Bubble watch: Penn State women’s basketball looking to improve tourney resume at Big Tens
Not Bubblicous, that’s a gum.
No, Carolyn Kieger wants her Penn State women’s basketball team to be less “bubble-ish,” that’s a way to make the NCAA Tournament — and the battle of the bubble begins Thursday evening.
The Lady Lions (18-11) open Big Ten Tournament play at 6:30 p.m. Thursday with a game against Wisconsin (13-15). Less than a month ago, Wisconsin dealt Penn State a slightly surprising 69-64 road loss, part of a six-game losing streak before the team bounced back to win its final two regular season games.
Those victories, including a dominant 90-34 decision against Minnesota on Sunday, have instilled some confidence for Penn State, but Kieger thinks her team needs to do a little more to bolster its NCAA Tournament credentials.
“I love where we’re at in the NET, but we probably need another win to make us less bubble-ish,” Kieger said. “At the end of the day, you don’t want to be taking chances.”
According to the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), which ranks teams and helps influence the 68-team NCAA Tournament field, Penn State ranks 26th this week. That’s a seemingly solid spot. Still with 32 conference champion automatic qualifiers and potential upsets, it’s not the safest spot as Penn State strives to make the tournament for the first time in a decade.
Although some might consider Penn State safely in the field, a victory Thursday would help. (An ESPN prediction at this point has Penn State among the first four teams not selected for the tournament.)
Penn State last made the tournament at the end of the 2013-14 season, when then-coach Coquese Washington led a group that advanced to the regional semifinals.
For Kieger, this season has been a breakthrough. Penn State has recorded highs for overall victories (18) and conference victories (nine) since her arrival for the 2019-20 season.
Success has not been easy, though. Although the arrival of transfer Ashley Owusu bolstered the team’s early season success and seemingly positioned the Lady Lions for even greater things, the loss of point guard Tay Valladay to injury prompted the six-game slide later in the season.
It took a few games for coach and players alike to adapt to life without Valladay. Plus, those two season-ending W’s came against Purdue and Minnesota, which had their own injury issues and struggles and rank near the bottom of the conference standings.
Still, confidence is confidence, and a win is a win.
“We all needed to regroup. We’ve played well this last couple of weeks and have had good practices. I think that’s made the difference,” Kieger said. “For us, a first-round win is the first hurdle and we’re not trying to get ahead of ourselves.”
It’s tempting to look ahead, though. If Penn State wins Thursday, its next would be Friday against No. 3 Iowa and All-Everything guard and media darling Caitlin Clark.