Arizona women’s basketball might not have the seed they expected, but it’s the time of year when you have to win the games no matter who sits on the other side of the court. How can fans follow the seventh-seeded Wildcats as they travel to face No. 10 seed West Virginia?
No. 10 West Virginia Mountaineers (19-11, 10-8 Big 12) vs No. 7 Arizona Wildcats (21-9, 11-7 Pac-12)
When: Friday, Mar. 17, 2023 at 9 a.m. MST
Where: Xfinity Center in College Park, Md.
TV: ESPN
Streaming: Watch ESPN
Rankings and ratings: Arizona is ranked No. 25 by the Associated Press in the poll released on Monday. The WBCA/USA Today poll has the Wildcats at No. 23. West Virginia is not ranked in either poll.
The Massey Ratings have Arizona at No. 23. The NET places the Wildcats at No. 27. Her Hoop Stats have them at No. 34.
WVU is No. 48 according to Massey, No. 60 according to the NET, and No. 87 according to HHS.
Probabilities and odds: Massey gives Arizona a 69 percent win probability against West -Virginia on a neutral court. The Massey Ratings project the most likely score to be 68-61 in the Wildcats’ favor.
Her Hoop Stats gives Arizona an even better chance, favoring the Wildcats with a 76.4 percent win probability on a neutral court. The stats service gives Arizona a high win probability no matter where the game is played. The neutral-court score is projected to be about the same as Massey’s projection at 69.0-60.8 in Arizona’s favor. The point total is projected to be 129.8 points.
DraftKings gives Arizona the fifth-best odds to win the Greenville 1 Region. Both the Wildcats and fellow Pac-12 team UCLA are at +4000. Top overall seed South Carolina is heavily favored to win the region. Behind the Gamecocks are Maryland (+1100), Notre Dame (+1200), and Creighton (+3500). West Virginia is tied for the worst odds with four other teams at +1,000,000.
The Wildcats are tied with eight other teams at +10,000 with the 18th-best odds to win the national title.
The odds for the game between the Wildcats and Mountaineers are not yet available.
Travel distance: All of the projections and ratings point in one direction, but there is something WVU has going for it. The Mountaineers definitely have the advantage in travel. The committee did No. 7 seed Arizona no favors when it comes to being anywhere near home. The Wildcats will be 2,296 miles from Tucson. That’s a 34-hour drive if Google is to be believed. The 10th-seeded Mountaineers were placed less than 3.5 hours by car from Morgantown.
Adia Barnes says: “[Dawn Plitzuweit is] a really good coach. I remember watching her last year when we played at the Pentagon. She was coaching South Dakota. They were very good. Really hard. Very good coach. Really experienced. Probably going to face five out with both those teams, so I think it’s really good preparation for us. And I think our nonconference has us prepared because a lot of mid-major teams you face early play that similar style.”
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