Big 12 tournament plays as prelude
New experience for some players, but NCAAS remain the goal.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Baylor and West Virginia are locks to be invited to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Texas are expecting invitations, too.
As the Big 12 opens its 18th conference tournament here at Chesapeake Energy Arena, opinions vary on whether this gathering — nearly two weeks before the NCAAs — serves a purpose.
The four-day tournament that began Friday night is the conference’s showcase event, but it serves as little more than an appetizer for the NCAA Tournament that begins March 22.
Texas coach Karen Aston and Baylor’s Kim Mulkey have different views on the Big 12 tournament.
“I love the tournament,” Aston said Friday. “It’s fun if you win it, for sure. I’ve been part of that (at UNC-Charlotte). The players play the game to have that experience. It’s a fun atmosphere for the players.”
Texas (20-10) is seeded
third in the tournament. The Longhorns play sixth-seeded Oklahoma (18-13) in a second-round game Saturday night.
This has been a breakout season for Texas, which went 12-18 season last year. Aston looks at the Big 12 tournament as an opportunity for her team to improve and gain confidence that might have been lacking last spring.
“It’s not hard to get the players up for the conference tournament,” Aston said.
Mulkey, whose team earned the No. 1 seed, wants to win it, but wonders whether it does more harm than good for the players.
Now in her 14th year in Waco, Mulkey said the conference tournament is geared for fans and teams that might be on the proverbial bubble to make the NCAAs.
“I don’t think it matters what we think, because its never going to change,” Mulkey said. “It’s probably a money-maker in a lot of ways for the conference, and the fans like it.”
Aston and Mulkey have to adjust to a longer rest between the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.
In previous years, the NCAA Tournament began one week after the conference tournament. This year, there is a 12day gap. The Big 12 started the women’s tournament earlier so that it doesn’t conflict with the men’s tournament.
“My goal is the NCAAs,” West Virginia’s Mike Carey, this year’s Big 12 coach of the year, told reporters this week. “We can’t go (to Oklahoma City) and hurt our seeding and all that stuff. If we go down there and win it, great. If we go down there and don’t win it, that’s OK as long as we don’t hurt our seeding. That’s the most important thing.”
West Virginia is ranked No. 7 and Baylor No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. Both should expect No. 2 seeds in the NCAAs, although one could be elevated to a top seed by winning the Big 12 tournament.
Two players — Texas senior Chassidy Fussell and Baylor freshman Nina Davis — are eager to play in the conference tournament. But for different reasons.
Fussell simply wants to savor the final weeks of a stellar collegiate career.
“It’s just a really great feeling to get Texas back to where it’s supposed to be — a 20-win season, get back to the NCAA tournament, be on top,” she said.
Davis, the Big 12 freshman of the year, sees the Big 12 tourna- ment as a new experience.
“Being here means a lot to us, especially for the freshmen because we’ve never been here,” she said. “I heard it’s a great atmosphere. The NCAA is a bigger stage, but I’m excited to be here.” Contact Rick Cantu at 512-4453953. Twitter: @Rickyprep