Three Reasons Why WVU Women's Basketball Can Make a Deep Run in March

The West Virginia women’s basketball team won second Big 12 Tournament Championship in program history on Sunday by defeating the TCU Horned Frogs 62-53. By winning the conference tournament, the team now has the inside track to have the ability to host their first and second round NCAA Tournament games in Morgantown.

Here are three reasons why this Mountaineers squad can go far in March Madness.

They have one of the nation’s premier defenses

The Mountaineers not only boast the best defense in the entire Big 12 conference, but they also have one of the best defenses in the entire country. In 33 games this season, WVU has forced 731 turnovers, good for 22.15 per game. That mark is good enough for 13th in the entire country and the most in the Big 12.

The Mountaineers play an aggressive style of press defense that has become synonymous with head coach Mark Kellogg. Senior Guard Jordan Harrison was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and the Big 12 Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player just in the past week. Harrison averages over three steals per game and leads a Mountaineers defense that can and will take the ball away in bunches against anyone.

This is the deepest WVU team in the Kellogg era

WVU has four players who averaged over 10 points per game this season. Gia Cooke leads the team, averaging 14.7 points per game. Meme Wheeler, Jordan Harrison, and Sydney Shaw follow closely with 13.3, 13.2, and 12.1 points per game, respectively. The Mountaineers have scorers they can rely on, and several of them. In their semifinal win over Colorado, Harrison, Wheeler, and Cooke scored 41 of the team’s 48 points.

Wheeler has been exceptional for the Mountaineers this season with nine double-doubles and counting so far this season. Averaging 7.5 rebounds per game, she has been invaluable to the team that has desperately needed rebounding help for years. The Big 12 Championship was a perfect example of Wheeler’s impact on the glass. Despite having a major size disadvantage against TCU, WVU out-rebounded the Horned Frogs 34-31.

They have already proven they can beat anyone anywhere

WVU had several regular-season ranked wins over Duke, Iowa State, and Baylor. The win over the Blue Devils was a neutral-site game in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The win over Audi Crooks and the Iowa State Cyclones came on the road, and the Baylor win was in Hope Coliseum. These wins are not all due to a homecourt advantage, which shows this team can win anywhere.

The Mountaineers' other signature win this season was over TCU in the Big 12 Tournament Championship Game, again at a neutral site. Throughout the Big 12 Tournament, I was impressed by the ways the Mountaineers were winning. They won games with their defense, with their offense, and won games in which neither was particularly inspiring. This is a very well-coached team that can win any way you need them to. There are plenty of reasons to be excited about this team and their chances in the big dance, and it all starts with their head coach.