Murray State up to #50 in NET rankings
WBB: It's the highest ranking in program history
After beating Evansville on Sunday, Murray State’s women woke up Monday to find they were ranked #50 in the latest NCAA NET rankings, which is the highest ranking in program history. The NET rankings are one of the main metrics used to determine the NCAA Tournament field and help decide where those teams will be seeded.
Murray State is 14-4 overall, and off to their best 18-game start in 36 years. Tied for the Missouri Valley Conference lead with Belmont with a conference record of 8-1, the Racers have certainly put themselves in a position to contend for a Valley championship. Today’s NET ranking is now allowing Murray State Head Coach Rechelle Turner the opportunity to dream a little bigger when it comes to the ceiling for her team this season.
“That's actually pretty exciting to get to that number,” Turner said. “We want to go the NCAA Tournament, and we control our own destiny on that. The Missouri Valley women haven't had two teams in (the NCAA Tournament) in a long time. If you can get below 50 in the NET, and you can finish strong, and you can have some quality wins towards the end, and you can get to the championship game in the tournament, there's a chance we might get two in. We owe it to ourselves and we owe it to our league to try to do everything we can do to keep that number as low as possible.”
Five Missouri Valley schools are ranked in the Top 100 in the NET as of Monday morning: Murray State (#50), Belmont (#56), Missouri State (#64), Drake (#83) and Northern Iowa (#90). The Racers will travel to Belmont on Saturday afternoon.
Jeff, I definitely see what you mean about looking at the fans in the background… it’s a very telling statement.