Colorado Mesa women's basketball will open the season up this weekend with a pair of games against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foes. On Friday, they will take on the Colorado Christian Cougars at 5:30pm before a tilt with MSU Denver on Saturday at 5:30pm. Both matchups will take place in Brownson Arena.
 
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN
The Mavericks finished off last season with a 26-5 mark and qualified for their second straight NCAA Tournament. They were in Lubbock, Texas for the regional tournament when they received word that the NCAA had canceled all tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
They had won three straight games heading into the regional and were coming off their second straight RMAC Tournament Championship after defeating Westminster 60-48 on March 7. The two teams were scheduled to have a rematch in the opening round of the regional.
 
PRESEASON RANKINGS
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference coaches think the Mavericks will win their third straight conference championship according to the coach's poll that was released a couple weeks ago. Colorado Mesa garnered 14 first-place votes and totaled 189 points in the poll, 10 more than second-place Western Colorado.
 
The Mavericks are also ranked fourth in the preseason South Central Region D2SIDA poll. Lubbock Christian was selected first followed by Texas A&M-Commerce and West Texas A&M. Colorado Mesa was the first of four RMAC schools in the rankings followed by Western Colorado (5^th), Westminster (6^th), and Colorado School of Mines (8^th).
 
HOME SWEET HOME
Colorado Mesa has had an undisputable home court advantage since head coach Taylor Wagner took over for the 2012-13 season. Since then, the Mavericks are 114-10 (.919) at Brownson Arena and have claimed four RMAC Tournament titles and a NCAA South Central Region title at home during that span.
 
In 2012-13, the Mavericks were a perfect 19-0 at home and won both the RMAC Tournament title and the NCAA South Central Region title during the season. That was one of two undefeated home seasons during the eight-year stretch.
 
They have never finished worse than 10-3 at home in that same span.
 
SENIOR HEAVY
This year's roster is made up of eight seniors, a junior, a redshirt sophomore and three freshmen. Of the eight seniors, six have been with the program since their freshman season and most will be with the team next year as well with the NCAA waiver.
 
RETURNING MVP
Senior Kylyn Rigsby was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player after her play in the three games of the tournament. She averaged 20.6 points per game during the tournament up from her 11.4 average for the season. She scored a season-high 26 points in the Mavericks win over MSU Denver in the opening round of the tournament.
 
ALL AMERICAN
Colorado Mesa returns honorable mention all-American Daniella Turner for her senior season. Turner came off the bench during the 2019-20 season and produced 15.8 points and 2.9 rebounds a night. She scored a career-high 29 points in the Mavericks win over Colorado School of Mines on December 7.
 
HEAD MAN
Head coach Taylor Wagner enters his ninth season as the head of the women's basketball program. He has led the program to five RMAC regular season championships and five NCAA South Central Region Tournaments. The Mavericks won the regional tournament in his first season (2012-13) sending the program to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time.
 
In three of the five regional tournaments, the Mavericks have made it past the first round and have accrued a NCAA Tournament record of 6-4 during the Wagner era.
 
MILESTONE HUNTING
Colorado Mesa will be looking to give head coach Taylor Wagner his 200^th win as a Maverick. He currently sits at 194-46 in his eight years and includes a 144-32 record in RMAC competitions.
 
In his time, he has led the Mavericks to a 30-win season twice and have had four 20-win seasons.
 
FREE YEAR
With uncertainty rampant during the college basketball season this year, the NCAA granted all winter sports student athletes (Basketball, Wrestling, Indoor Track, Swimming & Diving) an extra year of eligibility similar to what took place during the fall season with football, volleyball, soccer and cross country.
 
What does that mean to the Mavericks women's basketball team? All eight seniors could return for a fifth year of eligibility if they would like to.
 
THE RMAC
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference will look a little different this year in terms of the standings. With every team not able to play the same amount of games this year, the conference decided to implement the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) or Performance Indicator (PI) to determine the standings this year.
 
Here is a quick rundown of how the RPI or PI works:

• Teams will earn points based on their opponent and whether they win or lose each week. The better the opponent the more points you earn whether you win or lose.
• The breaks for opponents occur at .250, .500 and .750 winning percentages and can change all year long.
• Once a team has their points, they will be divided by the number of games that have been played this year to get their RPI or PI number.
• The highest RPI or PI will be the conference champion.

 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Mavericks will be on the road for the next two weekends prior to the NCAA mandated Christmas break. They will head out of state to take on Chadron State and Black Hills State next weekend. Both of those matchups will be at 5:30pm.
 
QUICK HITTERS
**For this weekend's contest, fans will not be allowed inside regulations per policies from the NCAA, CDPHE, and Mesa County Public Health. The hope is to have fans in Brownson Arena on January 4-5. Fans can access the video stream, free of charge, at the link at the top of the page.
 
**Westminster's women's basketball team will not play this weekend and next weekend's games could be in doubt due to COVID-19 policies from the NCAA and RMAC. This means that Colorado Mesa will have to play two fresh teams each night for at least this weekend and possibly next.