They did it. Again.
This time, though, it was expected.
Idaho repeated as Western Athletic Conference Tournament champions Saturday afternoon at the Orleans Arena, again downing the Seattle Redhawks 75-67.
Matched up with the team it had beaten in last year’s conference tournament final, Idaho again had to deal with a close game against its rivals from Seattle.
Despite the same venue and the same opponent, the feeling after the win had a different feeling than last year’s exhilaration of being the champions as the underdog.
This year there was a feeling of accomplishing what they feel they should have done.
“We weren’t surprised to win, we had a great regular season,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “We came in here with a lot of confidence, also a lot of pressure of having the kind of year we had and living up to the expectations of the No. 1 seed. It was different for us this year, we had that really magic run last year. This year was we should do it as opposed to we could do it.”
The team played to fulfill what can arguably be considered the greatest season in program history, but with the back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths clinched is certainly the greatest accomplishment in program history. With the pressure of a 15-1 regular season conference record, Idaho had to ward off being beaten by teams looking to do what Idaho did last season
Last year they upset the two teams seeded in front of them en route to the first championship, but this year came in as the No. 1 seed.
“My big thing going into this game was to prove everyone that last year was not a fluke, we have a great team,” Stacey Barr, the WAC Tournament MVP, said. ” … cutting down those nets felt so good. Alyssa and Addie being seniors, to finish this season like that for that was all I wanted to do.”
In order to prove that, Barr and her team had to get past a surging Seattle team in the second half. The Redhawks closed the first half on a 19-7 run and at two points in the second half took the lead.
That was until Stacey Barr went full-MVP mode.
She scored 13 of her 28 points in the final 10:31 of the game after Seattle had taken a 48-46 lead. Barr was one of two Vandals named to the all-tournament team, the other being senior captain Alyssa Charlston.
She agreed with her coach that the regular season run Idaho was on put the pressure on them to get it done in Las Vegas.
“We had the jack come out of the box earlier in the season, as coach would say. Bakersfield beat us, that kept us grounded in a good way,” Charlston said. “You never want to lose, but last year we didn’t surprise ourselves but I think we surprised everyone else. This year the pressure was on us more to win.”
Idaho will find out its NCAA Tournament opponent on Monday during the selection show on ESPN.
Newlee said he thinks his team deserves a seed anywhere from 10 to 12.
“I feel we deserve between a 10 or a 12 seed. That’s my feeling on it,” Newlee said. “We get punished for being in the league we’re in by these guys, they’re going to put the 8th place team from the ACC in the six-seed or something and that drives me crazy. We feel like we should be respected more for what we’ve done. We beat the teams that were put there in front of us, we took care of this league, it’s a league we play in. I’d like to see more respect this year.”
ESPN’s bracketologist Charlie Crème currently has Idaho as a 13-seed and playing in Seattle.
Playing for Connie
Black ribbons adorned Idaho’s jerseys that afternoon in honor of Connie Ballestero’s uncle, whose uncle passed away Friday morning after he had come down to Las Vegas to watch the tournament.
Newlee said it was her choice as to whether she would play or not, and she played all 40 minutes. Her 3-point basket 1:16 into the game got the scoring started for Idaho. She hit her first two shots from deep, her second one putting Idaho on top 11-4 early.
“It was up to her whether she played or not, and she did a fantastic job of focusing in on the basketball game,” Newlee said. “I couldn’t have been prouder of her to go out there to fight and play like she did under these emotional conditions, it’s unbelievable to me. Our prayers and thoughts are with the Ballestero family right now.”
Ballestero, with her family in attendance supporting her, finished with a 6 points, 4 assist and zero turnover game.