KANSAS CITY — Since arriving in the Big 12 Conference more than two years ago, the BYU women’s basketball program has found itself squarely in the bottom half of the ultra-competitive conference.
The Cougars are projected to finish there again this season — BYU is pegged to finish 10th in the conference in the league’s coaches preseason poll.
Even if things look like the status quo from the outside, there are reasons for optimism internally.
For one, Big 12 Freshman of the Year Delaney Gibb is back for her sophomore season and was a unanimous pick for this year’s preseason All-Big 12 team.
The Cougars are under new leadership as well — longtime assistant coach Lee Cummard has assumed head-coaching duties after Amber Whiting led the program the past three seasons.
The first-year head coach has tangible aspirations that could show building blocks for progress, ones that he shared during Big 12 basketball media day Tuesday at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
“Next step for us is pretty much (we) haven’t done anything in the league in the first two years. We’ve been in a lot of close games,” Cummard said during a breakout session. “We’ve upset a few ranked opponents, but we’ve never won a game in the conference tournament.
“We’ve never finished in the top half of the league. And so, I mean, there’s just two right there that we want to strive for daily.
“We want to be playing late into the conference tournament and go to the NCAA Tournament as a member of the Big 12.”
And, as BYU pointed out multiple times during the media event, the Cougars were close in several games last year.
BYU had six losses by five points or less in the 2024-25 season, all during conference play. There’s hope that, through experience, the Cougars can start turning some of those close losses into wins.
“I think experience is going to help us a lot. We had, I don’t even know the number, seven games where we could have easily won, within five (points),” Gibb said. “I think honestly closing out games, learning how to finish games, learning how to win games, as soon as we can figure that out — and as you know that comes with confidence and that comes with experience — we’re going to be in great shape.
“We have such hard workers and practices are going great, and (we’ve got to) just to keep improving, keep gaining confidence in ourselves and our teammates and our coaches.”
If BYU can take steps toward those success markers this season, there’s a confidence that greater success could be headed their way in the future.
“We’ve talked a lot about within our team, we want to finish in the top half of the Big 12 and make it to the NCAA Tournament,” sophomore Brinley Cannon said.
“I think just keep leveling up and keep competing in those Big 12 games. Like Delaney said, there’s so much talent in the Big 12 and any game can go any way. It’s just about showing up and competing every game and fighting to win.”
