Mountaineers Set To Collide With Big-12-Leading Oklahoma Sooners
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MORGANTOWN -- It's been a wonderful ride for West Virginia's upstart women's basketball team that has swept them from out of nowhere into the nation's Top 25 to date.
As in so many sports stories from Hoosiers to The Natural, they have captured their fans' imagination and brought on dreams of greatness with a 21-3 start under a new and unknown coach in Mark Kellogg, who mixed a variety of holdovers and transfers, put in a new, exciting system of pressing defense and watched it grow into a Big 12 Conference contender.
But now, as in the movies, they have moved into a climactic moment, one that will announce their arrival on the national scene and scream out to the world that they are for real, as the No. 24 Mountaineers play their most important game of their season at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Coliseum against No. 23 Oklahoma.
It is a faceoff between the Big 12 leading Sooners and the second-place Mountaineers in a game that figures to be a momentous collision between teams that play the game of basketball at breakneck speed.
The Mountaineers use a pressure defense that drives opponents into mistakes by having to play too fast, and the Sooners are a team that loves to play the game fast on offense.
How does Kellogg describe the Oklahoma offense that has led it to eight consecutive victories after a shaky start on the season that left it with six early losses?
"They kind of put you in a blender and if you aren't careful, you just start chasing because they pass so well," he said.
Think, for a moment, of yourself as a frozen margarita, spinning crazily around in a blender, and you can get the mental picture of what Oklahoma tries to do with its offense.
"It's a motion-based offense, which they traditionally run. [Coach Jennie Baranczyk] was great at Drake, they were one of the most efficient offenses in the country, and she's brought that to Oklahoma," Kellogg said. "They are hard to guard because they are so versatile. They can play inside, or they can play outside. They cut, and their reads are so good.
"They cut off each other. They know their teammates' strengths and weaknesses and do an incredible job of playing to those. They play with such a freedom on offense and know the shots they are supposed to take, so they take good shots," he continued.
"They play fast. They are the fastest paced team in our league, so they are going to get up and down the court. I wouldn't say they shoot quick, but if the good shots come quickly they have no problem taking them. They have high assists, high ball movement."
It will be a handful for WVU, but then again, the Mountaineers have reached the put in the season where they will prove exactly what they are
Two games ago, they lost at No. 18 Baylor, 65-58, a team the Sooners beat in its last game, 84-73. WVU's loss was on the road, and Oklahoma's win was at home. After this home game, they head on the road to face No. 7 Kansas State and then return to the Coliseum to face Baylor again.
"It's the gauntlet," Kellogg said. "Maybe it's been a gauntlet all year, but it's a little heavier now. Kansas State just got their big kid back, so we'll go on the road and get her, and we have the rematch with Baylor next Saturday. We'll find out a little bit more about our team, but we wouldn't want it any other way. We've worked hard to put ourselves in position for meaningful games.
"These are the games we want to play and they do prepare you for the Big 12 Tournament," Kellogg added. "Baylor felt that way. We talked about that a little bit, you know, 'Guys, this what a tournament game feels like.' We were fired up, maybe too fired up the way we shot the ball. Maybe we need to relax a little. But every time we go through it we learn a little something about our team and we will be a little better for it."
West Virginia has proven it can take care of itself all season, led by All-Big 12 performer JJ Quinerly, who is a force both offensively and defensively.
WVU can't make the mistake of thinking the Sooners live and die off their offense.
"They are good defensively as well because they switch so well and create some issues," Kellogg said. You have to be dialed in. It's the same thing I said at Baylor. If you make mistakes, these teams are good enough to make you pay. They have good players at every position and a lot of firepower."
The game is part of a big basketball game at WVU with the men entertaining No. 12 Baylor at 6 p.m.