Aggies must look up to Stanford
But quickness edge goes to NM State
The plan for the New Mexico State women as big underdogs against Stanford today in Manhattan, Kan., seems to be two-fold:
1. Don’t be overwhelmed by the moment, since the 24-6 Aggies have been in this situation before — as in, both of the previous two years.
2. Turn the height disadvantage into a quickness advantage, or at least a matchup problem for the Cardinal (28-5).
NMSU coach Mark Trakh said his players are going to “have a crick in their necks from looking up” at the Stanford players. The Cardinal starting lineup goes 5-7, two 6-footers and two who stand 6-3. Aggie senior Brianna Freeman (6-foot-1) is the only starter listed over 5-11. The flip side to that? “We have four guards,” Trakh said. “One of their bigs is going to have go guard a guard. They’re going to have to match up. It’s going to be a chess game. We’ve got a lot of guards we can throw out there and play well.”
Trakh says flatly that seniors Moriah Mack, the Western Athletic Conference’s player of the year, and Tamera William “can play at Power Five schools,” and that sophomore Brooke Salas is a “top midmajor guard.”
Trakh has the Aggies in their third consecutive NCAA Tournament. He has built a team around athletic, mobile players, not that he seemingly has had much of a choice. The recruitment of the bigs in women’s basketball, he feels, is hyper-competitive, and if a player is as tall as 6-3, or 6-4, “they get overrecruited.”
A big key for the Aggies will be to keep the Cardinal off the offensive boards as a result — particularly 6-3 Erica McCall, Stanford’s leading scorer (14.6 ppg) and rebounder (8.7 per game).
The Aggies are 0-4 all time in the tournament, having lost 75-57 at top-seeded Maryland two years ago and 74-52 at second-seeded Arizona State one year ago today. Trakh was 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament at Pepperdine and 2-2 at USC with first-round wins as a No. 8 seed in 2005 (beating Louisville) and 2006 (South Florida).
“This is a great way to end our senior year, and we’re not ready for our season to be done yet,” said Mack, whose 13.5 points per outing lead New Mexico State. “We have to focus in practice, pay attention and come out ready to play.”