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This Week in the Big 12: Net-cutting in November

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MARCH 02: Iowa State (21) Bridget Carleton making a move towards the basket while Texas Tech (23) Angel Hayden plays defense during the Texas Tech Lady Red Raiders Big 12 Women's Championship game versus the Iowa State Cyclones on March 3, 2018, at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, OK. (Photo by Torrey Purvey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MARCH 02: Iowa State (21) Bridget Carleton making a move towards the basket while Texas Tech (23) Angel Hayden plays defense during the Texas Tech Lady Red Raiders Big 12 Women's Championship game versus the Iowa State Cyclones on March 3, 2018, at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, OK. (Photo by Torrey Purvey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

It might only be November, but one member of the Big 12 has already cut down a net.

By: Hayes Gardner

Iowa State (4-0) spent their Sunday evening snipping nylon atop a ladder after running away from No. 24 Miami in the Preseason WNIT Finals. The 75-52 victory and tournament championship underscored a largely successful introduction to the season for the Big 12, and the conference might get more chances to take home trophies and cut down nets this week.

Iowa State, led by Preseason WNIT MVP and all-everything point-forward Bridget Carleton, annihilated Niagara, topped Northern Illinois and outlasted Auburn before hosting Miami in the tourney’s final game. In a matchup of big winds, the Cyclones blew the Hurricanes away.

“Their size and their vision makes them a pretty high-level basketball team. They’ll do very well in their conference,” Miami coach Katie Meier said of ISU.

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The victory nearly propelled the Cyclones — which will spend this week in Canada, facing Eastern Michigan in Carleton’s hometown — into the AP top-25, as they finished as the first team receiving votes.

The team that clipped them for the No. 25 spot? West Virginia.

After winning their first three games by at least 40 points each, the Mountaineers (3-0) are ranked for the first time this season. And while those three wins came against inferior foes, WVU will immediately get a chance to prove their legitimacy. On Friday, they play No. 12 Iowa in the Bahamas in a four-team bracket of the Junkanoo Jam tournament.

Against the Hawkeyes, WVU will be tasked with Iowa’s Megan Gustafson, one of the top players in the country. Through three games, the 6-foot-3 post is averaging 24.0 points (on 75 percent shooting), 13.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game.

Joining the Mountaineers in the top-25 are a pair of usual suspects: No. 4 Baylor and No. 10 Texas.

The Bears (4-0) had an early scare and trailed by 11 points at the half against Arizona State on Nov. 11, but ultimately remembered how dominant their interior is and put it to use. They eventually overpowered the Sun Devils for a 65-59 victory.

Texas (3-0) is another team that has an opportunity to earn some hardware this week, as they compete in the Gulf Coast Showcase. They’ll likely have to get past Missouri and potentially Duke to win the eight-team field, but if recent history is any indication, the Longhorns should be favored in that Thanksgiving tournament.

The Big 12 is off to the best start in college basketball; their .938 winning percentage leads the nation. The conference’s only two losses have come from Texas Tech (2-1), which fell to Idaho last week, and Oklahoma (2-1), which followed with a loss to No. 17 South Florida.

Oklahoma’s top six players consist of four freshmen and two sophomores, so the early loss can’t be too surprising for coach Sherri Coale and company. The Sooners have plenty to be pleased about, too, beginning with freshman guard Taylor Robertson. The back-to-back Big 12 12 Freshman of the Week is shooting 18-of-35 from 3-point range this season, leading the country in 3s per game.

Like WVU, OU will head down to the Bahamas this week to compete in the Junkanoo Jam and try to place some quality wins under their belt.

And although this week is full of tough non-conference competition for the Big 12, Kansas State (3-0) might have the most challenging slate of all: the Wildcats must face No. 14 Syracuse and No. 16 DePaul on consecutive days in Cancun.

Upsetting those teams will be mighty difficult. But even if they don’t win and cut down a net, K-State can bask in the fact that they’ll be in heavenly Cancun — thousands of miles from Iowa State’s Canadian destination.

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