish at 157 pounds. It’s the seventh straight season with an All-American, which is the first time that has happened at WVU.
The gymnastics team wasn’t able to climb back up the rankings enough to qualify as a team, but they will be represented at the NCAA Regionals on April 2. Three individual gymnasts will head to Baton Rouge for the Gold and Blue: Amber Lowe on balance beam, Sophia Rice on vault, and Emerson Smith on floor exercise.
