DENTON, Texas — College coaches often joke with me, "If I had a team full of kids from North Texas, we would dominate."
It's a common, yet earnest, refrain from coaches in all different sports at all different levels of collegiate athletics.
A mile-and-a-half from the University of North Texas is the flagship campus of Texas Woman's University -- a small Division II school in Denton.
While the university has been co-ed since 1994, women make up nearly 90% of the school's enrollment and there are no men's-only athletic programs.
"We're a very high academic school," explaned TWU Basketball Head Coach Beth Jillson. "A lot of our players are in pre-med or physical therapy. They're incredible student athletes but they are students first."
They are incredible.
The Pioneers basketball team (21-1) is ranked 3rd in the nation for Division II.
"I think Division II level is a great level of basketball to play," said sophomore Ashley Ingram, the Pioneers' leading scorer majoring in occupational therapy. "You get to play the game you love but you also get to focus on academics. Whereas, at some D1's, you can't do the major you actually want to do because they're so focused on basketball."
It's a program on the rise, but you don't have to look, or travel, far to see why.
Every player on the TWU basketball team, except for two, is from the DFW area.
"They can get their laundry done and get a home-cooked meal," noted Jillson. "They can see mom and dad on the weekend."
Jillson, in her 16th season as the Pioneers head coach, is a local as well. She is the reigning Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year and on track to win the award again this year, thanks to the deepest roster of local talent she's had since arriving at TWU in 2007.
Ingram grew up down the (country) road in Bridgeport. Her grandparents were TWU donors, so she attended many TWU games as a little kid. Now it's come full circle as she's helped lead the Pioneers to their two best seasons in school history.
The Pioneers have players from Burleson, Frisco, Paradise, Prosper, Rowlett and Sachse. However, no town is more represented on the team than DeSoto -- with three former Eagles on the roster.
"We were used to winning at DeSoto, and we're always going to be used to winning now," admitted TWU sophomore Ariyanna Hines.
Hines and TWU teammate Kayla Glover were on the DeSoto team that won the UIL state championship in 2021.
"I think it's huge when you know, not only how to win, but what it takes to win," Jillson said. "And it rubs off on your teammates as well."
Last year, the Pioneers set the school record for most wins in a season and won their first NCAA Tournament game in school history.
This year, TWU is on the cusp of resetting the wins record and look primed for a deeper run in the NCAA Tournament.
"We want to win a conference championship first and then a national championship," Hines asserted.
Should TWU reach the Division II final, they would not have to travel far.
The D2 NCAA Championship game will be played at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on April 1.
Texas Woman's University has the talent to get there. No joke about it.