by Keith Kelley–14 Dec ’23
The Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team has scheduled very tough this non-conference. Games at home with Nebraska, BYU and Creighton, along with road games at Gonzaga and Oklahoma State, have challenged this team. But, they scheduled that way for a reason. Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez wants the entire league to schedule tougher, so they can strengthen this league, and get more teams to the NCAA Tournament. Last year, had the Cowgirls won the Mountain West Tourney, it wasn’t assured that UNLV would get in. Ezell says Commissioner Nevarez has sent the message.
“She (Commissioner Nevarez) really was getting on us to make sure we’re scheduling a little bit tougher, just to get our name out there.” Ezell added, “You’re starting to see that change a little bit with the non-conference schedule that everybody is putting together, and that’s the plan. We want to get back to that two-bid league. I think we were all a little on edge last year, where if we would have beat UNLV in the (Mountain West) championship game, they (UNLV) don’t know if they would’ve got in. We don’t want to be in that case, we want to be able to get two teams in, if possible.”
Two teams are unbeaten in Mountain West women’s basketball, as UNLV is 9-0 and ranked 23rd in the country, and Colorado State is 8-0.
Wyoming is 4-4, but still has a relatively strong NET ranking, with the schedule they have. The Cowgirls are at Montana State Sunday afternoon at 12 pm.
