It's March, and West Virginia women's basketball is back in The Big Dance once again.
The Mountaineers will look to improve last season's performance in the tournament, where they rode the momentum of a strong regular season a a Round of 64 win before falling short in a tightly-contested battle with superstar Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
No. 6-seed WVU is set to tipoff on Saturday against No. 11-seed Columbia from Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina -- Columbia earned a come-from-behind victory against Washington in the First Four to secure the game against the Mountaineers.
It will be the second consecutive season WVU faces an Ivy League team in the NCAA Tournament after battling Princeton in the opening round last year. The action will start at 2 P.M. EST, and will be televised on ESPNEWS and radio coverage can be found on the Varsity Network App.
As the Mountaineers prepare for their first game, let's take a look at why they're set up perfectly to make an NCAA Tournament run, become the first WVU program to advance to the Sweet 16, and earn their place in history as a March Madness darling.
The Luck of the Draw
WVU ran into a pretty poor draw in the tournament last season, running into Clark and Iowa in the Round of 32. This year, things are a bit more favorable.
The Mountaineers are settled in the Birmingham 2 Region, which most fans and pundits have identified as the easiest overall bracket. WVU gets a Columbia squad on already weak legs following their First Four game, and if the Opening Round in Chapel Hill goes as the chalk suggests, the Mountaineers will be facing a No. 3-seed UNC that they're actually ranked higher than in the NET.
Things get tougher with a potential Duke matchup waiting in the Sweet 16, but WVU and Duke have both lost seven games apiece this season and are only separated by five spots in the NET -- both are Top 12 teams.
But if WVU can pull off a miraculous run to the Elite Eight, the luck of the draw runs out -- defending champions South Carolina, the No. 2-ranked team in the NET, in the No. 1-seed on the other side of the region.
The Splash Sisters
J.J. Quinerly and Jordan Harrison provide the Mountaineers with one of the most dynamic backcourt duos in college basketball.
Quinerly is an AP All-America Honorable Mention selection that averages over 20 points per game, and Harrison averages 13 points per game. Both players are multi-time All-Big 12 honorees, and combined for 86 made three-point buckets this season.
Once "The Splash Sisters" get in a scoring groove during a game, things can deteriorate quickly for opposing teams. It's not unlikely you could see them combine for 50-plus points alone in one or two games this March, and when they're in the zone, it's hard to beat the Mountaineers.
Elite Defense
The old adage that "defense wins championships" is a bit of a cliche, but does held relatively true.
The Mountaineers have plenty of defense to go around for their opponents. The Mountaineers have three of the top five players in steals per game in the Big 12, all averaging over two steals per game. WVU has forced 15-or-more turnovers 63 times the last two seasons and has notched 20-or-more turnovers in 22 games this season -- they sit third in the nation in turnovers forced.
WVU also ranks second in the nation with 13.6 steals per game, and were easily the best defense in the Big 12 this past season. The Mountaineers paced the conference in scoring defense (54.4), steals (411), turnovers forced (708) and turnover margin (+8.76).