The Kansas women’s basketball team’s season came to an end on Monday night, when the Jayhawks lost to Big 12-foe BYU in the semifinals of the WBIT tournament in Wichita.
Like their season, the loss was a grind, full of twists and turns, ups and downs, memorable moments and head scratchers.
In the end, the Jayhawks (22-14) came up one play short and fell 70-67.
While the game likely will be quickly forgotten, it’s important to note that the end of the season came four games later than it could’ve.
I know, I know. Big whoop, right?
In the big picture, it might be. I know no one’s going to look back and celebrate this season or the WBIT run as some great success story. Nor should they. But given the way the season played out — with injuries, bad breaks and difficulty playing with a full roster plaguing this team for most of the way — and the fact that, just last week, KU coach Brandon Schneider said his team was still getting better, it seems like things ended on a relatively high note.
Next year has to be better. And, because of this experience, it very well may.
A few years back, when Schneider’s Jayhawks made their run to win the WNIT after a similarly disappointing end to the season and Selection Sunday, they talked about the tourney title being important fuel for what came next.
The slight. The chemistry. The run. The winning. All of it mattered.
With this group, the same certainly could be true.
Although the transfer portal and graduation will certainly be a hit, — KU is definitely losing senior contributors/starters Lilly Meister, Sania Copeland and Elle Evans — the Jayhawks return a super-strong core from its rotation in senior-to-be S’Mya Nichols, returning freshmen Jaliya Davis and Libby Fandel and key role players/reserves Regan Williams, Laia Conesa and Brittany Harshaw.
That group alone, regardless of the comings and goings elsewhere on the roster, will make KU one of the more experienced teams in the Big 12. And it should be a driven group, too.
The freshmen know what this is all about now. The veterans know this season was unacceptable. And the desire to get back to the Big Dance and see what kind of run they can make should be at least as high as it was for that 2023-24 team, which used that WNIT run to return to the NCAA Tournament the following season as a No. 8 seed that won a game and gave top-seeded USC a game into the fourth quarter in Round 2.
Time will tell how it all plays out, but the table is set.
