Jon Newlee could be cutting down a basketball net before he even gets to Las Vegas.
The Idaho women’s basketball team is a win away clinching the WAC regular season title for the first and last time since joining the conference in 2005 heading into its Saturday match-up with Seattle U. Idaho will be joining the Big Sky next season.
With a win in any of its final three games, the Vandals will take the crown outright and have the No. 1 seed in March’s conference tournament.
Despite Idaho’s 77-59 dominant performance against the Redhawks on Feb. 1 in Seattle, the feeling of rivalry is very much alive from the three one-possession games the two teams played last season.
“I think anytime we play them it’s going to be like that, no matter what our record against them is,” sophomore guard Christina Salvatore said. “Anytime they come to town, any time we play them, even if it’s in the WAC Tournament, it’s going to be a rivalry type setting and it’s going to be an intense physical game.”
The two teams met in last season’s conference championship game in Las Vegas with Idaho taking the trophy back to Moscow in a 67-64 win.
The WAC coaches voted Seattle to repeat as regular season champions, though the Redhawks sit at a surprising 8-5 — four games behind Idaho. The Redhawks couldn’t finish any better than second in the regular season standings.
That hasn’t diminished the rivalry either — the teams have split the past four games dating back to last season.
Idaho’s two wins in the series came away from Moscow. The Vandals have struggled at home in conference play in 2013, suffering their only conference loss at home and garnering only one win by more than 11 points, compared to all but one conference road win being by more than 11 points.
“We have to come out focused and ready to play like we do out on the road and put any distractions that we do at home on the side, because we don’t really have distractions on the road,” Newlee said. “It’s really just basketball. Here it’s school and friends, family and everything else. You have to put that aside and be ready to come out and play basketball on Saturday.”
Saturday’s game will take place at Memorial Gym, because of the WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships taking place at the Kibbie Dome. A decision hasn’t been made as to whether or not Idaho’s final two home games on March 6 and March 8 will take place at Mem Gym or the Cowan Spectrum.
What’s on stake for this team to string together good home performances is its potential postseason destination. A regular season championship guarantees a spot in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. Of course, the Vandals are hoping for a repeat appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Except this time, the Vandals are hoping for a seed better than the No. 16 seed received last year. The more losses the Vandals avoid, the better prospects they will be looking at should there be a repeat as conference tournament champions in Las Vegas.
The team is only focused on what it can control, Newlee said.
“That (tournament seeding) is out of our hands. Honestly, there’s nothing we can do to worry about that. Our focus is to win the WAC Championship,” he said. “That’s our goal, that’s what we’re looking forward to. If we’re fortunate enough to do that again, the seed, let it fall where it may man and we’ll go on from there.”
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]