OKLAHOMA CITY—Gary Blair looks around the Big 12 and sees one of the elite women’s basketball leagues in the country. His Texas A&M team is coming off a trip to the NCAA tournament regional finals, a conference championship and unquestionably the best season in school history.
And there he sat this preseason, his Aggies picked fifth in the league.
“I think the Big 12 top to bottom is the best conference in the country, and I’m glad to be a part of it. But we’re not just a part of it,” Blair said. “I think we’re a legit top 10 to top 15 team, and now it’s up to us to live up to it, just like it is for the other folks in this league.
“Being picked fifth in the conference, that doesn’t bother us. It amazes me, whatever word you want to say. I think we’re going to be pretty good.”
The Aggies shouldn’t take that preseason prediction by Blair’s coaching colleagues to be that much of an insult. Not every team in the league can be the favorite, even if it seems like any number of them could come away with the Big 12 crown when the tournament returns to Oklahoma City in March.
Eight Big 12 teams made it to the NCAA tournament last season, and all eight made it to the second round. There’s no reason the league won’t be just as strong this year.
Oklahoma’s immovable Courtney Paris and Oklahoma State’s speedy Andrea Riley, a contrast in styles if there ever was one, both return this season and start out as preseason All-Americans.
Iowa State has its entire roster back, with the re-addition of injured post players Toccara Ross and Nicky Wieben.
Texas A&M won’t have steady point guard A’Quonesia Franklin this time around, but will again have Takia Starks wandering the perimeter.
Baylor has a key Player back: Jhasmin Player, the talented guard whose season-ending knee injury last year played a big role in causing the Bears to stumble down the stretch after a 13-game winning streak.
And then there’s Texas. With Gail Goestenkors in her second season since leaving Duke, the Longhorns seem to be headed in the right direction. Sharpshooter Erika Arriaran is healthy again after missing last season and the ‘Horns have also added McDonald’s All-American Ashley Gayle to the mix.
Almost lost in the mix is Kansas State, the surprising winner of last year’s Big 12 regular-season title.
The league’s coaches placed the burden of being the preseason favorite on the Sooners, who have one last chance to take Paris to the Final Four, or even beyond. Like the Cyclones, Oklahoma returns every player from last season’s senior-less squad and has added perimeter threat Whitney Hand in Sherri Coale’s recruiting class.
But the Sooners learned a tough lesson last season, when they became the first team to lose to the 12th seed in the first round of the Big 12 tournament and made an early exit from the NCAA tournament to miss out on the home-court advantage of playing their third- and fourth-round games in Oklahoma City.
“It’s not enough just to be talented. It’s not enough just to be just good players,” Coale said. “You’ve got to figure out a way to be great together. That all just sounds like gibberish until you live through it.
“And the reality of our crumble in February last year was just that: that we weren’t real good together. And even though we had some fantastic parts, we just weren’t good enough together. And that’s what team sports are all about. So we learned that lesson on our feet. We lived it. And it was obvious and our players made an immediate and apparent commitment to try to get it right.”
Iowa State’s Bill Fennelly is dealing with some of the same issues, trying to make sure his team has the right chemistry. While he has so many experienced players returning, it’s not automatic that they’ll all assume their proper roles immediately. Some sacrifice will be involved.
“There is no flip of a switch,” he said. “Every year you start over.”
That’s where every team finds itself at this point. All over the league questions remain: How will Baylor go on without Angela Tisdale at the point? Will Sydney Colson be healthy enough after knee surgery to fill Franklin’s shoes for the Aggies? Is there another chapter to Riley’s amazing 0-16 to Sweet 16 turnaround at Oklahoma State?
And last but not least: Who among all the great teams in the league will stand in March as the greatest?
