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With A New Season Just Around the Corner, WKU Basketball Teams Optimistic

Megan Stearman/WKU Athletics

Credit Megan Stearman/WKU Athletics
Men's basketball coach Ray Harper previews the upcoming season with reporters on Tuesday.

WKU women’s basketball team is eyeing a return trip to the NCAA tournament.  Last spring, the team made its first appearance in “The Big Dance” since 2008. 

Head coach Michelle Clark-Heard took questions Tuesday during basketball media day. She says the team will be tested early with a season-opening WNIT appearance and then a trip to Louisville.

“I can’t look into the crystal ball and tell you what our record will be or how many wins we’ll get,” said Clark-Heard.  “But, I can tell you one thing and I can promise you. We’re going to play as hard and we’re going to compete and we’re going to have a chance to be in the ballgame the last five minutes.  When we do that, I think we’ll have the opportunity to get the girls in the position to have a chance to win.”

In March, the WKU women lost to Baylor 87-74 in the first round of the NCAA tournament

Both WKU basketball teams were beset by key injuries last season.

Men’s basketball coach Ray Harper also met with the media Tuesday.  His team opens the season November 15th against Austin Peay.
“I’ve seen preseason polls where we were picked seventh. I’ve seen fifth. I think the coach’s poll – they just released the Top 4 and we weren’t in there,” said Harper.  “But again, it’s not about where you’re picked at the beginning of the season and what people think you’re going to be.  It’s about what you do over the course of the season and what you do between the lines.”

The men’s team enters its first season in Conference USA following a 20-12 season last year. The Toppers lost by one point to Louisiana-Lafayette in the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

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