WKU Year’s Resolutions For 2018
2017 was a hit and miss year for WKU athletically.
2017 was a hit and miss year for WKU athletically.
The volleyball and women’s basketball programs both continued their recent string of tremendous success, the men’s basketball squad controlled a lot of the WKU conversation for a majority of the year (for better or for worse) and looks to be on their way to becoming prominent once again but baseball continued to struggle, football took a huge step backward in the first year of the Mike Sanford era and soccer and softball continue to tread water in C-USA.
Basically, it’s a mixed bag for WKU.
So, with the new year upon us, let’s make some resolutions for each sport as we look forward to a tremendous 2018 for the Red Towel Waivers.
Volleyball: Make it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament
There’s very little to dislike about the last, oh I don’t know, decade of WKU volleyball. They’ve yet to miss out on a C-USA championship since joining the league, they took down another Top 25 team this year, and they took a Top 5 team down to the wire in the NCAA tournament on their home floor.
But, the Lady Toppers have yet to make it to the second weekend of the national tournament. As dominant as they’ve been in the regular season, they can’t get it to translate in the post season.
Another year like this year, and another favorable draw, could be the recipe for success unlike we’ve ever seen for Travis Hudson’s side.
Soccer: Score
Lady Toppers FC only won seven matches this year, with a majority of that due to the lack of goal scoring. In 17 games this year, WKU scored one goal or fewer twelve times, including a streak of seven matches in a row where they dropped five 1–0 decisions, a 2–0 decision and tied 0–0.
Long story short, the fire power just wasn’t there this year, and a successful 2018 will see the ball in the back of the net more often.
Baseball: Win 20 Games, Log A Winning Home Record
We haven’t talked about it on this site before (and, if you’re interested in joining our team to write about the baseball program, hit us up) but it literally pains me how far, fast and hard the baseball program has fallen off the map.
You have to go back to the 2014 season to find a winning record for Topper baseball, and even that team logged a 29–28 record, split the conference season down the middle, and were a putrid 8–17 away from Nick Denes Field.
I’m not asking for an overnight overhaul of the program (although that would be nice), but going 16–39 last year was, for lack of a better term, embarrassing. Not to mention, this year’s schedule is ruthless: Series against Memphis and West Virginia, plus the yearly matchups against Louisville and Kentucky, coupled with the fact that baseball might just be C-USA’s strongest sport and you’ve got yourself a grind of a spring.
20 wins overall, and finishing above .500 at the Nick, will be nice set pieces if this program is going to turn around.
Women’s Basketball: Keep On Keepin’ On
Arguably, Michelle Clark-Heard’s program is the most consistent on the Hill (although Travis Hudson as something to say about that), and there really isn’t a whole lot you’d like to see different in 2018. If I had to pick one, it’d be to echo the sentiment from Volleyball and say “advance in the NCAA tournament.”
But, as long as the Lady Toppers continue to dominate, pick up wins against P5 schools, and win C-USA ‘ships, there’s not a lot more you can hope to resolve.
Men’s Basketball: Keep On Keepin’ On
For Rick Stansbury’s squad, the resolution is the same but the sentiment behind it is different.
This season has already been one of the more fun and entertaining seasons we’ve seen from the program in quite sometime, and if there’s one thing we hope 2018 brings, it’s more of the same.
Stansbury has the Tops trending back to the program that the history shows it is, and for next year to be successful, it has to continue — playing better opposition tough, win on the recruiting trail, and become the power the C-USA brought you into the league to be.
Football: Back To The Brohmsquad
Yes, I’m well aware Jeff Brohm isn’t walking through the door of the Houch to fix everything.
And I’m also aware that a Mike Sanford dream offense is essentially the exact opposite of the Brohm offense. Sanford wants to ground and pound teams into oblivion instead of gas them with an all-out ariel assault. And that’s fine.
But the Brohmsquad is more than a style of play: It’s a mindset. The Brohmsquad knew when they walked onto the field that they were going to beat you, and even if they weren’t, it was going to take the oppositions absolute best to do so.
That…wasn’t the case this year. WKU struggled to win winnable games (EKU, Ball State), didn’t close games out that would have been big wins for a first-year coaching staff (La Tech, FAU) and, at times, felt like they just rolled over when things started to go south (FIU, Georgia State).
This team — after seeing their body language at the Cure Bowl — needs to re-enter that championship mindset. It’s just one-year removed from a C-USA title. One 6–7 season doesn’t (or, rather, shouldn’t) derail a program.
There’s reason for optimism for next year for the Chrome Domes next year, but the first couple of games will tell us a lot about what type of mentality this program now has.
Softball: Continue To Grow
Remember the whole “Win 20 Games” resolution for the baseball team? Well, Amy Tudor’s softball squad kind of did that over the last two years.
In the first post-Miranda Kramer year, the Lady Tops went 17–30 and just 2–10 on the road.
But, they bounced back last year to a competitive and respectable 31–31 before making some noise in the Conference Tournament before being bounced in the double-elimination bracket.
The early season schedule sets up nice for the Lady Tops to gain some momentum before conference play starts (and a couple of matchups against bigger-named teams are sprinkled in there).
Long story short — WKU softball is on the right track, and there’s a lot to be optimistic for for 2018.
