The women’s basketball team has experienced both extremes in the past two years.

In the 2014-15 season, the Shockers finished the year 29-5 with a berth into the NCAA Tournament. The Shockers finished 7-22 after the 2015-2016 season.

This year head coach Jody Adams and her squad hope to begin the year with a fast start after going 3-9 last year in non-conference play.

The Shockers have a chance to prove themselves multiple times. Their first test comes against Purdue and Stanford on Thanksgiving and the Friday after during the Cancun Challenge. Last season, Purdue ranked 11th in the NCAA, but lost in the first round. Stanford was a Final Four competitor last season and begins the preseason poll ranked 11th.

The next hurdle comes in Columbia, Missouri, where the Shockers will face the preseason ranked No. 24 Missouri, which made a second-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

The Shockers final non-conference game is against their fourth NCAA Tournament team of the season, South Dakota State. South Dakota State upset Miami last March before losing by a point to Stanford.

The NCAA committee considers strength of schedule and difficult non-conference games that can favor a team in March Madness. The committee may overlook a loss to a tough opponent that a team at least competed against. However, the Shockers could be in trouble if they find themselves outmatched too many times.

Last season, the Shockers won two games away from Charles Koch Arena. Purdue and Stanford will be in Cancun. In neutral zones, they finished 0-2. Missouri will be on the road in Columbia against a ranked team. The only tough one they get to play at home is South Dakota State, and even then the Shockers only totaled five wins at home last season.

The Shockers roster looks promising. Rangie Bessard could be a scoring threat on every possession. Diamond Lockhart is back and Keke Thompson can add valuable minutes for WSU. The Shockers could potentially compete with teams like Purdue and South Dakota State.

The Shockers key to making a good non-conference showing and elevating play to compete in the MVC is winning the games against the not-as-exciting, not-ranked teams. That might seem obvious, but with Shockers victory on Sunday in final-second fashion over Division II Cameron University there is reason to be weary.

The Shockers should have good showings at home against teams like University of Missouri-Kansas City and Creighton and could be over .500 at the beginning of Valley play with five to seven winnable games. However, if the Shockers don’t win the MVC tournament entrance into the NCAA Tournament will be hard without at least three wins over their top-tier four opponents this winter.