For Jon Newlee and his Idaho women’s basketball team, any remaining memories of the Connolly Center are likely not fond ones. It’s where Newlee and the Vandals witnessed, firsthand, their WAC nemesis capture the regular season conference title and complete a season sweep of Idaho last year.
The dagger was a last-ditch jumper by the Redhawks’ Ashley Ward with 1.2 seconds remaining.
Idaho, riding a seven-game win streak that has the Vandals undefeated in WAC play, returns to one of their least favorite gyms Saturday to seek redemption from the Redhawks.
Revenge is sweet, yet what may be the overlooked with this game is an opportunity for Idaho to all but lock up the regular season title.
Here’s how it would break down.
The Vandals, unscathed thus far in the the conference, are 7-0. With a loss Saturday, the Redhawks would be a three-loss team.
Meanwhile, Bakersfield and Texas-Pan American check in with two losses each behind the Vandals. Idaho beat both the Roadrunners and Broncs by double digits in games earlier this season — the chances of a loss at UTPA would be much more likely than a home loss against Bakersfield.
So, while a win Saturday wouldn’t necessarily wrap things up as far as a No. 1 seed goes, it’s also safe to assume that the Vandals haven’t looked like a team that could collapse anytime. Idaho has steamrolled its conference opponents, with the exception of UTPA and Grand Canyon, now a four-loss team in conference.
Going undefeated would be spectacle in itself, yet the way this conference is panning out, it seems that even a two-loss Idaho team could be safe. And picking out two losses on the remaining schedule is as hard a task as any.
At this point, the only teams emerging capable of handing the Vandals their first conference loss seem to be Grand Canyon, UTPA and Seattle.
Now, employing the transitive property is ill-advised in most situations, but gauging the talent of the 2013-14 Redhawks, the conference losses are eye-opening.
Seattle fell victim to a 12-point loss at Missouri-Kansas City’s Swinney Recreation Center, the same venue where Idaho would stomp the Kangaroos in an 81-64 rout. The Redhawks got their act together in hurry, then lost it again two games later — this time at CSUB’s Icardo Center where Idaho dropped 96 points on the ‘Runners in a 27-point blowout.
Seattle’s first conference loss was as shocking as the next, but again, the transitive property has its flaws.
The Redhawks shut down Grand Canyon in an 89-68 decision Jan. 25 at the Connolly Center. The Vandals narrowly escaped their own Cowan Spectrum with a four-point victory over the Antelopes.
So while Idaho still appears to be the obvious No. 1, expect the Redhawks to be chomping at the bit to make it regular season win No. 3 over the Vandals.
This game, more than any other in the WAC this season, will indicate one of two things: how much of a gap there is between Idaho and the rest of the pack, or why we should pay close attention to the second half of the conference season.
Theo Lawson can be reached at arg-sports@uidaho.edu