Mike Carey’s done a ton to and for WVU’s women’s basketball program and this is the eighth trip to the NCAA Tournament in 11 seasons. I want you to think about that and remember that the Mountaineers once lost 50 in a row to ranked teams, a span that began well before Carey arrived, but extended into his stay.

Tonight, on the road, as the underdog, Carey’s best team aims at his first Sweet Sixteen appearance.

“My philosophy is if you can get to that point, eventually you hopefully win one,” Carey said. “If you keep knocking on the door, hopefully it’s going to open up for you a little bit. Our teams have done a great job to get to this point, and we need to take the next step.”

The prospect of matching up with LSU in the second round was a point of contention for the Mountaineers when the NCAA pairings were announced over a week ago.

As a No. 2 seed, Carey and his team believed they deserved more respect from the Selection Committee, which sent them to Baton Rouge despite WVU’s winning a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship and reaching as high as No. 5 in the national rankings.

The Mountaineers would have needed No. 10 seed Georgia Tech to beat LSU in Sunday’s opening round for WVU to avoid facing an NCAA tournament foe on its home floor with a Sweet 16 berth on the line.

There was no such luck, as the Lady Tigers ripped the Yellow Jackets 98-78 to advance.

“We don’t get the respect that we should get, and we just have to go out there and prove it every game,” WVU center Asya Bussie said. “I think this whole season we have had to prove people wrong and just show that we are a good team, that we deserve to be a 2 seed.”