Vandals avoid assumptions for tourney
Six other Big West Conference women’s basketball teams may be studying the blueprint for Idaho’s two victories over 10-time conference champion Santa Barbara, but the Vandals aren’t.
“We just do what we do,” UI coach Mike Divilbiss said. “The ball went in the hole. We played hard and played with some toughness. We’ve got a long way to go until we can think about Santa Barbara.”
The Big West Tournament opens today in Anaheim, Calif., with two games. Idaho plays at noon on Thursday against the lowest seed that survives the first day. The Vandals would have a semifinal game on Friday before possibly facing UCSB in the championship, televised on Fox, at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Their 20-point win at Santa Barbara and eight-point win in Moscow have no bearing on the Vandals’ mindset entering the tournament.
“I don’t think it’s a factor and we don’t think about it that way,” Big West scoring champion Emily Faurholt of Idaho said. “We are going into this tournament knowing we are a good team, and when we lay it out on the floor we can play with or beat anyone. We are excited and hope we get to play Santa Barbara, because those are great games and everyone wants to be part of them.”
That the Vandals could play one of three different teams – No. 8 Fullerton (8-19), No. 7 Irvine (7-20) or No. 6 Utah State (14-13) – in their opener is another thing that doesn’t concern Divilbiss.
“Our basketball team is about our basketball team,” he said “Our biggest opponent sometimes has been ourselves. If we come and play with great toughness and great fire and great aggression, we’re a pretty good basketball team. It’s taken some great efforts to beat us and teams have made those efforts.”
Idaho is the only team to have beaten everyone in the conference, but it has also lost to No. 8 Fullerton at home and ninth-place Cal Poly.
“It’s been a good year,” Divilbiss said. “Right now, we are a little disappointed because clearly we lost some games we shouldn’t have lost. But when we look back at the whole picture of what we have accomplished, with the schedule we have played, this season has been very rewarding.
“Our margin of error is so slim. That’s part of being in an early building process with your program. We rely quite a bit on two, three kids to do a lot for us. Every year we’ll get a little bit deeper and old – more mature.”
Four Idaho starters average between 34 and 38.1 minutes a game and the fifth is at 28.3. Two reserves average 10.5 and 11.4.
“We’re a lot stronger physically than we were last year at this time,” Divilbiss said. “If we get the opportunity to play three games, the kids will be a lot better able to handle it.”
A year ago, when UI split with Santa Barbara during the regular season, the Vandals went into the tournament as the No. 2 seed. They beat Pacific but lost in the finals to UCSB.