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MORGANTOWN -- This thing that is going on within West Virginia's women's basketball program is no longer just a fast start.
Somehow, no one outside their side of the basketball facility behind the Coliseum has seen it that way. If they had, a 19-2 record while playing the Big 12 might have convinced them that maybe they ought to be looked upon as something more than the No. 22 team in the nation, a poll position they gained as they jumped up one spot on Monday.
They've been seen as something of a novelty, this team with a license to steal and taking full advantage of it.
As Texas Tech invades the Coliseum at 7 p.m. Tuesday, the Mountaineer women hope their fast-paced, baseline-to-baseline defensive style will begin to bring customers through the turnstiles in a town starved for a basketball winner.
It is a team that screams fun from the opening tip to the final buzzer, a team that sits third in the Big 12 standings but bunched with No. 1 Oklahoma, which is 9-1 in conference play but just 15-6 overall, and No. 2 Kansas State, who is 9-2 with a 20-3 record.
There is little doubt that they belong in such a lofty position, considering that they are second in the conference in points scored with a 78.5 average to Texas' 81.3; second in defense, allowing 55.9 points to K-State's 53.7 and are winning their games by an average of 22.6 per contest, second to Texas, with a 26.3 margin.
The Mountaineers are led by JJ Quinerly, an All-Big 12 performer who coach Mark Kellogg refers to as "an unassuming superstar", who does a little bit of everything and a whole lot of scoring, averaging just a free throw under 20 points a game.
"I've called her an unassuming superstar," Kellogg said after WVU disposed of BYU on Saturday. "She's a very quiet kid by nature and doesn't say a lot. At times she can get lost in the game a little bit and there's times when we wanted her to take over. Through these last probably six games, she's starting to take over and understanding hte moments when we need her to take some big shots."
But his adherence to his belief in pressure defense and his entire roster's willingness to accept that as their personality makes this a special team.
On the day he was introduced as coach this year, replacing Dawn Plitzuweit, who coached for just one year in Morgantown, he warned the women's basketball league what lay ahead of them when they face WVU.
"Basketball is basketball and I'm going to go with what I do until someone proves I can't do it," he said that day.
And right now, the proof is in the pounding he has given to 19 opponents.
He has a simple belief in his pressing style, noting:
"The two weakest skills in the women's game is passing and ball-handling, so we don't do it just to do it. There is a rationale in what it is."
If anything, his theories have been reinforced by the results to date.
Their defense is so confounding to opponents, especially right out of the gate before they accustom themselves to what WVU is doing, that they became the first team in NCAA history since going to quarters instead of halves to pitch a shut-in during a quarter in two consecutive games … both times the first quarter.
In the Big 12 this season, a Mountaineer is leading the league in steals … and one in second … and one in third … and fourth.
That's right, JJ Quinerly is first with 3.3 steals per game, Jordan Harrison second with 2,6, Lauren Fisher third with 2.3 and Kyah Watson fourth with 2.2.
WVU's turnover margin is first in the conference at 9.43, nearly three per game over their nearest competitor, Houston, who turns opponents over at 6.59 per game
To Kellogg, it's a numbers game, as he explained it earlier this year.
"The analytics say don't give up layups at the rim and don't give up open 3s. We don't want to do those two things. We may give up certain other areas from time to time, but those are things we're OK with. It's to the kids' credit. There's a scouting report, attention to detail and knowing who can shoot and who can't, and shots we want to give up."