This Week in Women's Basketball - Nov. 4
This Week in Women's Basketball - Nov. 4
2022-23 WAC WBB Release - Nov. 4
THE NEW SEASON IS FINALLY HERE
The 2022-23 NCAA women’s basketball season officially kicks off this week, with nine of the 13 WAC members in action on Nov. 7. The road to WACVegas begins for all teams in the conference right from the start of the regular season thanks to the WAC’s innovative new resume seeding system.
WAC RESUME SEEDING SYSTEM MAKES ITS DEBUT
A resume seeding system will be used by the WAC to determine how teams are seeded at this year’s WAC Basketball Tournaments. An algorithm will rate performance against all teams faced in the regular season, not just conference play, that will rank teams for the conference postseason tournament. Using this resume seeding system, teams will receive more credit by playing stronger opponents than if they play weaker opponents. WAC Commissioner Brian Thornton and WAC Associate Commissioner of Basketball Drew Speraw worked with Ken Pomeroy of kenpom.com to put together this formula.
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN THE PRESEASON WAC FAVORITE
SFA earned the top spot in the preseason 2022-23 Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Poll and the 2022-23 WAC Women’s Basketball Media Poll that were released on Oct. 17. All 13 WAC head coaches cast votes for the preseason predicted order of finish and all-conference awards, with select media members taking part in the media poll.
SFA claimed nine first-place votes and 140 voting points to finish ahead of returning WAC member UT Arlington (two first-place votes, 126 voting points) in the coaches’ poll. Grand Canyon (two first place votes, 124 points), California Baptist (107 voting points) and Abilene Christian (86 voting points) rounded out the top five teams in the preseason coaches’ rankings.
Stephen F. Austin graduate forward/center Aiyana Johnson was named the 2022-23 WAC Preseason Player of the Year by the coaches’ poll. UT Arlington’s graduate forward Starr Jacobs was named the 2022-23 WAC Media Preseason Player of the Year. Johnson averaged 16.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in 17 starts for the Lumberjacks. Jacobs averaged 21 points and 6.6 rebounds for the Mavericks as she was a fixture in the starting lineup.
Johnson and Jacobs were joined on both preseason all-conference teams by California Baptist’s Trinity San Antonio, Grand Canyon’s Aaliyah Collins, UT Arlington’s Jireh Washington and Utah Tech’s Breaunna Gillen.
WAC 2021-22 SEASON IN REVIEW
Stephen F. Austin claimed the regular-season championship in the WAC last year. Four different conference squads won 10 or more games in conference play in 2021-22. No. 1 seed SFA ultimately captured the WAC tournament title with a 74-57 win over No. 2 seed Grand Canyon on March 12 in Las Vegas. The 12th-seeded Lumberjacks lost to No. 5 North Carolina 79-66 in the opening round of the 2022 NCAA Women’s Tournament in Tucson, Ariz.