I just watched the Big Twelve tournament game of West Virginia and OU, and it did strike me that almost everyone is back for both teams. West Virginia did lose the player that I regarded as the best on their team, Averee Fields (sorry, Bria Holmes). They also lost Stepney and Bre McDonald, the latter to transfer. So, they did lose three players with 96 starts last year. But, Bria Holmes and both Montgomerys (Kayla and Lanay) will return, along with Teana Muldrow.
WV has eight (8) freshmen on the roster.
http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?sport=wbball&show=roster
Freshmen recruits:
http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?story=26808&cat=wbball
2014-2015 Statistics:
http://www.wvusports.com/content/files/Stats/WVU WBB 14-15 Final Stats(1).pdf
The reason that I referred to Fields as their best player over the All-Conference Holmes is that Fields shot 46.2% from the field vs 39.9% for Holmes. She was also three of five from three for sixty percent. Although five is not enough to be a strong measuring stick, Holmes 24.1% from three does tell a story, and those numbers include three threes made off the backboard in the Big Twelve Tournament. Fields also shot 77.2% from the free throw line to Holmes 62.9%. Holmes did score 18.8 ppg to 13.8 ppg for Fields, but at what cost? Holmes also had 44 more turnovers than the WV player with second most. I have no idea why she was selected to the All-Big Twelve anything. On the other hand, I did respect what I saw of Fields.
I was also quite impressed with Lanay Montgomery's 124 blocks, quite a number of which came against us. I'm glad that she only shoots 39.2% from the free throw line. I thought there was some indication that Teana Muldrow was coming into her own late last year. I don't think she's ready to replace field or Stepney yet, but she seems to have as much raw ability.
West Virginia was ranked as high as #16 early in the year, but finished 23-15, 7-11 in conference play. They won five games in the NIT before losing 62-60 to UCLA in the finals. They were a come from behind team that came from 17 down to beat Iowa State and 14 down to beat Texas in OT. They came back rather strongly against us in the tournament after we took a 17 point lead.
Other than going west to play Gonzaga and USC early, they have a rather soft non-conference schedule:
http://www.wvusports.com/schedules.cfm?sport=wbball&thisYear=2016
Usually, I might consider West Virginia a team of concern since they have Lanay Montgomery, Kayla Montgomery, Teana Muldrow, and an All-Conference guard in Bria Holmes returning. But, I think they will need to find some consistency somewhere in order to be a solid threat. Fields, Stepney, and McDonald were pretty good, and Bria has to learn to be more efficient. Despite having so much back, I don't know that they will be better than 7-11 in conference again this year. They did have a good summer touring Europe.
WV has eight (8) freshmen on the roster.
http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?sport=wbball&show=roster
Freshmen recruits:
http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?story=26808&cat=wbball
2014-2015 Statistics:
http://www.wvusports.com/content/files/Stats/WVU WBB 14-15 Final Stats(1).pdf
The reason that I referred to Fields as their best player over the All-Conference Holmes is that Fields shot 46.2% from the field vs 39.9% for Holmes. She was also three of five from three for sixty percent. Although five is not enough to be a strong measuring stick, Holmes 24.1% from three does tell a story, and those numbers include three threes made off the backboard in the Big Twelve Tournament. Fields also shot 77.2% from the free throw line to Holmes 62.9%. Holmes did score 18.8 ppg to 13.8 ppg for Fields, but at what cost? Holmes also had 44 more turnovers than the WV player with second most. I have no idea why she was selected to the All-Big Twelve anything. On the other hand, I did respect what I saw of Fields.
I was also quite impressed with Lanay Montgomery's 124 blocks, quite a number of which came against us. I'm glad that she only shoots 39.2% from the free throw line. I thought there was some indication that Teana Muldrow was coming into her own late last year. I don't think she's ready to replace field or Stepney yet, but she seems to have as much raw ability.
West Virginia was ranked as high as #16 early in the year, but finished 23-15, 7-11 in conference play. They won five games in the NIT before losing 62-60 to UCLA in the finals. They were a come from behind team that came from 17 down to beat Iowa State and 14 down to beat Texas in OT. They came back rather strongly against us in the tournament after we took a 17 point lead.
Other than going west to play Gonzaga and USC early, they have a rather soft non-conference schedule:
http://www.wvusports.com/schedules.cfm?sport=wbball&thisYear=2016
Usually, I might consider West Virginia a team of concern since they have Lanay Montgomery, Kayla Montgomery, Teana Muldrow, and an All-Conference guard in Bria Holmes returning. But, I think they will need to find some consistency somewhere in order to be a solid threat. Fields, Stepney, and McDonald were pretty good, and Bria has to learn to be more efficient. Despite having so much back, I don't know that they will be better than 7-11 in conference again this year. They did have a good summer touring Europe.
