In an era of college sports that often demands instant gratification, Tina Langley’s tenure as UW WBB coach has been a slow, steady climb from the bottom of the conference to national competitiveness. Friday’s first-round matchup with South Dakota State in the NCAA Tournament is another important milestone for Langley and the Dawgs as they have the opportunity to notch the school’s first March Madness victory since Kelsey Plum and Mike Neighbors had UW the Final Four and Sweet 16 in 2016-2017.
Langley took over a team that went 7-14 (3-13) in a covid-shortened 2021 season. The team improved in her first year, especially on defense, but the overall record did not reflect a great leap (7-16, 2-12). From that point, Langley’s Dawgs have won 19, 16, 19, and 21 games each season, ascending to their first winning record in conference at 10-8 in an excellent Big 10 group this year. They reached #20 in the AP poll, which is the highest UW has been since Plum. While they made the First Four of the NCAA Tournament last year, Friday’s game will be the first one in the actual field of 64.
UW’s opponent also comes into the game with a lot of history. SDSU has been in the tournament four years in a row and 14 times since joining Division 1 in 2004-2005. Head Coach Aaron Johnston is an institution for the Jackrabbits. He came to the school as a 23 year-old graduate assistant in 1997. He joined the staff as an assistant for the 1999-2000 season, but by the end of it, he was the interim head coach. He took over the regular job the next year and has never had a losing record overall or in conference. The Jacks won the D-II National Title in 2003, moved up to D-I in 2005, and have been a Summit League superpower ever since.
After five straight years winning or tied for the conference title (and exactly 1 cumulative Summit loss), SDSU actually finished behind rival North Dakota State in the regular season this year. They split the regular season series with the Bison, but stifled the offense in the conference tournament final to secure this bid. NDSU narrowly missed an at-large bid and earned the top seed in the Women’s CBT instead. SDSU ranks 52nd nationally in Bart Torvik’s efficiency ratings- 42nd in offense and 82nd in defense. While the Huskies went a very solid 8-9 against teams that made the Tournament, SDSU played only 3 such games, going 0-3. It might be slightly unfair to judge SDSU on that metric because those three teams are 18th or better nationally in efficiency. SDSU didn’t play a single team between 19-52 in the efficiency ratings and the vast majority of their schedule was outside the top 100. At 19, UW is considerably better than any team the Jacks have beaten, but they haven’t had a lot of bites at that apple.
SDSU is led statistically and stylistically by dominant interior presence Brooklyn Meyer. She averages 22.4 PPG and 8 RPG on 64.6% shooting. Her interior presence defines how the Jacks play. They are 9th in efficient FG%, fueled by ranking 3rd in 2pt%. They play slowly, take care of the ball, and try to get close to the rim. It’s an old-school style, but it’s effective if you have a player like Meyer. Her sidekick is fellow senior Madison Mathiowetz, a lanky wing who averages 13.6 PPG and shoots 40% on over 4 attempts per game from outside. It’s not exactly Shaq and Kobe, but there are echoes of the scoring big who can collapse the defense and kick it out to a wing who can shoot or get to the rim.
Washington matchups up fairly well with this style. Brynn McGaughy does not have Meyer’s years of experience, but she offers size and skill to negate some of the advantage. Yulia Grabovskaia can also play in the post to counter Meyer if McGaughy gets in foul trouble. The Huskies will have to be ready to play early in the day. They travel to Forth Worth for the matchup, which tips off at 11:30 Seattle time. The Dawgs are favored by 5.5 points on the betting markets. Bart Torvik’s numbers say the Huskies are about 9 points better than the Jacks. Either way, UW will be the favorite, but not a prohibitive one. It should be a good game, and a great opportunity for Langley and her team to take another big step forward.
Go Dawgs!
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