West Virginia’s JJ Quinerly drives with the ball during a Big 12 Conference women’s basketball game against Baylor on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Morgantown.
West Virginia’s JJ Quinerly drives with the ball during a Big 12 Conference women’s basketball game against Baylor on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Morgantown.
MORGANTOWN — A year ago West Virginia’s women’s basketball team, under its third coach in three years in Mark Kellogg, came out of nowhere and became a factor in Big 12 and national play.
As they now have begun practicing for a new season, the Mountaineers realize it’s a new year, a time to set new goals and to see if they can’t keep the momentum they had last year, when they fought hard in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Caitlin Clark and Iowa on the Hawkeyes’ home court in a season-ending loss.
Kellogg had no hesitation in defining WVU’s ultimate goal after a 25-8 record in 2024 as he met with the media following the Mountaineers’ first official practice.
“We want to go down as the best team that has ever played here in women’s basketball,†he said.
He wasn’t putting a time limit on it, wasn’t saying WVU is ready right now, but he did say they are better than last season and that people watching women’s basketball understand it.
“I think the goals and expectations, at least early, not necessarily within the program but outside it, are a little different than they were a year ago,†he said.
“A year makes a big difference, no question, especially in familiarity and routine and understanding what’s going on inside the program. We’re definitely in a good place and certainly are ahead of where we were at this time a year ago.â€
WVU returns four of its five starters, led by JJ Quinerly and Jordan Harrison, and six of its top eight scorers. Kellogg said more than 70% of the Mountaineers’ points return, and, with a highly regarded recruiting class with a mix of transfers and high school recruits and the addition of some talented inside players, they figure to have depth and height that last year’s team lacked.
With the continuity of coach and players returning, they start far advanced from where they were a season ago.
“I like the chip-on-your-shoulder attitude, for lack of a better word,†Kellogg said. “I think it’s part of West Virginia in the past; it’s the way the state is looked at. I don’t want to lose that.â€
But to push the idea that what they accomplished last year wasn’t enough is difficult.
“Now that expectations are higher ... we can’t shy away from that,†Kellogg said.
WVU will go on a retreat this weekend to set the goals for the coming season, Kellogg said, an important moment as the Mountaineers create the identity they will carry into the new season.
WVU’s hard-ribbed defensive play caught the Big 12’s attention last year.
“There’s a thought from those coaches that we’re going to be pretty talented,†Kellogg said. “We have these returners. Some coaches are going to vote for us [in the preseason poll]. And they say, ‘When you get that one little first-place vote, I want you to know it’s coming from me.’ It’s coachspeak, you know.â€
But it is also respect that he wants to turn into a challenge.
“I think we have earned that right, but at the same time, we haven’t achieved that level we want to achieve in our program,†Kellogg said. “We want to get to the Sweet 16 and further. I don’t think we’ve ever won two games in the NCAA tournament. We went to a Sweet 16, but it was one win to get there.â€
And right there is where he first made the statement that the ultimate goal was to be WVU’s best team ever.
“We’re OK talking like that but, at the same time, we want to keep that chip on our shoulder and understand it’s a lot to ask. If we want to be great, we better do something special every day and be better than a year ago,†he said.
He knows that getting that respect was tough, but going past that area is even more difficult.
“It’s really, really hard to get there ... but I think it’s harder to stay. I know when you are climbing the mountain, that’s really, really hard, but staying up there is even more difficult,†he said. “But you have to get there first. I know last year the climb was difficult. I don’t know that we’re at the top, but we’re at a better spot up the mountain now.â€
