On Monday night’s episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, host Missy Heidrick talks listeners through the highs and lows, wins and losses, of the Big 12 race. The conference is action packed – in just one week, a new team has taken over the top slot in the table, and five Big 12 teams made it into the AP Top 25 this week. Missy dives into updates from top teams like Oklahoma, who is 9-1 in league play, discusses how teams that are falling off can improve, and makes some predictions for the rest of the conference race.
Missy opens the show with an eternal truth about the Big 12 – it’s a “brutal, brutal battleground in women’s basketball.” She talks about the shake-up at the top of the Big 12 table, with Kansas State dropping from number two to number eight after dropping two games last week. The team that’s surging in their wake, explains Missy, is Oklahoma, who have continued “scoring at a very high rate,” and “finding open players.” This Oklahoma team, per Missy, is the one to watch right now.
Missy then moves on to discuss who’s trending up in the conference. Other than Oklahoma, the team to watch that’s on its way up is West Virginia, coming in at number 22 nationally this week. “I absolutely believe this is a Mountaineer squad that is trending up,” remarks Missy. The Mountaineers, who have won six games in a row, currently hold an 8-2 record in league play and 19-2 overall. Another team rising to its potential is the University of Texas. Per Missy, the team struggled to find their footing at times, but currently hold a 21-3 record and “have found a way to win games with some outstanding players,” including freshman Madison Booker.
Missy acknowledges, then, some Big 12 teams that are on a downward trend. The Iowa State Cyclones, per Missy, may be underperforming this season, but they are being led by some “outstanding freshmen” and still remain dangerous. Oklahoma State is also trending slightly downwards, Missy explains, as they suffered a disappointing loss to Oklahoma. And TCU, per Missy, needs to figure out how to navigate injuries plaguing the team if they want to stay competitive this season.
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