One Disappointment - Oklahoma

[Sonny44]

I was hoping and watching for them to beat Stanford. I think they are a class act under Sherrie, who was recommended for the job by Geno. Tough getting top recruits there I guess.

 

[uconnfan68]

I was hoping and watching for them to beat Stanford. I think they are a class act under Sherrie, who was recommended for the job by Geno. Tough getting top recruits there I guess.

As if Stanford was chopped liver? They are the only school that worries me (other than SC).

 

[baylorprof]

OU was a jekyl and hyde this year. in our place it was embarrassing (not intended as a slam) to have to watch Coale sit hopelessly on the bench because she had no options to compete. We took starters out by middle of second half; had a 20 point lead before halftime and could have easily beaten them by 40. I'm a Coale fan. That's the embarrassing part. It APPEARED that they have very little D1 talend on the squad.

Then, in Norman, they were a diffferent team. They had gained some conference in Big 12 ( a down year for the conference) and it was an even game, with neither team ever making a breakaway run.

Like many teams, IF they are hot from the arc, they a sweet 16 team. I haven't seen the box scores this am. I'm betting their 3 point shooting was average at best.

I do have a concern. Since Paris left, Coale has not recruited well enough to be an every-season competitive team. I hope the end is not in sight for them being in the top of the Big 12 annually. But when they were bad this year, they were quite pedestrian. And that's sad for a great program.

 

[hussybulldog]

I was hoping they kept the lead and cut down the tree.
In my opinion, PAC12 is overrated. The only reason they had this many teams in the tourney is they just beat each other up like SEC. Had Stanford and Arizona State lost last night, my point would have been proved.

 

[mhshuskies]

As if Stanford was chopped liver? They are the only school that worries me (other than SC).

Are you kidding? If we get them again, we would destroy them: 35+

 

[alexrgct]

I think Stanford-ND is a great Sweet 16 game, and I look forward to it.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Since Paris left, Coale has not recruited well enough to be an every-season competitive team.

Though Oklahoma did make an appearance in the Final Four after Paris graduated...

 

[triaddukefan]

I think Stanford-ND is a great Sweet 16 game, and I look forward to it.

I agree... should be a good matchup

 

[geneticrex]

I am pulling for Stanford.

Since I'm sick of hearing about UConn's only loss this year and constantly seeing the low-lights, I want nothing more than to see a rematch with UConn.

 

[EricLA]

OU was a jekyl and hyde this year. in our place it was embarrassing (not intended as a slam) to have to watch Coale sit hopelessly on the bench because she had no options to compete. We took starters out by middle of second half; had a 20 point lead before halftime and could have easily beaten them by 40. I'm a Coale fan. That's the embarrassing part. It APPEARED that they have very little D1 talend on the squad.

Then, in Norman, they were a diffferent team. They had gained some conference in Big 12 ( a down year for the conference) and it was an even game, with neither team ever making a breakaway run.

Like many teams, IF they are hot from the arc, they a sweet 16 team. I haven't seen the box scores this am. I'm betting their 3 point shooting was average at best.

I do have a concern. Since Paris left, Coale has not recruited well enough to be an every-season competitive team. I hope the end is not in sight for them being in the top of the Big 12 annually. But when they were bad this year, they were quite pedestrian. And that's sad for a great program.

Agreed. Just shows how hard it is to maintain a program that constantly is in the top 25, or even harder, the top 10. ND of course has done it. While we make fun of Duke a lot, they have been very solid for a very long time. But how many teams have been ranked constantly in the top 10 for the past "X" number of years? It's very hard to maintain that level of excellence...

Of the top 10 teams right now - UCONN, ND, SC, Maryland, Baylor, Tenn, FSU, L'ville, ASU, and Oregon State, I think only 3 teams have been in the top 10 every week the past 2 yaers - UCONN, ND and SC. And that's only the past 2 years. Go back further and it's only UCONN and ND...

 

[UcMiami]

Eric - did Baylor fall out of the top ten this year? Because i think they belong in that group of three with SC, ND, and Uconn and they also would be with Uconn and ND on the five year period. (If they did fall out in either this year or last, it was an obvious misinterpretation of true strength.

BaylorProf - good to see you. OK has done amazingly well since the Paris twins graduated - not quite sure how Sherri does it because she has not recruited well, but is getting surprising production from second their recruits. Something I would also say about Baylor and Kim - next year is the first blockbuster class in quite a while for Kim.

I think it shows how good coaches like Kim, Sherri, Tara, and that guy down the road at TA&M are because they have been outperforming teams with more 'name' recruits.

 

[triaddukefan]

Agreed. Just shows how hard it is to maintain a program that constantly is in the top 25, or even harder, the top 10. ND of course has done it. While we make fun of Duke a lot, they have been very solid for a very long time. But how many teams have been ranked constantly in the top 10 for the past "X" number of years? It's very hard to maintain that level of excellence...

Of the top 10 teams right now - UCONN, ND, SC, Maryland, Baylor, Tenn, FSU, L'ville, ASU, and Oregon State, I think only 3 teams have been in the top 10 every week the past 2 yaers - UCONN, ND and SC. And that's only the past 2 years. Go back further and it's only UCONN and ND...

I think this year is the first year that Duke wasnt in the top 10 in the final poll since 1997.

 

[EricLA]

Eric - did Baylor fall out of the top ten this year? Because i think they belong in that group of three with SC, ND, and Uconn and they also would be with Uconn and ND on the five year period. (If they did fall out in either this year or last, it was an obvious misinterpretation of true strength.

BaylorProf - good to see you. OK has done amazingly well since the Paris twins graduated - not quite sure how Sherri does it because she has not recruited well, but is getting surprising production from second their recruits. Something I would also say about Baylor and Kim - next year is the first blockbuster class in quite a while for Kim.

I think it shows how good coaches like Kim, Sherri, Tara, and that guy down the road at TA&M are because they have been outperforming teams with more 'name' recruits.

You are probably right on Baylor. I think they started the season at about 8 or 9 and never dropped out of the top 10. Were they there all season last year? Probably because that was Simms last year and before that it was with Griner... So yep I think you are right - UCONN, Baylor and ND have been in the top 10 at least for the past 4-5 years

 

[baylorprof]

We dropped to 12th after out two end of season losses, but in conference tourney and some losses about us rebouned to 5-7 depending on which poll.

Miami, I would not say Coale has done poorly since Paris left; she simply has not be the automatic ranked team (at time this year not even in the top 25) while we took our 5 (and now 6 year run with Griner, Sims, and now a bunh of smurfs. The problem as I see it is that she grew to national prominence with Paris, but when those years were gone, she's not been able to recruit the national superstar type to keep her in national top 10. And my fear is that she's in a place recruiting that does not bode well for her to become top 10 material any time soon.

It's up for grabs for us vs. Iowa. We are VERY talented in terms of skill sets, and our point guard just caught the vision about a month ago (prior to Christmas she was simply not getting it done. But once the light switch turned on, she has become a bona fide all-conferene type and does a good job. Not nearly as quick as we need, but very careful with the ball. We could beat them by 20 or lose by that much. This team is a mystery, and the only reason we dominated the conference was because the entire conference (except for us and OU when they're on their 3's is WAY down).

Should we actually make it past Iowa, I actually think we've got some guards with enough Mulkey defense in them that we can at least slow Lloyd down a bit.. But we have no one who can play with Turner. So there's no telling what that game might look like.

We certainly don't have a final four profile vs. you guys or SC since we just don't have the heighth to play vs. multiple BIGS

 

[UcMiami]

BaylorProf - The thing that concerns me with your team is three point defense - let you down against Louisville in that 'war' game, and tripped you up against OK this year. Iowa is a good 3 point shooting team that shoots about 30% of their shots from 3. If they are on fire it could be a long night for Baylor. I think Baylor is a much better team, but perhaps not the best match-up for you all.

On Sherri - yeah the recruiting has been poor for her and OK is maybe not the easiest sell. But she has done more with less than a lot of teams that had 'more' to start with. Can she keep it up? Hard to say, but she does seem to get some underrated kids that she coaches up well.

 

[Go/huskies]

OU has 2 top 30 kids for the 2016 class a top 10 kid for 2017 and has a real chance at landing Cox, things can change. 6'9 Nancy Mulkey could turn in to a media darling as well.

 

[baylorprof]

Mulkey will NOT come out of her man to play even an extended zone to get in the 3 point shooters face. She will say straight up, if they can beat us from 20 ft. out, then they beat us. We will be in their face for 40 minutes and hope to high heaven we can either interrupt, or with our tight man coverage intercept their passing lanes (which we know they are excellent at). And, since we play exclusively man, there is a reverse logic; ie. Iowa has not seen defensive pressure as intense as our veery often, at all, and that could make them rush their passes and theier shots and open up opportunities for turnovers.,

It all comes down to their shooting percentage vs. our rebounding percentage. If we rebound defensively as we have and "get it and GO!" as Mulkey says, (much as you you do), then hopefully we will be out ahead of their 3-pt totals.

If they are on fire from the beyond the arc, they can give any team a fit, because as you know, if the passing lanes are open, a well passed ball travels faster than the feet of even the best man defenese, thus a disciplined team can ALWAYS find an open 3 with one extra pass.

We very seldom have occasions to set up a halfcourt offense. We score so much off of rebonding and transistion points. that's what got this bunch of yunguns where they are and I fully expect Mulkey simply to try to convince them they've got to ramp up their defensive hustle to get in the face of at least SOME of their spread offense and to throw it out of sinc.

 

[baylorprof]

I've not seen her, but it's my understanding that OU's 6'9" Mulkey does not and may never have a bball body, much like Griner didn't her first and part of her second year. That's rumor; not my statement of fact.

I HOPE OU comes back. UT has had 3 consecutive GREAT classes, and big, but they have NO team concept (probably because of change in coaches). But as much fun as it is to win conference championships, we NEED better teams at the top of our conference than this year. If not, we are going to stay on another 3-4 year run of conference titles.

But what we WANT, is more competition, even if it means fewer conference trophies so that we are bettter, more competive in the Dance.

 

[Beemer]

I've seen Oklahoma on TV four times this season- when they were on they were very good but when they weren't it wasn't pretty. I believe this year's team was quite young so hopefully the best is yet to come for the Sooners.
I agree that Sherri Coale gets the most out of her players and I think they enjoy playing for her.

 

[easttexastrash]

Any OU loss is a good loss. I just can't bring myself to like any part of that program, not even Sherri's hair.

 

[cabbie191]

Any OU loss is a good loss. I just can't bring myself to like any part of that program, not even Sherri's hair.

Welcome back ETT!

 

[UcMiami]

ETT - we missed ya!!! (Or at least I missed ya! Not sure I can speak for everyone!)

 

[ed4ourgirls]

Hey ETT - I was wondering what had happened to you. Hope it
wasn't a health issue. Welcome back.

 

[Sonny44]

Yes, too bad about his first post back though.