The women’s basketball coach has led WVU to its highest ranking, best start to a season and second-longest winning streak. Mike Carey’s Mountaineers are viable participants in the Big East and national championship pursuits. It’s a new and exciting time for the program, but, truth be told, Carey knows a thing or two about these things.

He’s walked that aisle before as the men’s coach at Salem College, where things were serviceably similar, but also distinctly different.

“I think this is on a bigger level,” he said Monday before the team departed for Milwaukee and today’s 8 p.m. game against Marquette (13-3, 1-2 Big East). “I probably feel more pressure, with this being Division I and the Big East, than I did at Division II on the men’s side. We were pretty consistent winning the league there and pretty consistent being ranked there.”