WKU basketball teams set sights on Conference USA titles...

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DAILYNEWSBowling green

March 10, 2015

WKU basketball teams set sights on

Conference USA titles, NCAA tourney bids

Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky

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Western Kentucky’s challenge isn’t an unfa-miliar one.

After a disappointing finish to the regular sea-son – a 75-52 loss Saturday at Old Dominion – the Hilltoppers (19-11) will once again have to win four games in four days to reach the NCAA tournament.

This time, they’ll try to run the gauntlet in a new league.

Fifth-seeded WKU faces 12th-seeded Marshall at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Ala.

“It’s tournament time, and it’s do-or-die,” WKU senior guard T.J. Price said Saturday after

the ODU loss. “We’ve got to get back (today) and go at it hard, get ready to make some noise in the tournament. We’ve got to put this behind us. It happens. This stings, but we’ve got to come back ... and put in work.”

WKU could have secured a first-round bye with a win over ODU, but it instead fell to the No. 5 spot.

If the Toppers beat Marshall, they will face No. 4 seed and tournament host UAB at 6 p.m. Thursday. WKU split its regular-season meetings with Marshall, most recently falling 87-82 on Feb. 14 in Huntington, W.Va.

The notion of winning four games in four days is not foreign to coach Ray Harper and the Tops.

Tops face familiar gauntletBy ZACH GREENWELL

[email protected]

WKU must again win four games in four days to reach NCAA tourney

Western KentucKy senior forward George Fant looks to shoot in the post Jan. 10 against Old Dominion’s Jonathan Arledge at e.A. Diddle Arena. WKu faces Marshall at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the

irst round of the Conference USA Tournament in Birmingham, Ala.Austin Anthony/[email protected]

See TOPPERS, Page 4

Conference USA Tournament 2015Tuesday, March 10, 20152

Western Kentucky didn’t claim the Conference USA regular season title until Thursday, when it clinched the crown with a win against Charlotte.

But if you ask Lady Topper players, the process of winning that championship started three years ago when Michelle Clark-Heard was named the 10th coach in program history.

“Once coach Heard got here she believed in us,” WKU senior forward Chastity Gooch said last week. “That’s what really helped out. She made me believe in myself.”

Heard’s three-year tenure has been superb thus far. Her Lady Toppers (27-4 overall, 16-2 C-USA) have won at least 22 games in each of her first three seasons and last year’s team went to the NCAA tournament after winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament crown.

This year’s squad is winners of nine straight games and will enter this week’s C-USA tournament as the top seed, with an inside track to get back to the NCAAs.

Heard has accomplished this at a school that went 9-21 under Mary Taylor Cowles in 2011-12, the season before she took over.

So what keyed the short turnaround from single-digit wins to conference champion-ships?

“The mentality changed,” senior guard Ileana Johnson said. “That was probably the biggest thing we had to get used to was going hard every day, playing to the level she want-ed us to play and knew we could play at. That took a lot of getting used to.”

When she took the WKU job, Heard spoke of wanting to return the program to the cal-iber it was when she played for the Lady Toppers from 1986-90.

WKU reached the NCAA tournament all four years Heard wore a WKU uniform.

“The focus is right now,” Heard said at her introductory news conference in March 2012. “It’s not for a year later, two years down the road. It’s now.”

That first year the Lady Toppers jumped from nine wins to 22, the largest turnaround in Sun Belt history.

Last season WKU improved to 24 wins, beating Arkansas State in the Sun Belt finals to advance to its first NCAA tournament since 2007-08.

Now this season has been the best yet for Heard with the Lady Toppers.

They started the year 3-0 before losses at

Mississippi State (RPI: 29) and at Louisville (7).

Then WKU reeled off 14 straight wins to improve to 17-2 before encountering a set-back at the end of January, losing to UTSA and Southern Miss in two of three games to close out the month.

The Lady Toppers haven’t lost since that hiccup, winning their last nine to seal a C-USA title by two games in the standings over rival Middle Tennessee.

The 16-2 run to the regular season title included an 8-1 performance in road games that was even more impressive, Heard said, after WKU beat Charlotte.

“To really look back and understand how tough it is to go on the road and win, to con-stantly have a target on our back, for us to be sitting where we are right now, sitting

Conference USA regular season champs, it’s just a huge compliment to the team out there,” Heard said. “I’m just really happy for them.”

The Lady Toppers may be the best-rounded team playing this week in Birmingham, Ala.

They feature an All-C-USA first-team duo in Gooch (17.2 points per game, 7.1 rebounds per game) and senior guard/forward Alexis Govan (16.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg).

Sophomore guard Kendall Noble was named All-C-USA Second Team after aver-aging 11.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 4.6 assists per game and a school-record 3.2 steals per game.

Guard Tashia Brown was a C-USA All-Freshman Team member after scoring 8.9 ppg this season as WKU’s best bench threat.

There’s also junior point guard Micah Jones, who scores 9.3 ppg, hits 84.5 percent

of her foul shots and has a 2.3 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Johnson provides more on-court lead-ership. Junior forward Jalynn McClain, sophomore center Bria Gaines, and fresh-man forward Ivy Brown bring size off the bench.

Add it all up and the Lady Toppers are con-fident they can build on their regular season success with a strong showing this week.

“I think every year the team’s gotten better and better,” Govan said. “Our goals got big-ger and bigger and as years have gone we’ve been able to notch them off one-by-one. Now we’re at the end and we’ve got a few more things to accomplish.”

—Follow WKU women’s basketball beat writer Brad Stephens at twitter.com/ stephens_brad or visit bgdailynews.com.


BAc totrong/[email protected]

Western KentucKy forward chastity Gooch (right) drives to the basket against Middle tennessee forward cheyenne Parker on Feb. 21 at e.A. Diddle Arena. The Lady Toppers plays either Charlotte or Marshall at 5 p.m. Thursday in the Conference USA tournament quarterinals.

Lady Tops continue climbHeard’s WKU team goes to tourney as regular season C-USA champs

By BRAD [email protected]

Conference USA Tournament 2015Tuesday, March 10, 2015 3

They did so in 2012 and 2013 to win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Harper’s first two seasons at the helm.

“It’s one game at a time now,” Harper said. “It is what it is. There will be 10 teams, 12 teams, whatever it is, and every team’s going to have to win, some three, some four, if they want to play after next week. Hopefully, we can win four.”

The largest concern for most with playing in the opening round is fatigue in the later stages.

Harper said two weeks ago on his radio show that he disagrees with that notion, citing WKU’s two Sun Belt championship runs as proof.

“I think it’s an advantage a little bit to those teams that play that first day and win on day two,” Harper said. “It depends on your team. In Hot Springs, (Ark.) we won four games in four days twice in a row, and I never thought fatigue was ever a factor. We were coming back from 15 down in the semifinals. We came back in the championship game. I never thought it was a factor.

“I’ve always been of the belief that

if you practice hard, you’re going to practice four straight days.”

Harper also said he’s not concerned with losing the final game of the regu-lar season as long as his team is play-ing good basketball. He pointed out that WKU lost to Middle Tennessee at home to close 2013 before rattling off four straight tournament victories.

But WKU’s blowout loss at Old Dominion on Saturday didn’t give any indication of being a momentum-

builder.The Tops had 19 turnovers, shot 46

percent from the free-throw line and didn’t get much production outside Price and senior forward George Fant.

But if they’ve proven anything in recent years, it’s that it’s not over until it’s over.

“Our confidence is going to stay high no matter what,” Price said. “We want to get better, so we’re going to come ready to go to work. Whatever the coaches tell us to do, we’re going to do it to the best of our abilities. We’re going to fight and work.

“That’s how we did it before when we were at that seed or worse. We still won it. We fought and didn’t stop fighting. We came together as one. That’s going to be the biggest thing – never give up. Never quit.”

— Follow Assistant Sports Editor Zach Greenwell on Twitter at twitter.com/zach_greenwell or visit bgdailynews.com.


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TOPPERS

Old Dominion senior forward Richard Ross might have best summed up the chaos that could ensue this week in Birmingham, Ala.

“I think there will be a lot of shocking things happen,” he said. “It’s going to be madness.”

There’s really no telling what to expect this week at the Conference USA Tournament, which begins Wednesday at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex.

The league is likely to get only its automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, unless Old Dominion (36th in RPI) can sneak into the field as an at-large selection.

That leaves 12 teams scrambling to punch their ticket to the Big Dance, and it could make for some highly enter-taining games along the way.

“Once everyone gets to Birmingham, it’s going to be crazy,” Western Kentucky coach Ray Harper said two weeks ago on his radio show. “There’s just not a lot of separation in these teams. If you look at Louisiana Tech at home, they’ve almost been unbeatable the last two years,

Wild week expected from even C-USA field

By ZACH [email protected]

See BULLDOGS, Page 8

Western KentucKy guard t.J. Price (left) shoots past Florida Atlantic guard Jackson trapp on Feb. 26 at e.A. Diddle Arena.

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Lady Toppers favorites heading to Birmingham

Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, other teams to watch in C-USA tourney

Western Kentucky hasn’t been in this posi-tion in quite awhile.

The last time the Lady Toppers entered their league tournament as the regular sea-son champ was in 2008 in the Sun Belt Conference. It’s taken WKU another seven seasons to win a regular season conference crown again and earn a No. 1 seed heading into the league tournament

The Lady Toppers did that this year with a 16-2 record through their first campaign as a member of Conference USA. They won the league by two games and will be the favorites this week at the league tournament, which starts Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala.

“Based on how they play, they’re the deserving champions of the league,”

Charlotte coach Cara Consuegra said

Thursday after WKU beat her team 80-72 in

E.A. Diddle Arena.

The top seed is a big target on the Lady

Toppers’ backs this week and two teams have

shown this season they can take down WKU.

Southern Miss, the league’s No. 3 seed,

beat the Lady Toppers 63-61 on Jan. 31.

UTSA, the No. 4 seed, edged them 64-63 in

San Antonio a week before that.

But those aren’t the only two threats.

No. 2 seed Middle Tennessee was in front

of WKU by nine Feb. 21 in Bowling Green

before the Lady Toppers roared back to win

63-60. No. 5 seed Old Dominion led WKU

in the final minutes Saturday before the Lady

By BRAD [email protected]

See BIRMINGHAM, Page 9


Conference USA Tournament 2015Tuesday, March 10, 20156 Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky

Hilltoppers

Good Luck

Hilltoppers in the

Conference USA

Tournament

C LARK

D ISTRIBUTING

2015 Men’s Conference USA TournamentOpening roundWednesday

QuarterfinalsThursday

No. 8 North Texas8:30 p.m., ASN

No. 9 Rice

No. 1 Louisiana Tech8:30 p.m., ASN

No. 5 Western Kentucky6 p.m., ASN

No. 12 Marshall

No. 4 UAB6 p.m., ASN

No. 6 Middle Tennessee2:30 p.m., ASN

No. 11 Charlotte

No. 3 Old Dominion2:30 p.m., ASN

No. 7 UTSANoon, ASN

No. 10 FIU

No. 2 UTEPNoon, ASN

3 p.m.CBS Sports Network

5:30 p.m.CBS Sports Network

2:30 p.m.Fox Sports 1

SemifinalsFriday

ChampionshipSaturday

All games at Birmingham (Ala.) Jefferson Convention Complex

Conference USA Tournament 2015Tuesday, March 10, 2015 7Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky

Lady Toppers

Good Luck Lady

Toppers in the

Conference USA Tournament

C LARK

D ISTRIBUTING

2015 Women’s Conference USA TournamentOpening roundWednesday

QuarterfinalsThursday

No. 5 Old Dominion7:30 p.m., ASN

No. 12 Rice

No. 4 UTSA7:30 p.m., ASN

No. 8 Charlotte5 p.m., ASN

No. 9 Marshall

No. 1 Western Kentucky5 p.m., ASN

No. 7 Louisiana Tech1:30 p.m., ASN

No. 10 Florida Atlantic

No. 2 Middle Tennessee1:30 p.m., ASN

No. 6 UAB11 a.m., ASN

No. 11 UTEP

No. 3 Southern Miss11 a.m., ASN

10 a.m.CBS Sports Network

12:30 p.m.CBS Sports Network

7 p.m.CBS Sports Network

SemifinalsFriday

ChampionshipSaturday

First-, second-round games at Bartow Arena, Birmingham, Ala.Semifinals, championship at Birmingham (Ala.) Jefferson Convention Complex

but when they go on the road, I’m watch-ing and they’re a totally different team. Old Dominion at home is unbeatable, and they go on the road and struggle. It’s going to be interesting. It’s going to be a team that gets hot. You’re going to have to have your bench play well.

“Whether you play three games in three days, or four games in four, you’ll have to have some different guys step up over that period.”

Louisiana Tech is the tournament favorite as the No. 1 seed. The Bulldogs won their first outright C-USA regular-season title since 1999.

They have a 29-game home winning streak, but they’ve shown some vulnerabil-ity away from Ruston, La.

The same goes for No. 3 seed Old Dominion, which has won 21 straight at home but lost five straight on the road at one point.

No. 2 seed UTEP and No. 4 UAB have advantages – like the Miners’ stars Vince Hunter and Julian Washburn, or the Blazers playing in their home city – but they’ve also shown in recent weeks they can be beaten at any time.

“The depth of the league is good,” said

Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis, whose Blue Raiders are seeded sixth behind WKU. “It’s just a really, really competitive league. It’s going to be a heck of a tournament.”

UTSA, North Texas, Rice, FIU, Charlotte and Marshall round out the 12-team field. Florida Atlantic was one of two C-USA teams that didn’t qualify, and Southern Miss self-imposed a postseason ban amid an NCAA investigation.

The tournament begins at noon Wednesday with first-round action. The first two rounds will be broadcast on the American Sports Network.

Friday’s semifinals will air on CBS Sports Network, and the championship game will air on FS1 at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Louisiana Tech was the No. 1 seed last year but lost to Tulsa in the final. The top four seeds reached the semis a year ago, but Old Dominion junior guard Trey Freeman said teams seeded 5-12 are just as dangerous this season.

“Anybody can beat anybody, so you have to show up,” Freeman said. “You have get up for every game. It’s not like you just get up for Louisiana Tech, the No. 1 seed. Every game, anybody can win – anybody. Everybody’s going to have to show up and play. It’ll be a dogfight every game.”

— Follow Assistant Sports Editor Zach Greenwell on Twitter at twitter.com/ zach_greenwell or visit bgdailynews.com.


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Toppers pulled away for a 72-61 victory.In other words, a top seed won’t guaran-

tee a cakewalk this week for coach Michelle Clark-Heard’s WKU team.

“Anything’s possible with anybody,” Heard said Saturday. “We’re going to have to be ready.”

The Lady Toppers won’t begin their tour-nament until 5 p.m. Thursday night in UAB’s Bartow Arena, when they’ll meet either No. 8 seed Charlotte or No. 9 seed Marshall in the quarterfinals.

WKU swept the 49ers in two meetings this season by an average of 11.5 points and the Thundering Herd by 14 points in both match-ups.

If the Lady Toppers take care of business Thursday, they’ll likely draw UTSA or Old Dominion in a semifinal to be played at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Legacy Arena.

Then could come a conference title game at 7 p.m. Saturday against archrival Middle Tennessee or Southern Miss – or someone unexpected.

There’s always potential for a Cinderella like home-standing No. 6 seed UAB or No. 7 seed Louisiana Tech, which upset Southern

Miss on Saturday, to make a deep run.Rounding out the field are No. 10 seed

FAU, 11-seed UTEP and 12-seed Rice.“I think it’s going to be a great tourna-

ment,” Consuegra said. “The one thing I’ll say about this league, obviously Western is the champion and deservedly so, but I think there’s a lot of teams that can beat people on any given night.”

An exciting tournament would be a good showcase for a league that Old Dominion coach Karen Barefoot said Saturday has improved in the past year.

As of Saturday, C-USA ranked 17th out of 33 Division-I conferences in league RPI. But league bottom-feeders FIU and North Texas were both left out of the event, trimming the fat somewhat for the tournament.

“I hope the whole country understands that Conference USA’s one of the best conferences,” Barefoot said. “If you look at what Western Kentucky has done, it’s amazing.

“You look at Southern Miss, Middle Tennessee, I think our program is going in the right direction – there are so many good programs in Conference USA. For me I am so looking forward to it.”

— Follow WKU women’s basketball beat writer Brad Stephens at twitter.com/ stephens_brad or visit bgdailynews.com.


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Men’s Conference USA Tournament: A look at the field1. Louisiana Tech24-17 overall, 15-3 C-USA

LOUISIANNAMIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS

Tournament outlook: The Bulldogs won their first outright regular-season ti-tle since 1999. They’ve won 29 straight home games, but can they stand tall on a neutral court?

2. UTEP21-9 overall, 13-5 C-USAUNIV. TEXAS at EL

Tournament outlook: The Min-ers’ recent loss at Southern Miss was a head-scratcher, but league standouts Vince Hunter and Julian Washburn will always give them a chance.

3. Old Dominion24-6 overall, 13-5 C-USA

THUNDERING HERDOLD DOMINION

Tournament outlook: ODU has won 21 straight at home but lost five straight on the road at one point. The Monarchs are riding high with a six-game winning streak.

4. UAB16-15 overall, 12-6 C-USA

Tournament outlook: The Blazers have the advantage of playing in their home city, but they went winless on the Florida road swing last week. Not much momentum there.

5. WKU19-11 overall, 12-6 C-USA

WESTERN KENTUCKYNORTH TEXAS MEAN GREEN

Tournament outlook: It seemed like the Tops had turned a corner, but a blowout loss at Old Dominion stymied that. They’ve been masters of the four-game tourney gauntlet.

6. Middle Tennessee16-15 overall, 9-9 C-USA

MIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS

Tournament outlook: The Blue Raiders are a young team without much experience with the tournament grind. They’re most dangerous when on a shooting hot streak.

7. UTSA14-15 overall, 8-10 C-USA

FLORIDA-INTERNA

Tournament outlook: The Roadrun-ners were dismal down the stretch, but they showed they’re capable of pulling off the big win with a home victory over Old Dominion last month.

8. North Texas14-16 overall, 8-10 C-USANORTH TEXAS MEAN GREEN

Tournament outlook: The Mean Green are a long, physical team that could cause matchup problems. They have some dynamic scorers and figure to be a tough out.

9. Rice11-19 overall, 8-10 C-USA

GOLDEN PANTHERS

Tournament outlook: The Owls came out of nowhere midway through the season to give some teams fits. Does this rebuilding squad have enough left in the tank to make a run?

10. FIU15-16 overall, 8-10 C-USA

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Tournament outlook: Adrian Diaz can be a game-changer, as evidenced by his triple-double Saturday in a win over UAB. They’ll need the center to play big to make any noise.

11. Charlotte14-17 overall, 7-11 C-USA

Tournament outlook: The 49ers are widely regarded as one of the league’s most talented teams, but they haven’t put it all together. If they do before their season closes, watch out.

12. Marshall11-20 overall, 7-11 C-USA

Tournament outlook: The young Thundering Herd seemed to turn a cor-ner late in the season, but most of their progress came at home. They might not be ready for this stage.

— Outlooks by Zach Greenwell, Daily News

Conference USA Tournament 2015Tuesday, March 10, 2015 11Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky

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Women’s Conference USA Tournament: A look at the field1. WKU27-4 overall, 16-2 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Lady Top-pers won the C-USA regular-season title. WKU features All-C-USA first-team selections Chastity Gooch and Alexis Govan.

2. Middle Tennessee20-8 overall, 14-4 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Blue Raiders beat Southern Miss 84-55 in last year’s C-USA championship game. All-C-USA first-team member Olivia Jones paces MTSU.

3. Southern Miss20-9 overall, 13-5 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Lady Eagles won all three games played against either WKU or MTSU. USM is led by All-C-USA first-team member Tamara Jones.

4. UTSA16-14 overall, 11-7 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Roadrunners upset then-No. 24 Western Kentucky 64-63 on Jan. 24 in San Antonio. Kamra King is the only UTSA player averaging double-figures scoring.

5. Old Dominion18-11 overall, 11-7 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Lady Mon-archs hung tight at Western Kentucky on Saturday before falling 71-62. ODU features All-C-USA first-team member Jennie Simms.

6. UAB17-12 overall, 11-7 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Blazers will have homecourt advantage this week in Birmingham. All-C-USA first-team member Janae Smith paces UAB.

7. Louisiana Tech15-14 overall, 10-8 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Lady Tech-sters are in their first year under coach Tyler Summitt. Louisiana Tech is led by All-C-USA first-team member Whitney Frazier.

8. Charlotte14-16 overall, 10-8 C-USA

Tournament outlook: 49ers will meet Western Kentucky in quarterfinals if they beat Marshall on Wednesday. Charlotte features All-C-USA second-team selection Lefty Webster.

9. Marshall16-13 overall, 8-10 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Thundering Herd will meet WKU in quarterfinals if they beat Charlotte on Wednesday. All-C-USA second-team member Chukwuka Ezeigbo leads Marshall.

10. Florida Atlantic13-16 overall, 7-11 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Owls were 4-10 this season away from home. FAU is led by All-C-USA first-team selection Shaneese Bailey and All-Freshman team member Malia Kency.

11. UTEP12-15 overall, 7-11 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Miners hosted last year’s tournament and are just 3-9 away from home this season. All-C-USA second-team member Came-asha Turner paces UTEP.

12. Rice9-20 overall, 4-14 C-USA

Tournament outlook: Owls got into the C-USA Tournament thanks to a win Saturday over UTEP and a North Texas loss to Texas-San Antonio. Christal Por-ter was an All-C-USA second-team pick.

— Outlooks by Brad Stephens, Daily News


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WKU basketball teams set sights on Conference USA titles...

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