The 2012-13 Idaho women’s basketball team is a testament that anything can happen in the WAC Tournament. The Vandals went in as the No. 3 seed and winless against No. 1 seed Seattle U during the regular season — the team they beat in the championship game.
This year, the 2013-14 Vandal squad goes into the WAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed and thus the favorites to win a consecutive championship. Now, they are the ones that could be victims of an upset.
Idaho beat every team in the WAC twice, except for Cal State-Bakersfield. But the Vandals previously beat Bakersfield by 27 points on the road, before slipping up at home on Feb. 13. Idaho (22-8, 15-1 WAC) has beat every team in the WAC by double-digits at least once.
So if Jon Newlee’s team can just play its game how it’s been playing all season, it should roll through the WAC Tournament. The biggest potential roadblock to Idaho is itself.
The two things that could hurt the Vandals are getting overconfident against their opponents and losing composure in close games. When players get nervous, they can make mistakes and lose focus on the game plan. Luckily, this shouldn’t be a major problem for this year’s Idaho team.
Both Newlee and his players have said they need to guard against being overconfident, so they are aware of the threat. And despite blowing out many of their opponents, the Vandals have experience playing in six games decided by five or less points, so far this season. They also have the experience of being in an intense tournament atmosphere, since they made it all the way to the NCAA Tournament last year.
Another negative trend for Idaho this season has been playing at home. The Vandals lost to Bakersfield at home and overall ended up playing much closer games at home than they did on the road. Idaho’s road-warrior mentality should turn into a strength in the WAC Tournament, as all the games will be played in Las Vegas.
The only other thing to examine is what went wrong for Idaho in its loss to Bakersfield. The Vandals shot a measly 13.3 percent from the 3-point line in that game, compared to the Roadrunners’ 41.2 percent. Bakersfield also outrebounded Idaho 58-43. Losing the battle from long range, while also failing at the rim, are what doomed Idaho in its loss.
Unlike most teams, Idaho has a solid all-around lineup. All five starters have contributed in a significant way. Stacey Barr is the WAC Player of the Year, Alyssa Charlston is an All-WAC player, Ali Forde is an All-Defensive Team honoree, Christina Salvatore has made more 3-pointers than any other WAC player this season and Connie Ballestero leads the WAC in assist to turnover ratio.
If the Vandals just do what they’ve been doing all season, they will repeat as conference champions.
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]