On the most recent episode of “Anything But Mid,” we previewed the Ohio Valley, Missouri Valley and Pac-12 basketball conferences. Let’s take a look at how things are shaping up on the women’s basketball side of things:
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Missouri Valley
Murray State is coming off dominating the MVC last season, going 31-4 and 19-1 in conference play. Halli Poock won the MVC Player of the Year with averages of 22.5 points and 4.3 assists and 25.5 points in conference play. They also return two more elite scorers. Sharnecce Currie-Jelks is the reigning Newcomer of the Year, averaging 17.4 points and 11.7 rebounds last season, while Haven Ford added 17.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists. While this conference should be Murray State’s to lose, other programs in Belmont, Illinois State and Evansville should continue to compete next season.
Ohio Valley
This is a competitive conference. Western Illinois and Lindenwood sat atop the conference at 16-4, and Western Illinois won the conference tournament. The Leatherbacks could return Ohio Valley Player of the Year Mia Nicastro, who averaged 24.1 points and 9.8 4 rebounds and is seeking a fifth year of eligibility in the courts. However, they did lose key pieces in Raegan McCowan, Addi Brownfield, Mallory Shetley and Allie Meadows. Southern Indiana didn’t have a single player enter the transfer portal. Chloe Gannon is headlining this returning group while Tamara Ortiz is a South Alabama transfer who will make a difference immediately. The Screaming Eagles had one of the best defenses in the country and should carry that into next season. On the flip side, Lindenwood basically has a completely new roster, as nine players left and has a new head coach in Phil Sayers. They should still compete, however, as Violet McNece from Morehead State and Elisha Dykstra from Toledo will be impact players this year.
Pac-12
The Pac-12 is finally back and we get to call it our own as a mid-major conference. It now consists of Gonzaga, Colorado State, Utah State, Fresno State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Boise State, Washington State and Texas State. While this fully arranged conference could be hard to predict, San Diego State was an absolute powerhouse in the Mountain West and may be an early favorite. The Aztecs went 19-1 in conference play last season and retained four eligible starters from last season: Naomi Panganiban, Natalia Martinez, Kennedy Lee and Bailey Barnhard.
Colorado State won the Mountain West Tournament and earned a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Rams brought in transfers Camryn Runner, Sophie Sene and Kloe Froebe. Another premiere team will be Gonzaga. The Zags went 24-10 and 14-4 in conference play. While their roster isn’t as strong, Inês Bettencourt and Zeryhia Aokuso are two players who can improve with more minutes, and Emmy Roach from Rider will play strong minutes this season.
Make sure to stay tuned in the coming weeks for more previews and tune into our podcasts on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you haven’t already!