Blogging wimmens basketball

[badger]

To distract from current football and mens basketball seasons, I thought it would be fun to start a womens basketball blog here, where we can all brag about the fact that we have had one of the best womens basketball programs in recent history.

Currently, the women stand at 6-1 and are ranked No. 20. However, this is a question that really needs answering:

WHO IS JOANNA MCFARLAND?!

I am looking through the box scores, and this "Joanna McFarland" racked up 19 minutes last night and shot 3 for 6 and got 5 rebounds and 2 blocks... and get this: NO turnovers. Whoever this "Joanna McFarland" is, she sounds like exactly the type of player OU needs.

Anyway, here is a link to an interview with her on SS.com (http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/090409aab.html) and her profile, also at SS.com (http://soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/mcfarland_joanna00.html), but that's all I know about Joanna McFarland... freshman... forward...

So, welcome to blogging wimmens basketball. Please add any and all thoughts on OU womens basketball. I will try to update at least once a week.

I know this ain't the same team it was last year with the Paris twins and the hopes and dreams of going to the Final Four and returning scholarship money if CP3 doesn't return home with a championship, but I'm still excited. Boomer!

[StoopTroup]

For the record...

Sherri is still hawt. :D

[OKC-SLC]

For the record...

Sherri is still hawt. :D

I'd like to blog her, that's fo sho.

[ouflak]

Well, the women's team 'avenged' our San Diego loss, of sorts, by routing a ranked San Diego State team 87-48 in the Virgin Islands. I'm not sure how these pre-scheduled tournaments work, but I guess they play Notre Dame today kind of for the championship of the Paradise Jam. The team moves to 4-1 now.

[GottaHavePride]

Oh, hell, Joanna McFarland is the girl from Derby?

She's freakin' good. If the Wichita Eagle didn't have a retarded website I'd tell you to search there for articles about her.

[badger]

It is so good to see that others are interested in women's basketball. Here, have a Sherri Coale pic:
http://blogs.oc.edu/ee/images/uploads/athletics_upload/topstories/bb/0809_sherri_coale_top.jpg

I am really started to get annoyed with Notre Dame's team. Most OU fans already hate Notre Dame because the 47-streak never became 48, but seriously, the only team I might dislike more than them outside our confernece in WBB right now is Stanford (grrrrrr, stupid fake ivy league school trees).

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_wide/3983439.jpeg
(that #53 is the "Joanna McFarland" in question from last week)

The domers are ranked No. 5, so this loss probably won't kill our standings nationally, and I love that our team plays quality opponents early in the season. Also, a 10-point loss is not the end of the world when your top scorer (D-Rob) is in foul trouble and Bobby Knight's favorite women's player ever is out with a knee injury.

That being said, we are now 6-2 and until polls say otherwise, we are still the No. 20 team in the country.

GET WELL, WHITNEY HAND!

Maybe Whitney got injured so that bf Landry wouldn't? If so, that's takin' one for Sooner Nation! :)

[SoonerMavrick25]

Any word on Whitney's injury other then knee?? Most the time when it comes to wimmins sports.. and ou wimmins basketball.. knees=ACL

[badger]

Hand hurt her right knee during Friday's victory over San Diego State. Not sure beyond that. Sorry :(

[Salt City Sooner]

Sherri was on Hale's radio show & said it's a torn ACL. :(

[badger]

You guys ready for more sh!tty injury news after all that you've heard the past few months?

Hand's out for the season, leaving only nine players on roster.

Link (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleid=20091130_92_0_NORMAN772840)

I am really, really saddened by this. The injury bug never relents :(

[SoonerMavrick25]

Man that sucks... There has been a lot of this at OU it seems.. Caton Hill, Erin Higgins, ETC .. I have Torn both of mine.. So has my wife.. She did both of hers in high school.. and still played basketball in college and I did one during college and one playing basketball out of college.... We both had OU dr. McGinnis.(best around IMHO) Im sure he will do Whitney's surgery as well... And I would think she is good for a redshirt.

[NormanPride]

Whitney took one for the team so that Landry wouldn't get injured. Thanks, girl. :(

[Sooner04]

Whitney Hand is a whole lot better at basketball than Landry Jones is at football.

[NormanPride]

You're beginning to sound like Rus and Hybl...

[Sooner04]

But Landry never won a Rose Bowl!

[badger]

But Landry never won a Rose Bowl!

Whitney never won a... um... Final Four game??? :O

Seriously, I hope she gets her medical redshirt and I hope she returns to shooting 3's in a year.

In the meantime, time for someone to step up and be a top scorer next to Danielle Robinson... hey, NYESHIA STEVENSON! I'm looking at YOU!

[badger]

OK, it turns out I was looking at the wrong player:
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_bsi_wide/4020484.jpeg
While all of sports is off looking at her concussion-filled brother's head, Carlee Roethlisberger stepped up when her team needed her most - filling the scoring gap left when Whitney Hand tore her ACL.

... ok, so maybe they didn't need Carlee's 29 (career high!) points when they beat UTSA 100 (yes another century game) to 67, but it is still pretty cool. The game was actually pretty close at half, with OU leading 42-41 (think Sherri broke a few chalkboards at half???), so I'm sure she provided the spark that everyone needed.

Nyeshia also stepped up as I requested last time, scoring 21 points.

Here is your token Sherri Coale pic. Note the awesome shoes:
http://i50.tinypic.com/30njjno.jpg
Once again, congrats to Carlee and Nyeshia on the great games and the entire team on hitting the century mark.

EDIT: The women now stand at 7-2, with loses to Georgia and the stupid lady domers. They are ranked No. 18 in both the AP and ESPN/USAToday polls.

[Mississippi Sooner]

Not a lot of coaches out there with the guts to coach in stilettos.

:D

[Chuck Bao]

Keep up the blog. I can't add anything, but I am reading it. Thanks.

My mom has season tickets again and she loves talking about Sooner women's basketball.

[btk108]

For the record...

Sherri is still hawt. :D

Amen, brother!

[NormanPride]

Carlee only went for 5 against Arkinsaw. MAN I wish I could have seen this one! We were at a party so we missed it, but it sounds like the girls had an exciting game...

[badger]

This blog post is brought to you by Sherri Coale's stilettos:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/articleimages/2009/20090314_stilettocoach0314p1.jpg
Now that I have your attention, we must turn our attention to something that came as a huge surprise to me, even though it was in front of me all along this season:

We have 10 players.

As you all have already heard, one of them is out all season long with an ACL tear. So, we actually have nine players... and only eight played in the 87-86 overtime victory versus Arkansas.

Arkansas had 10 players play. We had eight... two of our players played more than 40 minutes - D Rob and Nyeshia - and they must be tired as hell afterwards. This is definitely going to effect us down the stretch, especially as we have to deal with the likes of perennial conference thugs (Texas A&M, Poke State's Andrea Riley) and really tall and unathletic players who can dunk (chick from Baylor).

It is with this revelation that our OU womens basketball team has less depth than OU football's offensive line, the margin of error gets very thin.

1- No turnovers allowed!
2- No missed free throws allowed!
3- No fouling out allowed!

Given the recurring issues that OU has historically had with each of these areas, Sherri's stilettos are going to get an especially hard workout this season as Coach Coale's stare pierces into the souls of those that would dare commit silly fouls, bonk free throws and pass the ball like the government will simply bail them out later.

Therefore, I must call out those who are guilty of these three deadly sins from now on.

Turnover Queen: Nyeshia (5)
Foul happy: Carlee and Amanda (4 each)
Throw free: Abi (5 for 8) and Carlee (2 for 5)

Therefore, in order to be named player of the week, a player may not get any of these dishonors, so I am pleased to honor a player that led the team in scoring in this important win - Danielle Robinson, who not only played longer than regulation (41 minutes), but scored 31. You go, girl.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_original/2947223.jpeg

OU is now 8-2 (including two exhibition games). OU is ranked No. 16 the AP poll, but ESPN/USAToday has not been released yet this week.

[badger]

To put in perspective, the womens team had 13 on roster last year (http://soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/archive/okla-w-baskbl-roster-09.html), 12 the year before that (http://soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/archive/okla-w-baskbl-mtt-08.html), and the mens team currently has 15. (http://soonersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/okla-m-baskbl-mtt.html)

We we now have nine since even though Whitney Hand is still on the roster and I'm sure she's still contributing as much as she possibly can... she can't play. It's like the mens team a few years back when we still had KS at the helm. He sure had a lot to say about scholly limits that year :D

In case you're wondering how we got wittled down to 10 players, it seems to be the same reason the men were in the same predicament a few years ago - transfers. If Jenna Plumley didn't raid Walmart's crappy makeup section and Jenna Vining stayed, they'd still be on the roster and we'd be at a more acceptable 12-player level.

EDIT: Thanks Salt City. I forgot about Rose Hammond, which I shouldn't have. With the foul and TO trouble our guards have, we could have used another player to run the offense in desperate moments.

[Salt City Sooner]

Toss in Rose Hammond on that last stat as well. She didn't play much (obviously the reason for her transfer, which I in no way blame her for), but she was at least a warm body, something that is getting increasingly rare with The Guys.

[badger]

This blog post is brought to you by the letter O.
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2009/04/04/PH2009040403258.jpg
Not "O" as in OU, but "O" as in OVERTIME, which OU relied on once again to get a victory, this time over Marist 80-71.

We play again tonite, so I'll keep this short, but Marist is not an opponent we should be struggling again. I think it has to do with the fact that we have very few reserves (all nine players got time and I'm sure Whitney Hand could stand on the 3-point line full-time and shoot threes with one ACL if necessary - screw defense!) and that it was on the road.

I wonder if any players actually read their press clippings or this message board to see what fans and reporters think of the team... well, if that's so, then Nyeshia's probably ticked at me for not naming her player of the game/week/etc yet... so, have a pic!
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_wide/4061753.jpeg

Turnover Queen: Cloman and Hartman (2 each)
Foul happy: D-Rob (fouled out), Carlee (4)
Throw free: Abi (2 of 6)

I am actually quite happy that only the froshies had more than one turnover. This will help us down the stretch a lot if we can minimize this crap. However, I have no doubt in my mind that these froshies wouldn't have had the opportunity to get a multi-turnover game if D-Rob and Carlee weren't in foul trouble. STOP FOULING! NOW! As for free throws, Abi got punished in the minutes category (13) yet still got to shoot more shots at the line than her teammates. Abi dear, you're a senior... start acting like senior Tony Crocker!

Even with the dishonorable mention rules of not being able to honor a player that makes any of those categories, there's nobody else that can be honored this game other than Stevenson. 31 points... and if I'm reading the box score correcting, nine three pointers made. SOMEbody's stepping up for Whitney! Yay!

Army tonite, even on the road, should be a gimme... which means it probably won't be. I'll be back afterward to critique it all.

Boomer!

[Sooner04]

Good stuff, Badger.

A question: are the women still turning it over 25 times a game with no fear of reprisal?

I'll hang up and listen to the answer off-air. [click]

[badger]

See I'm keeping wimmen's talk to one thread so you don't have to keep asking for a wimmen's board :D

When I watch the mens team pass to Tiny down low this season, it reminds me of seasons past for the women where they would constantly be trying to get it CP3 or AP5. Because the paint is so clogged with defenders (usually), this is where a lot of passes can get tipped or intercepted.

With so many quality outside/midrange shooters, I think that the desire to get the ball inside is minimized... and thus, fewer turnovers (thank gawd)

[C&CDean]

How about them Packers huh?

[badger]

How about them Packers huh?

:D Keeping NFC North hopes alive just a week longer! :D

[C&CDean]

Don't know about the Norris, but a wildcard is sure attainable.

[badger]

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_headshot/3558104.jpeg
(There really haven't been as many Sherri pics on SS.com this season and I'm starting to run out... maybe this blog can survive without the constant Coale pics? Nah, who am I kidding...that's the only reason most of you tuned into wimmen's bball in the first place...)

Double-double.
http://i46.tinypic.com/29vcnc2.jpg

It seems like every time I call someone out this season, they step up and do something amazing... perhaps not the next game, but at least the next week. Abi had a double-double versus Army, with 16 points and 13 rebounds in just 18 minutes.

However, since I've already named Nyeshia player of the week, I was just pointing out that she had a fairly good game... and that she no longer goes by jersey No. 4, but rather, her dad's #34.

Also, rules are rules, and I cannot honor her further, because despite the fact that we won, and despite the fact that she had a double-double, we went to the lockerroom at half with a deficit, and there's gotta be a reason... Let's get straight to that, shall we?

Turnover queen: Abi (6), D-Ron (5)
Foul happy: Abi (4)
Throw free: Abi (6 of 10), Jasmine Hartman (0-2)

After a game when nobody had more than two turnovers, we have two players with at least five. We usually don't get to shoot many free throws so far, so when you get to the line, you better make the most of it. The only positive in the negative categories is that nobody fouled out... although Abi came close once again, despite only 18 minutes on the court.

So sorry, Abi, you had a fairly good game, but you have not earned the #34 yet. Nyeshia is still player of the week, scoring 17 last night, including 7 of OU's last 13 points. She totally needs a nickname. Anyone have any ideas?

We had all nine players on the court again last night, and nobody playing more D-Rob's 33. They must be incredibly exhausted.

Our 59-46 win over Army (29-23 deficit at the half... grrrrrrr) brings OU to 8-2 (10-2 with exhibition games) and four-game winning streak! We are still ranked #16.

I must call out one additional player... just to inspire: Amanda Thompson. You've been a great role player all of your career, and 10 rebounds is good and all, but I want to see you create more of your own shots like you used to do pre-injury. 3 points?! AT, that's how much one of Whitney's baskets are worth! You should have MORE than three points in an entire game! SCORE MORE! Get to the line more! Be the senior Tony Crocker is for the mens team!

[badger]

A note on CP3 -

As some of you may have heard, the WNBA's inability to dunk is causing people to not just tune in for the better fundamentals [/futurama]

As such, it isn't just teams like Detroit looking to move to new cities, but teams like Sacramento just calling it quits. They were the team that drafted Courtney last season and as such, she now has a new home in Chicago due to a dispersal draft. Tulsa got some player from LSU. Meh.

Link (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=413&articleid=20091214_413_0_TlaNAt848343)

The WNBA needs to band together to ensure its survival --- it's not about getting the best players at this point, but rather, about getting players the fans want... and since fans like the college game so well, why not work with teams to ensure that there's players with local ties, hmm? Screw you, Chicago. Give us our Courtney back.

[NormanPride]

The WNBA needs to do one of two things:

1. Improve their product
2. Raise the priority of their product in the minds of their current customers

They can restructure, reshuffle, reboot or rebuild all they want. Until they do one of those things their revenue and profitability will not increase. If the economy takes a jump soon they may see happier times, but they're going to die soon if they don't look out.

[badger]

they're going to die soon if they don't look out.

I am really worried about this, because if programs like OU, Tennessee and UConn can draw 10,000-plus for conference games and operate in the black, then there are definitely markets out there for the right players to continue their athletic careers beyond college.

However, there might not be a place for them anymore in America if the WNBA folds... and it's not about sexism, because the NBA really has bent over backwards trying to help the league get started and survive with all of the tie-ins. It's about professional sports being a business, bottom line.

EDIT: Also, the women are now No. 15 in the AP poll. Woot

[C&CDean]

And the Pack wins again...

[badger]

And the Pack wins again...

I was on the roof getting Christmas lights up during the end of it while NP rushed into the house as Fox actually showed the very end down here... I was all like :les: HIT RECORD!!!!!! [hairGel] because I wasn't expecting to see any of the game... but yes, good win, but can't revel in it, cuz the Vikes won too and all we're up for now is a Wildcard against Dallas in Jerryworld :mad:

But, since this is a wimmen's bball thread, all of you should know that much like other sports, WBB is off this week for final exams and to give the athletes a bit of a break. They return to the court Dec. 20.

If you clicked this by accident, thinking you would find info about men's basketball, that's OK - they are also off until Dec. 19.

If you clicked this by accident, thinking you would find info about football, that is definitely not OK - this is a BASKETBALL forum! Every other forum here is for football, pretty much, cept this one! And besides, they're off till Dec. 31.

So, as you can see, all major sports are off right now. We wish you a Sooner Christmas!

[King Barry's Back]

Badj,

Thanks for single handedly keeping this very important and, thanks to you, interesting thread alive.

Up through early Dec, I tend to spend all my time on the football board, but alas, I must turn my attentions to the roundball, and it's a pretty big challenge to follow American college women's basketball from Germany.

So, Badj, keep up the posts. I'll be following much more closely in the days to come, and not only for the cute coach pics.

And secondly, noting the number of serious injuries to our women's team, it seems clear that Schmiddy MUST be the trainer for both football and the gals' hoops squad. And I wonder if that is too much for him?

[badger]

It's womens basketball season... have YOU seen the team lately?
http://i46.tinypic.com/wsjtoo.jpg

I don't think it's that people don't care enough about womens basketball to not post about it... we're just not on TV enough (a.k.a. at all)and we haven't really had a lot of home games thus far... the last time we played at home was Dec. 5, and unless I'm mistaken, we've had more away games this season (not including exhibition) than home games.

Such was the case Sunday, when the Sooners were - FOR THE SEVENTH TIME - on the road this season... oh, and they won't return home till Dec. 30, but my guess is that Sherri will once again host a Christmas party at her house as well as Christmas Carol singing at a local hospital or nursing home with the team. Since we only have nine players right now, perhaps another player can get a scholarship, hmmm? :D

Anyway, OU defeated Creighton (I always have to double check spelling on that one) 67-58 on Sunday... and once again, just like the men on Saturday, were trailing at the half.

Turnover queen: D Rob and Nyeshia (SEVEN each... wtf)
CP3-throw memorial award: D Rob (2 for 4), Joanna McFarland (1 for 2)
Foul happy: Amanda Thompson (5), Carlee and Abi (4 each)

Sherri must have pulled a lot of her hair out this game... or at least watched it turn gray.I am looking at those embarrassing stats above (do you like my new name for the free throw dishonor?) and not really seeing any true standout performances... D Rob had 22 points and 7 rebounds... but SEVEN turnovers?! Oh man...

But, I'm not gonna be too critical. As stated before, we only have nine players left... and as I mentioned, we've been on the road more this season than at home thus far... a LOT more. Like, four games at home and seven games on the road more! Daaaaaaaang.

So, take another holiday break and bounce back on Dec. 30, girls... and please, PLEASE don't get into foul trouble, get turnover prone or miss free throws. We haven't been getting to the line nearly enough this season.

[Sooner04]

Turnover queen: D Rob and Nyeshia (SEVEN each... wtf)
That right there is why I can't watch the women anymore. The turnovers just slowly sucked the life right out of me. It was completely maddening.

I wish them all the success in the world, but I just can't do it anymore.

[badger]

It's also why Capel couldn't stand to watch Willie anymore on Saturday. ;)

Of course, D Rob and Nyeshia still beat Willie for the "Turnover Queen" title this week... but WW has "Drama Queen" all sewn up. :mad:

[Sooner04]

I was glad Capel gave Willie the heave-ho during crunch time. His performance warranted it.

There doesn't seem to be any repercussions for turnover-prone play with the women. I know they're shorthanded, but they've turned the ball over in bunches for years and it never seems to change. No shifts in the lineup, no stressing of protecting the basketball in the press. Just turnovers galore, and it kills the old guard in me to watch it.

So I don't.

[badger]

Do you remember the Kevin years when scholly limitations, injuries and player transfers resulted in the team being short handed, similar to the situation the women are in now?

If so, how did KS handle it, other than tacking the word "Intensity" on the butts of the player's shorts?

Since KS didn't have too many bad years, it might be the key to solving these lingering issues for the wimmen :(

[badger]

I was serious, btw. Remember the season where Kelvin was especially upset about the NCAA scholarship limitations because we had so few reserves and he was calling his timeouts early in the games to keep from everyone getting exhausted early? That's what I'm talking about. What can the womens team learn from that season?

Also, the AP poll is out. OU is No. 13. The Lady Pokes (???) are No. 26, which is to say that they are still not ranked. :D

EDIT: There are six Big 12 teams ranked, the highest being Baylor at No. 5 (ugggggggh). Just like our male counterparts, the Big 12 is the toughest basketball conference this season.

[Sooner04]

I'm guessing you're talking about the 2004 team? By the end of the season his frontline was Brandon Foust and DeAngelo Alexander. They never played another game as Sooners after that season.

Kelvin was an interesting dude. He could take a team like that (completely gutted) and still make something out of it. He had them playing much better at the end of the year despite Jabahri getting the boot for smoking the medication. Bookout's shoulder was jacked and he had to rely on Lavender and McKenzie to contribute immediately. Jason Detrick was supposed to be the star, but he got hurt out in Costa Rica and had trouble with his abdomen all year long.

Like I said, Kelvin might've been as good as anyone I've ever seen at making chicken salad out of chicken ****. No way that team should've gone 8-8 in conference. But he'd ugly up and shorten up every game and at the end we had a chance. We lost to Texas (sweet 16 team) in Dallas in a game we led the WHOLE way or we might've actually snuck into the NCAA Tournament as a 11 or 12-seed.

For a short answer to your question, there is this: they damn sure didn't turn the ball over 20+ times a game.

[badger]

I think that I'm referring to 2004, yeah. I remember that KS tried to convince the NCAA tourney seleciton committee that all OU needed was one win in the Big 12 tourney (over Nebraska, haha) to be a shoo-in for the tourney... but it turned out they needed two.

I wouldn't sell Coale short on turning chicken **** into salad, either. I think it was that same 2004 season where we were ranked No. 6 going into the Big 12 tourney, then proceeded to beat everyone to win it all.

So... was Kelvin's non-phone secret just about uglying up games, or was there something else to staying competitive when the cupboard's bare?

[badger]

Welcome to another off-week. At this time, I would like to present to you this week's edition of a new feature here on the wimmens blog - "Scouting The Competition"

This week, we scout Andrey "Thug" Riley, perennial ballhog and now, after defeating ORU, the all-time OSU womens basketball scoring leader.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/articleimages/2009/Thumbs/20091223_osuriley_package.jpg

Scouting report: Still a ballhog, but less of a thug. Only had one foul in the win over Oral Roberts on Tuesday. Giving credit to teammates and giving coach a big ol' hug and 11 assists suggests that she may have grown out of her me-first shoot-first diva attitude... but I still want her to held to less points than Rotnei Clarke in Norman this season.

More fun: However, I am not convinced and neither are these readers. Click here (http://newsok.com/osus-andrea-riley-shatters-career-scoring-mark-in-victory/article/3426997?custom_click=lead_story_title) and scroll to the bottom to see what NewsOK.com readers thnk of Ms. Riley.

Less fun: We will likely face OSU three times this season (including the Big 12 tourney) and much like OSU football fans only show up when OU comes to town, the same can be said for their women's basketball team. Look for she-thug to try to steal the spotlight, especially in Stillwater.

[badger]

I am outta state and not using my in-law's computer, so today's entry will be brief, but happy.
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_wide/4168939.jpeg
OU beat Cal State Fully 95-76, and didn't even trail at the half or need overtime for once!

Turnover queen: D-Rob (SEVEN!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!!!!!)
C-P-3-throw memorial award: D-Rob (3 for 7), Amanda Thompson (1 for 3)
Foul happy: Jasmine Hartman (Out... in only 11 minutes of play?! Might be a box score typo); D-Rob (four)

The unhappy distinction of throwing bricks from the stripe in remembrance of CP3 usually goes to CP3's protege, but instead, Abi Olajuwon showed that she is daddy's girl at heart, scoring 25 points and being PERFECT from the line, 3 for 3.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/12/05/1205-OKLAHOMA/26014799.JPG
Congrats, Abi. I was hoping you'd make a strong showing before conference hell started.

I call it conference "hell" because at the airport, I picked up the most recent Sports Illustrated (it had Stephen Colbert on the cover in a speedskater suit!) and it featured the towering Sasquatch froshie from Baylor (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1164013/index.htm)... worse nickname to be decided later. Yes, she can dunk, yes, she's allegedly a girl who can dunk, but the stat they focused on most is blocking. Abi is going up against this girl TWICE (if not another time in either tourney) later this season. If she can't shoot on shorter girls now, what hope does she have against the manish woman apprentice of Baylor's Coach Skeletor... yes, that is Mulkey Sulky's real nickname here :D

http://www.gameanim.com/images/posts/Skeletor.jpeg
http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/02/25/07/image_8507252.jpg
Isn't the resemblance... well, SCARY?!

Any, huge kudos to Abi. As you can see from our dishonorable mentions above, even 15 points cannot overcome D-Rob's poor performance across the board. She's better than that, and probably just had an off night.

Happy New Year!

[badger]

OU finally loses.

I am really surprised it took this long, but happily surprised, of course. I know a few of my mens basketball counterparts would kill for a six-game winning streak and a 14th or 15th-ranked squad right about now.

Tennessee's 96-75 (oh dear, that's a big loss) was the first loss since Notre Dame beat us last year... that makes it sound like a longer time ago than it really was, but really was a lonnnnnnnnng time ago.

With no BCS, I am happy to see the OU wimmen go up against tourney-like opponents. Hell, even if there was a BCS, it would be great to see OU go up against opponents similar to the ones they'll face in the postseason. We only trailed 45-39 at the half, so that had to scare the Lady Vols a little (did I ever mention enough that I like that our ladies don't have to be like ever other d@mn program in the country and add LADY to the front of the school's mascot? thank gawd). However, no program, not even the mighty Soonerettes (hahahaha... lame) will scare anyone like Puke-On U-Conn.

Turnover queen: D-Rob (SEVEN?!?!)
CP3-throw memorial award: Carlee (1 of 2); Nyeshia (3 of 6); Abi and Jasmine (0 of 1 each, disrespectfully).
Foul happy: Joanna McFarland (four)

I officially nickname Amanda Thompson, our esteemed player of the game, "Tank." It isn't a poke at how tall and how big she is, but rather, that she takes all the abuse and has the worst possible tasks in games and she takes it in stride and actually does quite well at it. She sometimes makes my dishonorable lists because these crappy tasks are assigned to her, from forcing shots as the shot clock expires, to guarding the opponent's most aggressive players, but she continues to be a great senior leader on the court and gives me hope and maybe, just maybe, we won't get thugged to death against the likes of A&M, OSU (just Riley) and the Baylor Behemoth.

Thank you, Tank Thompson. You continue to be awesome and we'll miss you next season. Hope the team gives you a memorable senior postseason.
http://i48.tinypic.com/34felhw.jpg

Oh... and GET TO THE LINE MORE! EVERYbody needs more foul shots! It's how you get more points!

EDIT: She had 26 points and 11 rebounds. Why didn't I put this in here earlier?!

[badger]

Conference schedule's about to begin.

Here (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20100108_92_B6_Daniel611489) is a good article on what the womens team has gone through so far.

Like the article says, not only did they lose Whitney Hand, but they've had the fourth-toughest schedule in the country thus far. Think a conference with oh-so-many ranked teams will only raise that ranking? You bet.

OU opens the conference against Tech 2:30 p.m. Saturday. It is allegedly televised on the Sooner Sports Network, so check some random local channel if the Neffel playoffs aren't your cup o' tea. I look for OU to start this conference season off with a win, but we might be trailing at the half like always :rolleyes:

Boomer!

[badger]

Sherri and Whitney want to know if you've missed them.
http://i50.tinypic.com/ivxvf4.jpg
Conference season is upon us, and what a way to start.

Not only did we lead by five at the half and not only did we win by 15 (73-58), this was the first chance I got to actually see the team play this season. If you haven't seen them, or you got frustrated watching them endlessly turn over the ball in seasons past, you definitely have a reason to tune in again.

Stats aside, they play with a lot of heart and determination. Coach Coale will not be taking this team's locker room privileges away any time soon. You'd expect a team as short-handed as OU to play as risk-free and as slow as possible to save energy and not embarrass themselves. Rather, they do everything at a fast pace and unlike years past, there are not (as many) turnovers to frustrate loyal fans.

And yes, our fans are indeed loyal. I was flipping occasionally to the other locally televised game in the area - Oklahoma State hosting Baylor, and for a team having the No. 5 team in town, those orange-clad pokettes sure don't care that their team is ranked. Attendance was officially 7k at Lloyd Noble. At Gally Iba? Probably 700, give or take 500. Poke posers.

CP3-throw memorial award: None.
I've decided to stop awarding until we finally get to the line more. Like I said in another thread, these girls are almost as gun-shy as the boys team. Dribble. Drive. Try it! Get fouled. Get to the line. PLEASE! Even though we had Tech in double bonus with five minutes left, they still shot more free throws than us. Argh! On a positive note, everyone who shot had at least 50 percent, so just up the shots, please.

Turnover queen: D-Rob (6), Carlee (4)
I hope the day comes when I don't have to issue this dishonor. A few times when the girls were trying too hard to keep the pace up, there were wild passes into the 7k crowd. Whoops. Good thing Tech is one of the few unranked Big 12 foes.

Foul happy: D-Rob (3)
Everyone kept it 3 or under, which is good, and while Danielle wasn't the only one with three, I single her out because she had 2 in the first half and got her third early in the second half. Fortunately, she let up a little and didn't get any more fouls after that.

Player of the game: "Tank" Thompson
She led the team in steals (3). She led the team in assists (6). She led the team in points (17). What do you think Sherri thinks about her senior leader?
http://i45.tinypic.com/eizcl.jpg
Seriously, stay outta the Tank's way, or you're gonna get run over. You go, girl. Unfortunately, your next most unenviable task will likely be to guard the Baylor Behemoth, trained by evil Coach Skeletor.
http://nbcsportsmedia1.msnbc.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/050404/050404_bkw_baylor_pre_vmed3p.widec.jpg
Based on how OSU (mostly that d@mn Andrea Riley) crushed Baylor at their empty home arena, I am feeling more confident about our chances when we travel to Waco. However, I'm sure SicEm will tell me that the Cowpokette loss was just a fluke. The key will be to get the Behemoth in foul trouble early. As for the rest of the lady bears (that just sounds silly), they are all talented (unfortunately). It will be quite the test.

However, enjoy the conference win, ladies. As the silly Sooner Sports Network announcer repeated repeatedly, we are now tied for first in the conference (Sherri: "Me and five of my closest friends!"). Yes, Sherri seriously said that. And that's why you get two pics of her this entry.

[edie]

girls looked decent saturday. if abi could be consistent would help. don't know if she's going to foul out, score 4 points or 20 pts. i'd like to see she and mcfarland on the floor at the same time a little more often. i think the more playing time mcfarland gets the better she is going to be. she still makes freshman mistakes but i think she could help us out later.

getting the turnovers under control would certainly help. baylor on weds is going to be interesting. if someone can shut down the big girl we might stand a chance.

[Sooner04]

Am I reading this right from your recaps: in the last three games Robinson has 20 turnovers?

[badger]

Am I reading this right from your recaps: in the last three games Robinson has 20 turnovers?

You are reading them correctly. :(

For a comparable mens stat, WW had 20 turnovers over a four-game span this season - he had 5 TO's in the Utah, North Colorado, UTEP and Zaggie games (each game, that is).

So, it only took D-Rob three games to screw up as much as WW did during his worst stretch. Kind of puts it in perspective, eh?

[Sooner04]

Well, as far as I know Robinson isn't a cancer.

That is a crapload of turnovers though.

[badger]

Just to be clear - there is absolutely NOTHING that suggests that D-Rob, or any of her teammates are a "cancer" or have done anything that would make Sooner Nation feel embarrassed.

There once was a time a few years ago that I was worried about "Tank" Thompson, because she seemed to force shots and get a little bit too physical, but she either outgrew it, got it coached out of her, or whatever, because she is nothing short of an ideal senior leader now.

There are no Andrea "Thug" Rileys on this team. There are no A&M thuggettes on this team. There are no players that quit, pout, whine or dog workouts on this team... or if they do, at least they don't do it publicly.

This is exactly why all of you basketball fans that have grown tired of the mens team this season need to tune in for the womens game on Wednesday, whether the men win or lose tonight.

On a side note, OU jumped to LUCKY number 13 in the AP poll. After beating the Baylor Behemoth, the Lady Pokes (ewwwww) jumped to No. 15.

Big 12 ranked teams:
A&M thuggettes: 8
Skeletor and Behemoth: 9
Nebraska (wtf?): 11
OKLAHOMA SOONERS: 13
Thug Riley and nobody else: 15
Lady whorns: 19

[NormanPride]

Good lowered the Baylor Corch looks like death.

[badger]

Scoutin' the Competition: Nebraska.

Last blog I asked how in the blue hell Nebraska could possibly be ranked when they have never in the history of me following this sport, have they had a team worth a d@mn.

The answer lies in their schedule and the results. (http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?spid=25&spsid=31&db_oem_id=100)

While teams like our wonderful Sooners have faced the likes of Tennessee and Notre Dame, Nebraska has faced the likes of... South Dakota. Vermont. Northern Illinois (the Lady Salukis? lulz), and as such, have come into the conference season unscathed and undefeated.

They face Texas tonight. Look for Nebraska to get exposed... or even better, for Texas to get exposed... ewww, why didn't I use a different word than 'exposed?'

Once again, 7 p.m. tomorrow @ Baylor for us to revenge the men's conference opener. If I haven't done an adequate job of begging you watch the wimmen, just think of it as an opportunity to potentially watch a chick dunk the ball.

[royalfan5]

Scoutin' the Competition: Nebraska.

Last blog I asked how in the blue hell Nebraska could possibly be ranked when they have never in the history of me following this sport, have they had a team worth a d@mn.

The answer lies in their schedule and the results. (http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?spid=25&spsid=31&db_oem_id=100)

While teams like our wonderful Sooners have faced the likes of Tennessee and Notre Dame, Nebraska has faced the likes of... South Dakota. Vermont. Northern Illinois (the Lady Salukis? lulz), and as such, have come into the conference season unscathed and undefeated.

They face Texas tonight. Look for Nebraska to get exposed... or even better, for Texas to get exposed... ewww, why didn't I use a different word than 'exposed?'

Once again, 7 p.m. tomorrow @ Baylor for us to revenge the men's conference opener. If I haven't done an adequate job of begging you watch the wimmen, just think of it as an opportunity to potentially watch a chick dunk the ball.
Nebraska also has the best player in the history of the program healthy again this year along with the entire roster from last year. We also routed LSU on our home court. And Northern Illinois is the Huskies.

[Monster Zero]

I think I already know the answer, but is the wimmin's game going to be on any regular, non-ppv channels in Tulsa?

Thanks...

[badger]

Unfortunately, SSN didn't reach Tulsa last night, as that spare Cox channel had the OKC Thunder instead... crap.

57-47

How, exactly, do you end up with such a low-scoring game? Blocked shots and lack of free throws, which the game was full of for Oklahoma. The Baylor Behemoth blocked 11 of our shots (she is apparently at 99 for the season and only about a dozen short of CP3's 2006 record... crap again) and we shot a grand total of EIGHT free throws. Baylor, the home team, shot 30. Normally, I would blame refs home cookin' the game, but let's face it, this wimmens blog wasn't born yesterday.

Turnover queen: Abi (6), D-Rob (5), Nyeshia (3)
CP3-throw memorial award: None
Foul happy: Abi (5), Tank (4)

I have said two things repeatedly about free throws thus far - we should be shooting more and if not, we need to make the ones we get. While we didn't shoot more (booo), we went 8 for 8 at the line (yay). Turnovers are killer (booo), but only three players on our team had any (yay).

What this game really came down to was missed shots... and shots we didn't take. We only shot 29 percent from the field... probably an after effect of getting so many blocked from the Behemoth.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/articleimages/2010/20100114_b4baylor0114p2.jpg
Seriously - where did they find this... "chick?!"

As such, we needed to take more shots... from the line. Eight won't cut it in conference play. A few more drives at Behemoth and she might have fouled out (she had 4) and not had so many blocks, eh?

Once again, our entire roster of nine logged minutes and I think we will be stronger against them at home. Alas, because CP3's record is in jeopardy, we shot so poorly and didn't get to the line enough, no player of the game honors. Instead, have a Sherri quote on the shooting issues:


“I thought are you kidding me? Could you possibly play worse than that? And that’s what we did.”

:mad:

[badger]

We host the biggest group of thuggettes to ever hit the big 12, the Texas A&M womens basketball team 4:30 p.m. tomorrow. The game is allegedly televised by FSN, which means they'll probably show the OKC Thunder instead.

More unfortunate than the fact that there will need to be three punches thrown before the ref will blow the whistle against these ladies is that A&M is on a seven-game winning streak, is No. 8 in the country and has only lost one game this year.

The good news is that game was also on the road... and it was against TCU, a team we beat (at home, but still).

There is no team I detest more in womens basketball... well, except maybe Stanford. However, to win this game, EVERYone must have a career day. Here are some examples:

1- D-Rob must have four turnovers or less. It has been awhile, but I know she can do it if she just focuses more on passing accuracy than speed during key drives.

2- We must shoot at least 15 free throws. We only shot eight, but considering how physical A&M is, this should not be a problem, if the refs don't make it one... which they unfortunately will, in all likelihood... argh... however, this is our biggest improvement from the beginning of the season. If we get to the line, we usually sink them.

3- Tank must protect her teammates. Find A&M's biggest bully and guard her. Set screens on the Fightin' Texas Baggies to free up three shots.

4- Nobody, especially Abi and Tank, in foul trouble. This will be most difficult, because in a big game like this against two ranked conference foes, the refs are going to swallow their whistle at the worst moments, and tweet too early in others. Solid defense and NO SILLY FOULS will be key.

5- Three players must score at least 20. Hit threes, dribble drive, get to the line, do what you must. As NCAA Football 08 kept repeating on jumbotron - Win, win, SCORE SCORE! SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck, girls. I know I'm usually the only one who frequents this thread, but all of Sooner Nation is pulling for you.

[badger]

I really hope Abi is OK.
http://i48.tinypic.com/2e49fo0.jpg
With about three minutes left in regulation, Abi lept up for a perfectly uncontested rebound (A&M gave up trying to contest them with her by then) and she landed awkwardly on her left (?) ankle. She exited the game and I am 99.9 percent certain that she did not return. The 8k crowd in their white tees gave her the hero's ovation she deserved, as she and Tank got double-doubles and completely frustrated the A&M laggies (lady aggies), who up till today, were two points away from being undefeated.

Today's honorees:
CP3-throw memorial award for shooting a lot of foul shots: D-Rob (10 for 11)
I have begged and pleaded the team to start dribble driving more to draw fouls, and D obliged... and A&M couldn't give into temptation.
Foul unhappy: Team award
Nobody fouled out, and the refs were VERY whistle happy.
Assist queen: D-Rob (7)
Nobody else was close.
How do you explain giving up a 15-point lead?
That is how I was worried I'd have to start this blog, and unfortunately I had to start with something even worse in Abi's injury. This nearly happened, but fortunately, when the lead was cut to about four or five, Abi kept rebounding, D-Rob kept getting to the line and Ny (Sherri calls Stevenson that, so I'll start doing that too) hit some key 3's to kept the laggies frustrated. While beating the No. 8 team in the country nine is good, there's room for improvement... so now the dishonors:
CP3-throw memorial award: Carlee (2 for 4)
Carlee's only points all evening.
Turnover queen: D-Rob (6)
At least she had more assists???
Foul happy: Tank Thompson(4), Joanna (4), the refs
The refs really were the ones who were foul happy. Eff them.
Player of the game: Abi
About five minutes in, I swear I saw Abi do a "Dream Shake," her father's signature move, where he faked one way, then did a turnaround jumper uncontested. Abi sank her "Dream Shake" too, en route to a 14-point, 11-rebound, 3-block performance. After seeing her take a lot of CP3 memorial awards earlier this season, it's worth noting that she sank both of her free throws tonight.

Also worth mentioning, after Abi went down, A&M suddenly let up on some of their aggressiveness. In the final minute, they didn't try to put us on the line to stop the clock. Their guard shook D-Rob's hand with 14 seconds left as D dribbled it out. It was a classy move on A&M's part.

Once again, I hope Abi is all right. If anyone hears what happened to her, please post ASAP.

And now, your closing Coale quote:

“I am so proud of our toughness. We talked about it all week. Texas A&M is not only one of the toughest teams in this league, but in the country. You had to match their intensity and I think we did that. I loved the way we went to the rim. We showed confidence and I love that.”

[badger]

I have not seen anything on Abi anywhere, so my guess is that she just rolled her ankle and was starting to cramp up a little, possibly because she logged about 30 minutes, more than she is used to. Better to get the shock of extended minutes outta your system now than March!

Also, AP poll's out. OU is lucky 13 (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/rankings). Here are the other Big 12 schools ranked.

Undefeated Nebbish - 7 (ok, maybe they weren't a sham and were actually a wow)
Laggies - 9 (can't find anymore ways to insult them)
Skeletor and Baylor's Behemoth - 10 (you are on notice. we will destroy you in norman. DESTROY.)
Riley Riley Riley - 12 (wtf... one win over Baylor at home and suddenly the Pokes are ahead of us?!)
Lady Whorns -20 (scouting report later... but they lost to nebbish, so they're still in the 20s)

[Salt City Sooner]

Nebbish looked pretty darn good yesterday. They're a solid club w/ veteran leadership (hasn't Griffin been there about 10 years now?) who's going to be tough to catch now since they won in Waco & have the north schedule on top of it. Kudos to Yori & co.

[edie]

was impressed with the girls on sunday. wish that danielle could get her shot a little more under control when she drives. if she doesn't draw the foul it sometimes ends in some bizarre throw up looking shot.

wish we could have had more people there. everyone should try to get to norman for a game. early february, the 3rd vs. texas and the 10th is baylor. buy some tickets and come watch. badger, i hope your right about baylor. i love watching us beat baylor!!

boomer!!

[badger]

Preview Mizzou
If you are one of the lucky viewers...

Click here to see if you are a lucky viewer. I am not. (http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_pdf/20091202_wbb_tv_affiliates.pdf)

... you will get to watch OU pwn Mizzou 6:30 p.m. tonight. Seriously, there's no reason to think OU won't win this game... and unlike the inconsistent men, you can have faith that when the women are supposed to win, they will win (so long as it isn't against Sherri's nemesis Iowa State, who has had Coale's number since the Stacey Dales-sans-Schumann era).

Look out for a projected Mizzou starter named "Toy Richbow." Seriously. She should be funnier to watch than fat No. 23 with the laggies that kept missing all those open threes last game. :D

Also, I am looking through this OU preview... why is SS.com calling Amanda Thompson "The Waitress?!"


Senior forward Amanda Thompson, a.k.a. `The Waitress', loves to serve up people. She's only the second Sooner ever -- the other being Courtney Paris -- to record 100 blocks and 100 steals in her career.

Thompson is also nearing her 1,000th point, 700th rebound and 250th career assist, which puts her in a class of her own.

I mean, I know how hard it is to come up with nicknames at times, but this is downright awful... and her nickname, as we established earlier, is TANK... because she will kick your arse on offense and defense if you try calling her "The Waitress." Holy shizzle, that is pure and utter shizzle on SS.com's part.

Oh gawd... the waitress... tell you what, SS.com. This is the new nickname for the player who has the absolute worst performance... and it won't be Tank Thompson, because she's awesome. Come on, Sooner ladies. Don't be the one anointed "The Waitress." D-Rob, I swear to gawd in a non-take-lords-name-in-vain-like-way that if you have more TO's than assists, you are THE WAITRESS. Got it, girl?!

EDIT: Upon further review, that's what she's been nicknamed since high school and is also her name on myspace... That's her real nickname? Oh man... (facepalm)

[Boomer.....]

OU was down 30-25 at half but came back to eek out a 62-61 win over Mizzou.


Amanda Thompson scored off a rebound with 9.6 seconds left to give No. 13 Oklahoma a 62-61 victory over Missouri on Wednesday night.

Nyeshia Stevenson led Oklahoma (13-4, 3-1 Big 12) with 23 points, Danielle Robinson added 16, and Thompson finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Jessra Johnson led Missouri (10-7, 0-4) with 16 points. The Tigers were 2 for 22 from 3-point range and 22 of 66 overall from the field.

[msteudem]

DRob was off on this game and that Johnson gal had her way down low on our bigs. Glad to pull this one out. Hopefully we route Kansas next.

[edie]

EVERYONE on the team had a turnover except for cloman. of course she only played 3 minutes so didn't really have much time to screw up. i hate to think what a good team would do to us. that being said i guess it goes into the w column but man it was not pretty.

next up ku in norman. ya'll should come to norman and watch them play. hopefully it will be a 10 or less turnover game. have we ever actually had a 10 or less game?

[Sooner04]

Assists - 11
Turnovers - 23

[badger]

Anyone here from Tulsa? I live in Tulsa, but I am so disappointed in the city right now and its employees. See the South Oval to see what I'm talking about.

As such, today's recap will be picture-less and shorter. 62-61 win on the road. Looks like they were looking past Mizzou like I was yesterday, but at least OU didn't become Misery's first conference victim (they are now 0-4 in Big 12 play). I am already bummed about Tulsa, so let's skip right to the dishonors of the game...

Turnover queen: "The Waitress" (5), D-Rob (5)
CP3-throw memorial: Abi (0-2)
Foul happy: Carlee (4)

I, as a fan, am allowed to look past opponents. You, as players, are not. When I see a box score with 23 team turnovers, only shooting 12 free throws... zero blocks... a lousy two steals... you know what it looks like? It looks like they overlooked Mizzou. Granted, Mizzou sucks and they aren't ranked like almighty OU, but really, I have not much to say to that :(

There's no postgame quotes online, so let's let the postgame notes box do the talking:


Oklahoma had a season-high 14 first-half turnovers. OU’s 23 total turnovers were the second most this season after having 24 at Georgia.

OU’s two steals were a season low.
Arrrrrrrrrghhhhhhh. No player of the game! :mad:

[NormanPride]

At least they only had 9 in the second half?

[badger]

Since edie brought it up, I hereby present:

TERRI-BAD TURNOVERS

Here is a look at how terri-bad we've been this season at turning over the ball. It was lack of speed that killed us against Ole Miss a few years ago in the tourney. It's our hyper kiddo-on-caffeine speed that's ruining our ball control now.

Georgia: 24 (11 assists)
Mizzou: 23 (11)
Creighton: 21 (11)
Tech: 21 (16)
ND: 20 (16)
Army: 20 (7)
A&M: 19 (14)
TCU: 19 (16)
So Car: 19 (16)
Mercer: 19 (18)
SDSU: 19 (22)
Cal St: 19 (25)
Tenn: 16 (18)
Baylor: 14 (5)
Arky 14 (11)
UTA: 14 (22)
Marist: 8 (16)

Bottom line:
- OU has had five games this season where they have had more assists than turnovers.

- OU has had four games with fewer than 15 turnovers.

- OU has had six games with at least 20 turnovers.

- Turnovers vs. assists are not indicative of a win or loss... so far.

I have probably screwed up at least one of these stats, but the fact of the matter is this:

OU is very lucky to be sitting at No. 13 despite the sixth-toughest schedule in the country, only having nine players, and having so many turnovers compared with so few assists.

[Tulsa_Sooner]

I live in Tulsa as well. I'm upset with them for not picking up any of the Sooner Sports Network games, I've only been able to watch a couple of the women's games so far this year. However...

With apologies if everyone already knew this....but I just discovered last night that I could watch the OU Women on the ESPN 360 online broadcast. Not sure if that will work every time and I'd still prefer my television, but a live feed on the computer sure beats watching the gametracker with stat updates (unreliably) every 30 seconds.

And thanks Badger for this blog thread. I'm not exactly the most active poster, but this thread is a nice read.

[Salt City Sooner]

That Houdini job that The Guys pulled in Columbia may have looked ugly at the time, but it looks quite a bit better today. MU just took down Baylor. Oh, & ISU won in Austin.

[badger]

I felt like crap today (rainy weather and everything that went down at tulsa sh!tty hall yesterday), but I'm always up for a wimmens blog entry :)

http://costumzee.com/view/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/300.jpg

Aww... you boys don't like seeing half-naked Spartan? Ok, here's the woman of the hour:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_action/4302974.jpeg

THIS! IS! SHERRI! And this was her 300th win, 81-69 over the visiting Lady Jays... Lady Hawks... whatever. The win puts us second in Big 12 standings at 4-1 in conference (behind undefeated Nebbish) and puts Kansas in second-to-last (ahead of 1-4 Mizzou). You know that the OU womens program has come a long way when this victory puts our series at 27-27 even.

I kind of suspect that someone inside or close to the program reads this blog or passes certain tidbits onto the team, because as soon as I call out the team on their abysmal assist-to-turnover ratio thus far, they have a 15-to-8 performance team-wide... uh, and that's 15 assists to 8 turnovers :)

Turnover queen: None (D-Rob had 3, but she had 7 assists, so I will let her off the hook today)
CP3-throw memorial: None (15 for 21 for the entire team, nobody really stuck out as awful)
Foul happy: Abi (Out), Joanna (4)

A note on McFarland... she is foul happy! Despite less minutes than the more seasoned veterans on the team, she still manages to get 3-4 a lot of games... if Coale kept her in for longer than 20, she'd probably foul out a lot more.

Another interesting note is that we now have 10 players. No, Whitney Hand did not miraculously recover from her torn ACL and start sinking 3's again :( Rather, a Seminole walk-on Kodi Morrison, a 5-foot-9 guard, is now on the box score. She might have been on the bench before this, but this is the first time I've seen her name. Welcome! Stay healthy please...

Player of the game: Ny

In 37 minutes, Ny(eshia Stevenson) had 22 points, include 4 three pointers. Only two turnovers, only two fouls and 4 for 5 from the line. Thank gawd we're starting to get some of those annoying stats under control.

But let's face it... this was Sherri's day (and she'll probably disagree and say it's all about the players, since she's such a nice person). Every year, we get to celebrate her birthday during the season (usually around the second Bedl@m game), but this year, we get another cool milestone. Congrats, Sherri. Thank you for getting the team back on track against another easy-to-overlook opponent.

http://i47.tinypic.com/2s8ny1x.jpg
And now, since it wasn't available yesterday, your Coale quote:


"I think coaches get way too much credit, that’s honestly how I feel. We’ve had a lot of great players through the years. There are a lot of guys who put in a lot of effort and fine performances to get that number. And I said on the television broadcast following that they should have made another ball and given it to [assistant coach] Jan [Ross]. She’s been here for every single one of them."

[badger]

Also, I am sure you've all heard this by now, but just in case, they announced yesterday that the "new" WNBA franchise in Tulsa is shocking... it's the shock.

Nolan Richardson (ex-Univ. of TUlsa coach, ex-Univ of Arky coach, current Tulsa Shock coach) is already thinking of who to draft... and crap, it's that thug from OSU.

Link. (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=2&articleid=20100124_203_B1_Tulsai289240)

You can already buy merchandise for the Tulsa Shock... which is to say, you can buy one shirt design and only one shirt design.

Link... oh boy, it's sort of plain and ugly. (http://store.nba.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3995611&league=wnba&ab=WNBA_HP_ASPOT_TULSAT)

I think Tulsa's best move is (even though I'll dislike it) to draft a locally-connected player like Thug Riley, but I hope they also find someone for us Sooner fans, like Ashley Paris, or Amanda Thompson (who is graduating, so she'll be available if that's what she wants to go post-graduation).

The deposit for season tix is $100 (wtf?!) so I will not be going that route unless they get Stacey Dales outta retirement, bring in CP3 and get Whitney Hand to recover from her ACL and graduate early (WNBA prohibits jumping to the pros early, unlike their big brother organization). The season starts May 10 against Minnesota... even Minny has a WNBA franchise now? Geez.

Link to tix. (http://www.bokcenter.com/events.asp?id=11&pid=232&task=display&pcatid=&seldate=1/1/2010)

I've been to the BOK Center, but not for any actual events yet and it's a nice pro-style arena. I'll go to a game or two to support them bringing this to Tulsa, but again, it seems like they have a little bit high estimates for what people will pay for tickets.

[bri]

I'm sure they can find someone else to catch 8 games a year.

[badger]

Big 12 rankings update:

OU moves up to No. 11 in the AP poll and tied for second in the Big 12 with the Pokettes (behind undefeated Nebraska).

Link! (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/rankings)

Where does the rest of the conference "fall?" Funny I should use that word...

6:Nebbish (Only non-UConn team that's undefeated in the rankings and getting no respect)
8: A&M Laggies (beat Tech and had no other games last week)
14: Baylor (two straight losses to Neb and Mizz is sending them free fallin')
15: Pokettes (a loss at Texas brought them off their "ranked higher than OU" pedestal)
19: Lady Whorns (The only ranked team with SIX losses)
22: Iowa State (beat Tex in OT this week)

Can anyone beat Nebraska at this point (well, other than UConn, I mean)? If OU can keep this nine player (check that, TEN player) rotation up, I think we have a chance. With the Big 12 rotation in bball, South teams play North division teams once in the regular season... and we have the home game this year! It's Feb. 24.

Of course, if we can keep the TEN player rotation game going, we'll probably face them again in the Big 12 tourney for the title.

[edie]

a big test for us is going to be weds. evening at iowa state. we seem to always have tough time with them. much less playing in ames. they always have a big crowd at their home games. actually they travel better than any other big 12 team.

looks like every game we play is going to be tough. we're just not consistent enough for you to ever to relax.

i'll say it again, you guys should buy some tickets and come to norman and watch them play. it's always interesting.

[ELP Sooner]

I'll be in Lubbock with my famiy to see the Sooners play Tech on Jan 30. If anyone from the board is going to be there and wants to meet send a PM.

[badger]

@ Iowa State @ 7 p.m. tonight. No TV, so looks like it's reportin' off the box scores :( Let's hope Carlee is working on her shooting. (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20100127_92_B6_Creotl323810)

Let's face it - whenever Sherri's teams encounter an opponent that has the words "Iowa" connected to "State" on the jersey, we are inevitably doomed, regardless of where they're ranked, regardless of how good we are.

Iowa State=Doom.

There have been few exceptions to this rule, so it's not a given, but Iowa State is the one game every year that I don't expect a win, unfortunately. It's tradition. It's bad luck. It's doom. It's Iowa State :(

[Salt City Sooner]

The Guys are on a pretty good winning streak vs. ISU (5 or 6 IIRC, although they had to work their tails off in all but a couple of those), but I think that was due more to ISU being such a perimeter oriented team & not having an answer for the twins down low. I'll definitely be interested as to how this one turns out now that they're not there. For my money, Fennelly is one of, if not the best pure X's & O's coaches in the conference.

[edie]

50 FOULS!! 50! went back and checked previous 4 games. 45 - 28 - 37 -34. we always have a tough time with iowa state but with their slow pace of play and the dang whistle being blown every 30 seconds no wonder we couldn't get anything going.

oh well, i figured it was going to be this kind of season for us. no gimme's. i'll still be in norman on feb 3 to watch us beat tx.

[badger]

The Guys are on a pretty good winning streak vs. ISU (5 or 6 IIRC, although they had to work their tails off in all but a couple of those).

Alas, according to SS.com, we have lost 8 of the last 9 when playing on ISU's home court now with this most recent stumble (http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/012710aab.html) :(

Like Edie said, 50 total fouls (28 against OU). This must have been a really boring game to watch with the ref blow(whistle)hards.

Because losses are so few and far between, let's give dishonorables to all players this time, shall we?

Stop turning over the d@mn ball award: Team. A total of 14 TO's, but no player had more than three (Carlee)

Do-something-other-than-score award: Ny. I am sure there is more than the box score is telling me because I know you're an awesome player, but a player as awesome as you should have more than one assist, more than one steal.

Turnover queen: Carlee. We love you Carlee and we are happy you found your shot. 3 turnovers, though...

Stop fouling so much award: D-Rob. It is hard to lead our fast-paced offense when you're on the bench with five fouls. I know the refs had their whistles shoved up their... hehe, family board here, so I won't continue...

All Day award: Tank Thompson. You had a double double. You had a solid game. Unfortunately, just like the coaches used to tell AD, we need you to be even better even if you're are playing pretty well. Hope we're not asking too much.

CP3-throw memorial award: Abi. 1-4. Not only are you only shooting four free throws, but you missed most of them... and you fouled out. Arrrrrrgh.

12-minute award: Lauren Willis. Just keep improving as your minutes improve. Value your time on the court as much as you value that scholarship that you earned a few Christmases ago.

No TO's award: Cloman. In your six minutes, you were a shining example to the rest of your teammates on how not to turn over the ball. Yay!

Assist award: Hartman. If you can lead the team in assists in just 18 minutes (with three), maybe you should be getting more minutes? Hartman was one of three Sooners to have a positive Assist-to-TO ratio.

Consistency award: Joanna McFarland. No matter how much you play or who the opponent is, you always have four fouls. No more, no less. Improve this stat and I foresee your minutes improving as well.

Up next is traveling to Texas Tech 2 p.m. Saturday, allegedly televised on SSN. We beat them in Norman in the conference opener 73-58 where it looked like we could do no wrong after awhile. Hopefully, we can start that way and continue through the rest of the game. Sherri has always complimented the Tech crowd and program, so I hope the team doesn't overlook the Lady Raiiiiiiiiiiderrrrrs.

[NormanPride]

Here's to consistency... :(

[Sooner04]

Nebraska went to Lubbock last night and beat the tortilla stuffing out of the Fightin' Swoopes's. Either they're not very good or Nebraska is REALLY good.

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[bri]

Nebraska's REALLY good.

[badger]

If Tulsa survives this ice storm that's about to hit, I'll have to drive down for when the Lady Huskers visit.

[ELP Sooner]

Please let me know if they cancel the game saturday. I will be leaving ELP at 5pm oklahoma time Friday for the BEAUTIFUL drive out there. LOL

[Salt City Sooner]

Nebraska went to Lubbock last night and beat the tortilla stuffing out of the Fightin' Swoopes's. Either they're not very good or Nebraska is REALLY good.

I guess we'll find out soon enough.
There are 2 undefeated teams left in WCBB. One is UConn. The other resides in Lincoln, Nebraska.

[badger]

Wins are the road are always tough in-conference.
70-66
In addition to a nail-biting game for the Sooners, the box score only records seven this time around. The hero of the game without question was Danielle "D-Rob" Robinson, who hit two key free throws with very little time left to pretty much seal the game. Since this was a good road and conference win, let's look at the positives first, shall we?

Non-foul happy award: Joanna McFarland. After being critical about her ability to foul four and only four times each game, she makes it through this game with zero fouls in 16 minutes. Heh.

CP3-throw memorial award (for drawing lots of foul shots): D-Rob. Shot 10 free throws... and made all 10, include two key ones to seal the victory.

Assist queen: D-Rob and Joanna (nickname TBD) were the only players on the team to have a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. Danielle had five assists.

And now, for areas of improvement:

Foul happy: "The Waitress" (4). Dislike that nickname, too.
Turnover queen: "The Waitress" (5) Still dislike the nickname.
Dude, where's the line?: Jasmine Hartman and Joanna McFarland were the only Sooners on the box score to not get to the free throw line at least once this game. Everyone else shot at least 50 percent. Overall, the entire team shot 18 for 20 from the line.

Player of the game: D-Rob. Getting to the line, scoring 26 points, having more assists than turnovers... wow. She even had three rebounds and three steals. She did it all.

Honorable mention: Carlee. She finally found her shot again and scored 14 points.

And since there's no postgame remarks, here's a quote from the Coale blog at SS.com: (http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/012610aae.html)


For almost 14 years now I've had the incredible good fortune to be sustained by aspiring young women. Included in that collection are a bunch of people who get it; which is rare, I think, in a world where so few do. Together we've won games and lost games. I've yelled at them and they've run for me. And more often than not, in the end we've all been polished up by the process.

EDIT: btw, Nebraska is still undefeated as they beat Colorado on Saturday. Here's betting they still don't get the No. 2 spot they deserve (behind 60-game win streakin' Puke-On UConn) in the polls come Monday.

[Salt City Sooner]

OSU just went down to College Station & came out w/ a win. A&M got 3 fouls on Riley in the 1st half, couldn't get her out of the game in the 2nd, & it came back to bite them as OSU rallied.

[badger]

As previously predicted, Nebraska is not getting the respect its undefeated record deserves.

Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/rankings)

OU stayed at No. 13, because after all, we lost to ISU. UConn and it's 60-game winning streak stays at No. 1, but of course. Here are the Big 12 rankings:

4. Nebraska (placed behind UConn and two teams whose only loss is to UConn)
10. Lady Pokes (On the road win against A&M raises your rankin')
12. Laggies (with all of the conference losses, I'm surprised A&M continues to get the respect that Nebraska doesn't)
13. Oklahoma
15. Skeletor et al (Conference season really, really dropped Baylor fast)
17. Texas sucks (Six losses tops the rankings again, but they still win against good opponents)
22. Sherri's nemesis (Iowa State rewarded for beating us)

The more-important Big 12 rankings do not resemble the national poll at all!

1. Undefeated Nebraska (6-0, 19-0)
2. Pokette (6-1, 18-3)
3. OKLAHOMA! (5-2, 15-5)
4. ISU (4-3, 16-4)
5. A&M (3-3, 15-4)
6. Whorn (3-3, 14-6)

Coming in at No. 9 is Baylor, with a very unimpressive 2-4 conference record. Like A&M, their ranking is off of reputation alone, which Nebraska lacks. Seriously. If OU, or Baylor, or Texas A&M, or Texas, or even OSU had the exact same results from the exact same schedule as Nebraska, you'd see them right next to UConn at the top, and even a few No. 1 votes from Husky haters (every program has haters, even in womens basketball). Alas, another week, more disrespect.

[bri]

Hi, how's it going? Um, quick question; how the F*CK do you have a job? We beat Tech, lost to ISU.

You make my head hurt.

[badger]

It's called a typo and everyone makes them. If you would like to take this over, be my guest. Seriously, your remarks upset me. I'm just doing this as a fan.

[Sooner04]

Who is the Waitress again?

[badger]

Who is the Waitress again?

It's a nickname that Amanda Thompson was given in high school. I couldn't believe it when I first read it on SS.com. I thought it was OU sports marketing not trying hard enough at first, but then I saw it on her facebook or myspace or something.

[NormanPride]

Is it some relation to getting served or something?

[badger]

Is it some relation to getting served or something?
Probably? It sounds about as catchy as "The Cashier" for Adrian Peterson. I hope Hoge abandoned that.

[edie]

badger - just a note to say thanks for starting and keeping up with this thread. anxious to see what we do against tx tonight. too sick to go to the game but gave my tickets away so my seats will be full!! one good thing is being able to watch osu on the other station. curious to see what nebraska is all about.

BOOMER SOONER - BEAT texas!!

[badger]

Ah yes, RRS. 7 p.m. tonight allegedly televised on SSN (COX Ch. 117 in Tulsa according to SS.com). Their coach is no longer the Peggy Hill clone, but the one who left a great program at Duke (that apparently got majorly ignored in favor of the mens team) for Texas. I am pretty sure this is the coach that we met in the 2002 Final Four (we won to go to the title game versus UConn). After that win, I remember going back to the hotel and seeing the second game that day and Coale arriving at the set at halftime... she had the biggest smile I've ever seen (that's saying something) and gave everyone a big hug. Then, she credited being in the tough Big 12 conference for beating Duke.

So, in a way, is Sherri responsible for bringing the ex-Dukie to Texas? Is the fact that womens basketball is so immensely competitive (and well-attended) in the Big 12 now the reason this coach left a solid Duke program?

In any event, OU needs a W here, not just for rivalry reasons, but because we are two games behind Nebraska now for the Big 12.

EDIT: Gail Goestenkors was indeed Duke's coach in 2002. Apparently when Duke fans gathered to try to convince Gail to stay at Duke... 200 showed up. Think we'd get at least 200 fans to beg Sherri to stay at OU? :)

[bri]

Not after tonight.

[JLEW1818]

bri espn2 hurry!

[badger]

Well, ****.

"Texas wanted to win worse than we did...I don't want to ever have to say that about one of my basketball teams."

****.

"The difference was intensity... We didn't come out of the tunnel to compete. Texas made some great plays, great shots and we let it affect us. The last four minutes of the first half were so critical. We were right there (trailing 24-22) and they go on a 9-0 run. There's just no excuse for our lack of competitiveness in that interval."

****!!!!!!!


"Whether the referees are calling it bad or not, I need to be in the game... This is three games in a row where I have been on the bench because of fouls. I told my teammates that won't happen again. We just splintered. Everybody was on different pages."

:mad:


“This is our home. We can’t have that. I feel like we need to take pride in that, and hopefully it won’t happen again.”

:(

Not much else to say after losing 75-57 at home... Joanna McFarland is our other dishonoree of the night, with four turnovers and 1 for 4 from the free throw line. This game was so bad that Cox in Tulsa wouldn't let me see it. The telling stat of the game is the fact that we shot 2 for 14 from the 3-point line. Texas only made two 3-pointers also... but they only took seven shots from that range.


"I thought we passed up good shots to take difficult ones... Our execution was lousy. Our communication wasn't good. We've talked all year about our small margin for error that shrunk even more when Whitney (Hand) was injured. But it is what it is. We have 10 guys who come to work every day and they know how to play better basketball than that. There's no excuse, absolutely no excuse."

There's no excuse... and there's no player of the game after losses.

[Sooner04]

EDIT: Gail Goestenkors was indeed Duke's coach in 2002. Apparently when Duke fans gathered to try to convince Gail to stay at OU... 200 showed up. Think we'd get at least 200 fans to beg Sherri to stay at OU? :)
:confused:

[badger]

:confused:
More info from ESPN's archives here (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=2824238)

The decision came less than a week after about 200 fans gathered outside Cameron Indoor Stadium in hopes of persuading Goestenkors -- who was honored with the Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year award on Tuesday and named The Associated Press women's basketball coach of the year on Saturday -- to stay with the Blue Devils.
If you look at Gail's wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Goestenkors), her record sounds like one that you'd have more than 200 show up to persuade to stay - four Final Fours, two runner-up years, two Elite Eights, three Sweet 16s. The only thing she didn't do for Duke was win a championship.

Given the lack of support she had after winning National Coach of the Year, I am still convinced that it was the Big 12's support of womens basketball and the higher level of competition that brought her to Texas... plus, they likely paid her a lot more (Duke's private, so no way of knowing for sure).

If Coale ever considered leaving her home state, I think we'd have more than 200 fans show up to beg her to stay, even if her track record isn't as impressive (yet) as Gail's.

[NormanPride]

I think the question was in regards to this:


Apparently when Duke fans gathered to try to convince Gail to stay at OU

Stupid Texas.

[badger]

I think the question was in regards to this:



Stupid Texas.

:O I corrected it. Sorry.

[SteelClip49]

3 of the next 4 games.....

#11 Oklahoma State; #17 Baylor; #1 Connecticut

I don't care who anyone is or what...if UCONN is still undefeated by the time they come to Oklahoma....that is a must see game!

[edie]

pit⋅i⋅ful

1. evoking or deserving pity: a pitiful fate.
2. evoking or deserving contempt by smallness, poor quality, etc.: pitiful attempts.
3. Archaic. full of pity; compassionate.

Origin:
1400–50; late ME; see pity, -ful

Related forms:
pit⋅i⋅ful⋅ly, adverb
pit⋅i⋅ful⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. lamentable, deplorable, woeful, pathetic. 1, 2. Pitiful, pitiable, piteous apply to that which excites pity (with compassion or with contempt). That which is pitiful is touching and excites pity or is mean and contemptible: a pitiful leper; a pitiful exhibition of cowardice. Pitiable may mean lamentable, or wretched and paltry: a pitiable hovel. Piteous refers only to that which exhibits suffering and misery, and is therefore heart-rending: piteous poverty. 2. deplorable, mean, low, base, vile, despicable.

[badger]

Synonyms:
1. lamentable
We lost Whitney Hand to an ACL.


deplorable
Losing to rival Texas


woeful
Realizing what our next few games are (that fmr pointed out)


pathetic.
Losing 75-57 at home, ending a 17-game streak.

:mad:

[Sooner04]

There will only be smoldering ashes where there was once a team when UConn is finished with us. I don't see any way we stay within 25 of them.

Those gals maul any and all comers.

[badger]

There will only be smoldering ashes where there was once a team when UConn is finished with us. I don't see any way we stay within 25 of them.

Those gals maul any and all comers.

Agree, and it's not a knock on our team by any stretch of the imagination. Puke-on UConn has defeated a majority of the top teams in the country (well, not undefeated Nebraska, who just pummeled Pokette State)

No. 2 Stanford's only loss was to UConn, by 12 on the road.
No. 3 Notre Dame (who beat us this season) has one loss... to UConn by 24, also on the road.
No. 6 Duke has three losses... and one of them's a 33-point loss to UConn at home.

It would be one thing if UConn was going a BCS route to stay undefeated to get to the title game, but it's basketball and they're playing top opponents. However, Sherri is apparently good friends with Conn's head coach Geno, so I'll try not to hate them too much.

[bri]

There will only be smoldering ashes where there was once a team when UConn is finished with us. I don't see any way we stay within 25 of them.

Those gals maul any and all comers.

As we were shutting down the game production last night, the discussion over the headsets was "Will the men keep it any closer on Saturday?" I countered with "The real question is, which will be bigger against UConn: Our points scored or their margin of victory?" Everyone put five bucks on margin of victory.

[edie]

don't get me wrong, we're season ticket holders for going on 9 years and will continue to support the team. i don't mind losing so much when we get beat but when we play like we did last night... pitiful is the word that comes to mind.

it seems to me that i've seen coach more upset this year than any other i can remember. maybe that's what it's going to take to get the team fired up. they certainly were not fired up last night.

on to the pokes - we'll see what happens.

boomer sooner!!

[badger]

Edie, et al who saw the game yesterday -

Is fatigue setting in? Is the fact that we only have 10 players that can suit up and play right now starting to take its toll?

Or, is this one of those team (lack of) performance instances that would get Jeff Capel a technical in his first season here at OU, just to fire up the crowd/players? (remember those, 04?)

[bri]

D-Rob seemed like the only one who had anything going offensively, and she was hamstrung by the ticky-tack officiating. Everyone else was varying degrees of suck, with the role of Willie Warren being played by Amanda Thompson and her ridiculous hair. Someone needs to tell her that Courtney Paris isn't clogging up the lane any more; stop doing three crossover dribbles & bricking 17-foot jumpers and get her *** inside where it belongs.

[edie]

i'm afraid that we're just not very good this year. losing whitney early killed us. she is so much more than just another player out there. she's a smart player, she seems to really understand the entire game. she has a great defensive game. the only good thing to come from her being out this year is her sitting next to coach on the bench. she's going to go into next season with SO much more understanding of the whole game.

i don't like to criticize the coaching staff or call out a player but sometimes i don't know for sure what coale is doing. against texas when danielle and abi were on the bench and jasmine and mcfarland were in we pulled within 2. time out is called and here comes danielle and abi back in. nothing about danielle but we seemed to have gotten a little rhythm going with jasmine and mcf and she sat them down?? i honestly hate to say it but i'd rather see mcf or cloman in instead of abi. it's too bad she had to follow courtney but she does not have courtney's hands. i think that's where some of our turnovers come from is danielle and amanda, well really any of them, passing to abi like they passed to courtney. just not going to happen. regarding rebounds, in big 12 play amanda has abi beat by 32!

but the end of the story is that we’re just not the team we’ve been the last several years. that being said i’ll be there every home game that i’m able.

BOOMER SOONER!!

[badger]

This writer (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20100205_29_B6_Carlee879582) took doom and gloom a little bit further to remind us all that seven of our nine conference games remaining (not including the Big 12 tourney, of course) are against ranked teams.

This writer (http://www.normantranscript.com/sports/local_story_036011616) reminds us that the last lopsided home loss this bad was 2003 versus KSU (I was there, and it was baaaaaad) and reminds us how angry Coale is:


"Well, there should be no problem motivating a team to play Texas. I'm not making light of it. I'm saying it doesn't matter who we play, there should be no problem motivating college athletes to come to practice every day," she said. "I mean, come on. You're getting your education paid for and you're getting to do the thing you love, supposedly.

"Come on. No excuses. You've got to be ready to play."

But, dang it, it's Badlem (for those new to this board, try spelling it right and you'll understand why I spell it wrong). Time to get fired up. Have a picture of freshman Lyndsey Cloman!
http://i47.tinypic.com/181vna.jpg

Boomer, dammit.

[badger]

When it comes time for Big 12 player of the year discussions and nominees for National All-American, you will likely hear repeatedly about Oklahoma State's Andrea Riley (and whoever is carry Nebraska, I guess).

But before the (admittedly few) womens basketball commentators go too Riley-happy, consider Danielle Robinson in a head-to-head matchup.

Points: Riley 30, D-Rob 36.
Assists: Riley 5, D-Rob 6.
Turnovers: Riley 5, D-Rob 1.
Steals: Riley 0, D-Rob 2.
Free throws: Riley 4-5, D-Rob 16-16.
Shooting: Riley 11-34, D-Rob 10-22.
Rebounds: Riley 6, D-Rob 9.

The only categories Riley beat D-Rob in was minutes (40 versus 38) and 3-pointers (Riley was 4 for 12, D-Rob was 0 for 2). The most important category, however, was the final score in Stillwater, which was...

OU: 77
OSU: 66

Player of the game is undoubtedly Danielle Robinson.

This day, however, belongs to Wayman Tisdale, so I'll leave the recap at that. I hope the men continue their lead at home, and congrats to the women on the road.

http://obit-mag.com/media/image/p1_tisdlae.jpg

[badger]

Worries about whether the male basketball players at OU have a thing for free makeup now too aside, the polls are out.

Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/rankings)

OU is now at #12, which actually is not our highest ranking of the year. We peaked at #11 back in... well, Week 11. We started the season off at #20 after losing the Paris twins. Our schedule strength and not-too-shabby results on-court have risen our ranking nicely.

Around the Big 12:

3. No-respect Nebraska (beat OSU and A&M this week, each by double figures)
11. Baylor (the highest ranked five-loss team)
12. OU (the highest ranked six-loss team)
13. Laggies (lost @Neb, beat Mizz)
14. Texas (aren't we a happy little Big 12 cluster in the middle of the polls?!)
15. Pokette (a two-loss week will drop you, even if it's against good teams)
20. Iowa State (beat Tech and Mizz)

The Big 12's reputation seems to not be getting extended to Nebraska. They beat everyone they meet, yet they still aren't next to fellow undefeated UConn where they belong.

I won't bother posting the Big 12 standings again till Nebraska loses - they have a three-game lead over us, ISU, OSU and Texas. Link here. (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/conferences/standings?confId=8)

We face Baylor on Wednesday, Colorado on Saturday and UConn on Monday (which they'll probably televise). Here is hoping and praying we don't overlook Colorado.

[edie]

Weds., February 10th 7:00pm – OU vs baylor

Our attendance has gone down a bit since the Paris sisters left. I know it’s a Weds., but buy a ticket – get to Norman and root the girls on. You remember baylor beat us back in January… we need a good crowd to cheer us on to revenge!! Even if you don’t like basketball mulkey is always fun to watch and as it seems to carry some weight with some of you out there…Coach Coale is HOT!

BOOMER…. Let’s hear it!!

[badger]

BOOMER…. Let’s hear it!!

Sooner :)

Also, a little womens basketball news out of Tulsa... the top players from the Detroit Shock don't want to come here. (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=413&articleid=20100209_29_0_Twooft85301)

One of the players in question is Deanna Nolan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanna_Nolan), nicknamed Tweety. Like a few of her NBA male counterparts, she tried to get on a foreign Olympic team because she wasn't good enough for the American Olympic team (when I heard about that going on in Beijing with the men, I thought it was utter BS). She was born in Flint, so I can see why she wouldn't want to leave Detroit... but honey, there's no womens basketball team left there.

The other one in question is Katie Smith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Smith), who is old enough to have played in the defunct ABL. A six-time All-Star, Smith, unlike Tweety, is good enough to be on the American Olympic team and in fact has been since 2000, winning three gold medals. She is also from Big Ten(eleven) country.

Eff them. WNBA's coming to Tulsa with or without them.

[silverwheels]

Weds., February 10th 7:00pm – OU vs baylor

Our attendance has gone down a bit since the Paris sisters left. I know it’s a Weds., but buy a ticket – get to Norman and root the girls on. You remember baylor beat us back in January… we need a good crowd to cheer us on to revenge!! Even if you don’t like basketball mulkey is always fun to watch and as it seems to carry some weight with some of you out there…Coach Coale is HOT!

BOOMER…. Let’s hear it!!

It was a fun game. Can't believe we pulled it out after how poorly we shot in the second half.

Mulkey needs to have the word "class" tattooed on her forehead, because that will be the only time she displays any.

[Sooner04]

I liked her comment about Amanda Thompson in the postgame presser.

[silverwheels]

I liked her comment about Amanda Thompson in the postgame presser.

I missed it. What did she say?

[badger]

Every time I read that the OU women's game will be televised up here, I get excited. Then, it turns out that Cox is actually televising Baylor vs. Nebraska (mens) or Texas at Colorado (womens) or another game that less than zero local viewers care about.

So alas, I am once again going to have to rely on local media (newsok.com, normantranscript.com, tulsaworld.com, oudaily.com and of course ss.com) for quotes, stats, and everything else I continue to miss :(

When Amanda Thompson (aka "The Waitress," or as like better, "Tank" or "AT") first came to OU, I was worried that she would be too aggressive or try to take too many of her own shots. And now, she is a senior, who is neither overly aggressive a ballhog.
http://i45.tinypic.com/200eo0.jpg
...so sorry, that was a file photo. HERE is AT with improved hairstyle:
http://i48.tinypic.com/wjazgh.jpg
(oh man, I'm looking at that pic again and that Baylor girl's scary!)

...And also improved AT gameplay! We beat the raging Skeletor (Kim Mulkey, Baylor head coach) and Baylor Behemoth (Brittney Griner, aka the girl who can dunk, omg girl who can dunk) 62-60 in overtime in what will hopefully be the continuation of a four-game (or better!) winning streak when we beat UConn on Monday! :D

(If I say it three times it will appear, right?)

Before we beat UConn on Monday (number two!), let's take an attempt at 04's attempt...

Plusses:
Tank Thompson: 19 points, 19 rebounds shooting 50 percent from the field and 60 percent from behind the arch in 41 minutes.
Ny: She might have only had 12 points in 42 minutes, but two of those points were the game-winners.
D-Rob: Played all 45 minutes and had a positive Assist-to-TO ratio (4 to 3) and 19 points!
Abi: 14 rebounds!
Rebounding: We won this stat 58-41... 31-16 in the first half.
Sherri: Apparently after shaking Skeletor's hand, she came up to midcourt to give Ny a big hug. This is why we love her... that and some of you guys think she is hot and stuff.

Minuses:
Carlee: Lost her shot again. Had two points, both off free throws.
Behemoth: Usually when a player has a triple-double, the third stat isn't blocks... she blocked 11 of our shots and didn't even come close to fouling out with three :(
Free throws: Why did we only shoot nine? Three of our seven who played yesterday didn't shoot any.
3-pointers: Aside from AT, everyone else together made a total of one...however, Baylor made made two total. hehe.
Skeletor: Remains the scariest looking coach in the Big 12. Yes, scarier than Will Muschamp humping one of his D-linemen after a 3-and-out. This game, she had weird box-like hair to match her weird golden outfit. Ewwww. And, she apparently did a lot of pouting when Behemoth had to be on the bench. Hehe.

Co-players of the game: Ny and Tank. I won't do this often, but without a winning game, you don't have a player of the game, and we don't have a win without defensive stops (Tank) and a winning shot (Ny).

And now, as promised, quotes!


Amanda Thompson was fantastic ... key steals, key plays... Every time we had to have a big play, it seemed like she made it."


"I’m so proud of Amanda. Honestly, she was possessed the whole night. Just the look in her eye was so fierce. She was determined to do whatever she wanted and to get every rebound that she wanted. You could tell on the defensive end, she was going to get every rebound. She blocked out like it was textbook. I’m so happy for her and her performance.”


"I don’t know who outrebounded who; 58 to 41, yeah. Rebounding is big. And give it to Amanda Thompson. Amanda Thompson kicked our butt.”

Check out a video of game highlights here (http://newsok.com/sooners-win-on-nyeshia-stevensons-shot-in-ot/article/3438682?custom_click=lead_story_photo), along with postgame fun... before we...

:les:BEAT UCONN ON MONDAY! (#3!)[hairGel]

[bri]

Mulkey needs to have the word "class" tattooed on her forehead, because that will be the only time she displays any.

That stupid outfit she wore looked like someone took the driver's seat out of a '73 Nova, gave it a dykey haircut and taught it to stomp a lot.

[Sooner04]

If we play great, UConn will beat us by 15.
If we play well, UConn will beat us by 25.
If we play lousy, UConn will beat us by 40.

[edie]

not a pretty win but a win none the less. attendance - 8493. we got loud a few times!!

guess i'm going to have to eat my words regarding abi. i wish she was more consistent though. just never know from one game to the next what she's going to do. GREAT game for "the tank." we're going to miss her next year!!

keep you fingers crossed for a W against colorado. none of our wins have come easy so saturday is no gimme.

ok i have to say it - buy yourself a ticket and come watch the girls give it their all against uconn. a big crowd certainly won't hurt.

BOOMER.....

[badger]

If we play great, UConn will beat us by 15.
If we play well, UConn will beat us by 25.
If we play lousy, UConn will beat us by 40.

Very true... but that's only if UConn plays up to their godlike abilities, which admittedly they have most all of this season.

THEREFORE, we must consider the possibility that UConn will not play like UConn. Here! Have a graph!

http://i48.tinypic.com/20u63ok.jpg

You see, if we play godlike and UConn plays lousy, we win. :)

[NMSooner'80]

That stupid outfit she wore looked like someone took the driver's seat out of a '73 Nova, gave it a dykey haircut and taught it to stomp a lot.


Well done!

Someone needs to post some of her better (translation: amusing to us because she's usually in pain over losing to us in those pix) photos for added effect. I remember one in particular that was hilarious. It looked like she was in extreme pain (which in reality wouldn't be that funny) over an official's call.

[badger]

I'm sorry - there's absolutely no direct photos of Mulkey's horrendous outfit last night. Here's a shot of her in the background:
http://photos.newsok.com/2/showimage/849392/medium
Here's a screenshot I took of the video from NewsOK that I linked above:
http://i46.tinypic.com/2iuc11s.jpg
I am thinking of the children here by not posting more.

[bri]

New for 2010: The Air Mulkey.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2795/4348944607_0cf5d8375a_o.jpg

[edie]

i don't know what it is about her but we just love picking on mulkey!! seems like every time she stood up someone in our section was yelling, "sit down mulkey!"

funny thing is a couple of years ago we were listening to the ou vs. baylor game in waco on the radio and you could hear people yelling, "sit down sherri."

you know it may be my imagination but there seems to be no love loss between she and sherri. they don't spend much time chatting before the game and it's always a pretty quick handshake at the end. ESPECIALLY WHEN WE WIN BY 2 IN OVERTIME !!

[badger]

i don't know what it is about her but we just love picking on mulkey!! seems like every time she stood up someone in our section was yelling, "sit down mulkey!"

funny thing is a couple of years ago we were listening to the ou vs. baylor game in waco on the radio and you could hear people yelling, "sit down sherri."

you know it may be my imagination but there seems to be no love loss between she and sherri. they don't spend much time chatting before the game and it's always a pretty quick handshake at the end. ESPECIALLY WHEN WE WIN BY 2 IN OVERTIME !!

Sherri has a pretty good relationship with a lot of Big 12 coaches. I remember when Tech hosted us in their previous coach's final year, Our team wore shirts to honor the Tech coach, which the girls tossed to the appreciative Tech crowd after warmups.

Sherri also had nothing but good things to say about the former Texas coach whose name escapes me (the one who resembled Peggy Hill) when that coach retired, and she always got birthday balloons from former OSU coach Goodenough, who coincidentally always seemed to play OU on Sherri's birthday.

Since your new here, here's the background on the name "Skeletor." Basically, Baylor was beating us and Kim Mulkey was all annoying, so my beloved husband NormanPride calls her "Skeletor" (the villain from He-Man) on here after a Baylor game and it stuck.

Perhaps it's just their competitive spirits coming out. Baylor, after all, is the only Big 12 era team (I think) to win a national championship in womens basketball... grrr.

[NormanPride]

Who the heck thinks that looks good? I mean there's got to be at least one girl around her that can tell her she looks like the bartender from Star Trek. Holy bajeebus...

Skeletor!
http://www.insidesocal.com/idol/skeletor.jpg

[NMSooner'80]

http://sports.espn.go.com/media/ncw/2005/0324/photo/a_mulkey_robertson_i.jpg

[badger]

:eek: are you trying to make us all go blind! ahhh! :eek:

OK then guys, on that note, Baylor is no longer our opponent (although I have something fun planned in case we meet them in the big 12 tourney, hehe) so here is a link to the real, newly updated wimmens basketball blog (Sherri Coale's, that is)

Link! (http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/021110aaa.html)


I was awful on Wednesday versus Texas. I hated our lack of effort and I was dumbfounded by our lethargy. So I tried to make my guys play hard. And I almost lost my mind.

Normally I would try to attempt to scout the upcoming competition, but Colorado's coach is a first-year hire that really doesn't have many embarrassing pics (yet) and it seems that every highlight video CUBuffs.com has posted looks like a b!tch slapfest trying to get the ball... seriously. Go to their page (http://www.cubuffs.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=600&SPID=258&SPSID=3910) and look at the freeze frames from the UT and Baylor games. Ewwwwww.

[badger]

So I accidentally hit the back button in the "quick reply" window and lost most of the recap. Long story short on the Colorado game, we won easily 65-55. The most fouls anyone had was 3 on our team and all 10 players played (and everyone had points!). It was a very promising game leading into UConn tomorrow.

Player of the Game: Jasmine Hartman. Why? Other than leading the team in minutes (34), let's hear what Coach Coale has to say:


“I thought Jasmine established a defensive mindset. She was really bothering the opposition with her athleticism and she takes pride in that. She likes to go up and pressure the ball and disrupt what they were trying to do offensively.”

Beat UConn, Beat UConn, BEAT UCONN! :)

[edie]

i'm not saying that it's probable but it certainly is possible. you're going to wish you'd been there if we manage to pull if off. game's not until 8:00, tickets are cheap and you'll get a free t-shirt; no reason not to head to norman!!

BOOMER....

[edie]

saturday's game jasmine hartman started rather than carlee. i see in the oklahoman that she's missing another start tonight. ?

[badger]

There is a lot of speculation out there on the intraweb that OU can pull off an upset, but before we let the speculation and sunshine pumping start/continue, here's the facts:

OU is No. 11 in the AP poll now. Here's a link (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/rankings)

Other Big 12ers include:

3. Nebraska (still undefeated)
12. Texas (like us, is 18-6)
13. Iowa State (just beat Baylor by 24 at home)
15. A&M (a lot of losing lately to fall to 5-5 in-conference)
17. Pokette (three game losing streak)
18. Baylor (the conference season continues to kill da bears)

ESPN's resident womens basketball analyst speculates about the remote possiblity that UConn's streak ends tonight here.
(http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/columns/story?columnist=voepel_mechelle&id=4914298)
Tulsa World talks about D-Rob's experience with UConn players with the national team here. (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20100215_92_B1_OUsDan767883)

Mike Gundy's favorite columnist Jenni Carlson tackles UConn's streak here. (http://newsok.com/main-event-uconn-brings-streak-mystique-to-state/article/3439700?custom_click=lead_story_title)

More from NewsOK here. (http://newsok.com/ou-womens-basketball-notebook/article/3439658)

The Norman Transcript's sports editor's column here. (http://www.normantranscript.com/sports/local_story_046011531)

The OU student newspaper's take here. (http://oudaily.com/news/2010/feb/15/no-1-huskies-set-visit-norman/)

I tried to find a matching story on the UConn student newspaper's site, but I guess they're so used to winning that they don't write about that anymore.

The game is 8 p.m. on ESPN2. Rumor has it that Coale's starting three guards, which means that Hartman's play versus Colorado must have really, really impressed Sherri. We'll see.

Some have said that it is impossible to beat UConn. Still others have just said that it is impossible for OU to beat UConn. After all, part of their 64-game winning streak includes a win over OU already (it was by about 20ish and it was No. 5 in the ongoing streak). While OU has never defeated UConn on womens basketball, UConn fans shared this story with me after our 2002 National Championship game, which allowed UConn to finish the season undefeated, mostly by comfortable leads from non-threatening opponents.

http://i50.tinypic.com/16ljwk2.jpg

We were the only ones that scared UConn in 2002. We can scare them (and beat them) today.

:les: Beat UConn! [hairGel]

[Collier11]

Huge statement game tonight, probably not gonna win but if we do it would be mega huge

[NormanPride]

If we win this game, I skip work tomorrow to celebrate.

[silverwheels]

If we lose by less than 30 I'll take it.

[edie]

badger - thanks for all the links

[Ardmore_Sooner]

If we win, Im storming the court.

[Salt City Sooner]

There is a lot of speculation out there on the intraweb that OU can pull off an upset, but before we let the speculation and sunshine pumping start/continue, here's the facts:

OU is No. 11 in the AP poll now. Here's a link (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/rankings)

Other Big 12ers include:

3. Nebraska (still undefeated)
12. Texas (like us, is 18-6)
13. Iowa State (just beat Baylor by 24 at home)
15. A&M (a lot of losing lately to fall to 5-5 in-conference)
17. Pokette (three game losing streak)
18. Baylor (the conference season continues to kill da bears)

ESPN's resident womens basketball analyst speculates about the remote possiblity that UConn's streak ends tonight here.
(http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/columns/story?columnist=voepel_mechelle&id=4914298)
Tulsa World talks about D-Rob's experience with UConn players with the national team here. (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20100215_92_B1_OUsDan767883)

Mike Gundy's favorite columnist Jenni Carlson tackles UConn's streak here. (http://newsok.com/main-event-uconn-brings-streak-mystique-to-state/article/3439700?custom_click=lead_story_title)

More from NewsOK here. (http://newsok.com/ou-womens-basketball-notebook/article/3439658)

The Norman Transcript's sports editor's column here. (http://www.normantranscript.com/sports/local_story_046011531)

The OU student newspaper's take here. (http://oudaily.com/news/2010/feb/15/no-1-huskies-set-visit-norman/)

I tried to find a matching story on the UConn student newspaper's site, but I guess they're so used to winning that they don't write about that anymore.

The game is 8 p.m. on ESPN2. Rumor has it that Coale's starting three guards, which means that Hartman's play versus Colorado must have really, really impressed Sherri. We'll see.

Some have said that it is impossible to beat UConn. Still others have just said that it is impossible for OU to beat UConn. After all, part of their 64-game winning streak includes a win over OU already (it was by about 20ish and it was No. 5 in the ongoing streak). While OU has never defeated UConn on womens basketball, UConn fans shared this story with me after our 2002 National Championship game, which allowed UConn to finish the season undefeated, mostly by comfortable leads from non-threatening opponents.

http://i50.tinypic.com/16ljwk2.jpg

We were the only ones that scared UConn in 2002. We can scare them (and beat them) today.

:les: Beat UConn! [hairGel]
I remember them mentioning a stat after that game on UConn's season, that being that OU was down 12 @ halftime, & as we know, went on to lose 82-70. That 2nd half of that game was the only half of basketball that UConn didn't win that year.

[Curly Bill]

I'd love to see an upset.

That being said: UConn by 21.

[Collier11]

Uconn 84-68

[Curly Bill]

As for score, I'll go:

UConn 77

OU 56

[JLEW1818]

lets beat these bitches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[badger]

We are gonna die in the second half... because right now, at the end of the first, we are only down by two.

We held them scoreless in the last four-something (while I was cursing and laughing a lot... amazing how every opposing player's name is "b!tch" when they play OU, haha) and made them turn over the ball and miss constantly... and we're getting some funny ref calls going our way.

And on that note, UConn is going to punish us dearly for not taking the arse whooping that we are supposed to. The gates of hell are about to open. It will be worse than any hangover... oh wait, this is WOMEN'S basketball... it will be worse than any PMS in the history of ever.

But, it was sure fun while it lasted. Time to go die, Sooner Nation. Tonight, we dine in hell. Join us on ESPN2.

[Collier11]

well we hung in for quite a while only to fall by 16, Aureima is a f*ck

[Curly Bill]

Geno's obviously a great coach, but he is a bit proud of himself.

[bri]

Good effort tonight. We only went seven deep and that hurt us in the end, I think. Still, the crowd went from "Jesus, I hope we don't lose too badly" to "dammit, we could have won this thing" over the course of the evening.

[Boomer.....]

Free throws and poor shooting killed us. Great effort by the girls tonight, especially late in the first half. And yes, Gino is a ****.

[Sooner04]

If I could've reached through the television and strangled Stevenson and Thompson I would've. They shot us right out of the second half.

[badger]

Since we're all in the mood to bash Geno, let me join in!

To give you a football comparison, Geno is like the reason the Black Coaches Association will call up recruits when they're thinking of going to certain programs that don't hire minorities in positions of importance (like coaching) before they commit to those programs. Geno isn't a minority, even though he's surrounded by women. He is very much in the majority, because he will have the opportunities there for everything that he wants to do, which is not afforded to all basketball coaches, men and women.

Geno is a guy, who by virtue of simply being a guy, could coach any program, mens or womens, in the country. No problem, double standards are everywhere and good on him for getting into a program that he wins a lot at and can recruit well at... but wait, this is a bash-Geno rant. The thing is, after he chooses to coach womens, he whines about how his accomplishments in the sport will never be taken as seriously as they would be in they were in mens. He is very much a woe-is-me guy in the midst of being the guy you all saw last night, which is arrogant and annoying. He likes playing the victim part up, but at the same time thinking highly of himself.

It's a very weird thing, which is why I'm glad we don't play these guys (rather, this guy and these girls) often. However, that's is all the Geno-bashin' I will do, because Sherri and Geno are friends and think highly of each other.


“You know we came out here 10 years ago as a favor to Sherri (Coale) because we had two of her kids from out here, Stacy (Hansmeyer) and Paige (Sauer). So we were trying to accomplish two things: Stacy and Paige play a game back where they grew up and Sherri could get a chance to show everybody in Norman what big-time college basketball looks like. Now, we come out here and they showed us what big-time college basketball looks like. They’ve come a long way in 10 years. I’m really happy for them. I’m thrilled that in the beginning we were there to help. I just hope that they continue to be good hosts and let us win.”

We had a very solid gameplan for a team that had more talent, more height, more depth, etc. etc. This bodes well for us come the postseason. I hope we can have as strong of a showing against Nebraska... because if we don't, it's time for the voters to finally give Nebbish their due No. 2 spot in the rankings.

Foul happy: Abi (4).
The refs pretty much helped keep the game close at the end of the first half, by swallowing the whistle on a few time UConn tried to draw fouls (instead got called for them, or got a traveling call). Abi only had four because they were fouling late to stop the clock, so not too much faulting here. She had a lot of good post play last night.

CP3-throw memorial: Team.
When we had chances to take the early lead instead of wait till the second half, we blew it by missing free throws. Free throws should be free, so why, Ny, when you get the gift of getting a foul a call after missing three, do you bonk most of your FREE shots? The team shot 10 for 17 from the line.

Turnover queen: D-Rob (4)
This award really should go to UConn, because it seemed like all the turnover woes that we had were suddenly passed to them in the last part of the first half. However, D had 4 of our 12 turnovers (UConn had 15 total, I think 10 in the first half or so), so that number has GOT to come down, especially when these TO's aren't forced.

Player of the game: None, but kudos to the 11,865 that wore the pink t's last night. Sherri appreciates you!


“The game was on national television and we raised a lot of awareness for breast cancer and that was most important thing.”

If you wanna read more on the game, ESPN's take is here (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/columns/story?columnist=voepel_mechelle&id=4917562), Jenni Carlson is here (http://newsok.com/jenni-carlson-oklahoma-is-here-to-stay-despite-loss/article/3439922?custom_click=lead_story_title), and most of the rest just have recap, so there's no better place for that than SS.com here. (http://soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/021610aaa.html)

[Sooner04]

Good recap, badger.

I have absolutely no problem with Geno. Anyone who can tick off Summitt is A-OK in my book. And he has been a good friend to our program for many years. His accomplishments just floor me. He's coached 24 full seasons at UConn and has averaged 29 wins a pop. That's absurd. Watching them has to be the equivalent of watching those great UCLA teams with Goodrich, Alcindor, Weeks and Walton.

But when I close my eyes, I can still see the bricks being heaved from all over by Stevenson and Thompson. Good grief.

[badger]

Good recap, badger.

I have absolutely no problem with Geno. Anyone who can tick off Summitt is A-OK in my book. And he has been a good friend to our program for many years. His accomplishments just floor me. He's coached 24 full seasons at UConn and has averaged 29 wins a pop. That's absurd. Watching them has to be the equivalent of watching those great UCLA teams with Goodrich, Alcindor, Weeks and Walton.

But when I close my eyes, I can still see the bricks being heaved from all over by Stevenson and Thompson. Good grief.

I chose not to mention "The Waitress" and Ny not only cuz you already mentioned them, but also because their shooting was just facepalm worthy.

The only problem I have with Geno is that he has taken the victim approach on ESPN on more than one occasion, when in fact he has more opportunities available to him than the likes of Pat Summit and Sherri Coale in basketball coaching. For me, it's like "If you feel sooooo disrespected in womens basketball, you have the option to leave, so get the eff out if you feel so wronged."

But, that's it. If Sherri likes him than I'm not going to badmouth him further.

[NormanPride]

04, I agree about Ny and Tank to a point. However, after reflecting on the game I remembered that Tank and Ny were the only girls that could create their own shots. When we were running low on clock because D-rob couldn't get across center court without being harassed (great plan by Geno, btw) we didn't have enough time to do the three or four misdirection screens that were getting our posts in good position. Thus, Ny and Tank had to create, and that's where our offense failed.

I'd get more on D-rob for not doing more, but I think she was pretty gassed from playing great D and running the point all over the place. She had a heck of a game. All the girls did, really. That's the kind of intensity that we need to see every game! Good job, girls.

[Sooner04]

04, I agree about Ny and Tank to a point. However, after reflecting on the game I remembered that Tank and Ny were the only girls that could create their own shots.
To me, at least in the second half, it seemed like they could create their own shots because Geno sagged the defense off of them and basically said, "let's see if you guys can hit anything from the outside".

They obviously could not.

[edie]

great job!! from what i read prior to the game we did better than anyone thought we would. heard this morning that out of the 65 game streak this was only the 3rd time that the opposing team took the lead.

from the other "pink" games i've seen lately we had a great crowd. early in the second half when we took the lead all 11,000+ thought, even if just for a second, "maybe."

great job sooners!! now on to manhattan where we beat kansas state.

[badger]

from what i read prior to the game we did better than anyone thought we would.

Here included, right :O

The fact that we were able to stay within reaching distance and all ye who entered LNC did not abandon hope is a tremendous accomplishment against the Husky women (oh, but don't females call that size "Misses?" lol)

But, to everyone that might feel a sense of satisfaction after losing at home by 16, Sherri Coale kindly asks you to stop being Aggy :D


"It's a compliment, and we appreciate it, but we're not satisfied... We don't play Connecticut to walk away with a moral victory. We play them to get better."

[bri]

If I could've reached through the television and strangled Stevenson and Thompson I would've. They shot us right out of the second half.

That's AT's specialty. I don't mind Ny's shots, 'cause she was hot at the start of the game, and at least her looks were coming in the flow of the offense for the most part.

[edie]

http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/2010blog.html

interesting to read what some of the connecticut papers are saying about the game.

[Curly Bill]

I have absolutely no problem with Geno. Anyone who can tick off Summitt is A-OK in my book.

This is a solid point.

[bri]

They're probably itching to finally get to write about a UConn loss. I don't blame 'em.

[edie]

could it have been the attitude? if they keep playing the way they are it's likely she'll never have to sit out that first NCAA tournament game.


http://www.orangepower.com/showthread.php?t=89215

Andrea Riley snaps streak, sits in the second

http://freelantzsports.com/2010/02/1...in-the-second/


Oklahoma State senior guard Andrea Riley is in the midst of quite a storied career for the Cowgirls that has run the gamut from nightmare to fairy tale. The nightmarish tales of a player not interested in the team, a temper-filled lady who’s tantrums could be seen on the court had ceased this season. The penalty to miss Oklahoma State’s next NCAA tournament game still looming over her, but acting more as a reminder of times past, not as an indicator of the future.

The fairy tale had taken over to the fullest.

Riley reached the OSU scoring pinnacle, becoming the all-time points leader in the sport of basketball in Stillwater, male or female. Leading the team and ranking in the Top 5 nationally with just six regular season games to play in points (25.6 PPG, 3rd in nation) and assists (6.9 APG, 4th in nation). Riding an 82-game streak of consecutive double figure contests. Earning accolades of opposing coaches and teammates alike, remarking on what an impressive teammate Riley had become and how pronounced her growth as a person had been.

And then Texas A&M came to town.

Riley and many of her teammates have been ailing in recent weeks, and it has been showing on the scoreboard in this stretch of losses on the court. Players have been slumping, and losses have been more the norm rather than the exception.

So when Riley started out the first half shooting 0-of-10 from the field and being replaced in the lineup, it was presumed it was just going to be one of those nights for the senior. That she must be having an off night, hampered by sickness that was throwing off her shot. Towards the end of the first half, Riley was replaced in the lineup as head coach Kurt Budke threw multiple looks at the Aggies in hopes to claw their way back into the game or at the very least slow down the hot-handed visitors.

When Riley didn’t begin the second half and didn’t hit the hardwood at all for the final 20 minutes of the conference game of ranked opponents, it looked like perhaps there could be more to this story. And there was.

Riley’s absence cannot be attributed to something innocuous, but rather a glimpse of that nightmare creeping back. After the game Budke addressed her absence in the second half. “It was a coach’s decision. I did not like how Andrea Riley was playing and I didn’t like how she was leading this team. I still have time to teach her how to become a better player.”

A statement was made.

Sitting your best player is something that resonates throughout the team.

Fellow senior Tegan Cunningham was asked about Riley’s absence in the second half and had trouble finding the words she wanted to share. And freshman forward Toni Young stepped up and chimed in, “it was a locker room situation. It stays in the locker room”. While Riley is still learning in her final season as a Cowgirl, Young has obviously started her learning through her first season, stepping up at the night’s highlight performer for the Cowgirls after earning a spot in the starting rotation. And stepping up as a team leader when addressing a delicate situation.

Budke was raving over Toni Young after the Cowgirls’ fourth consecutive loss. Remarkably, more about her leadership than her play. More about her teamwork than her stat line. ”I’ve said it all along, I think Toni Young is going to be a star. She still is learning the game right now. She still doesn’t understand the game right now. She’s still physically not as close to where she’s going to be.” Budke went on to dole out accolades to his blossoming freshman, “I’m not so sure that Toni Young is not the leader of this team. Toni is great with her teammates on and off the floor and she’s going to be a leader, a captain and a star for years to come.”

But don’t count out Riley quite yet, Budke warned. There are still games to be played for the senior superstar. ”There’s lessons to be learned through every game. We’re going to continue to work on making everybody the best they can be before they leave here. She’ll recover. She’ll come back and probably play lights-out in the next one.”

The Cowgirls sure hope that Riley is lights-out on Saturday at Baylor and the OSU skid down the leaderboard can come to a halt. But now there is a new hope – to the future of the program under the leadership of the emerging freshman Toni Young as the spotlight shifts its gaze.

[badger]

Edie - I saw that over on OP (I lurk occasionally to laugh) and I think that the Pokettes will still make the tourney, because of the sheer strength of the conference. A few years back - 2005, I think - we were a No. 8 seed despite the fact that we were a bubble team and we had a lackluster end to our season... we lose in the first round. And then, the next year, we recruit some girls from Piedmont, California. I forget their names :D

OSU, if it can just win half of its remaining games and not get too embarrassed in the Big 12 tourney, will make the NCAA's on reputation and the strength of the Big 12.

Andrea "Thug" Riley, on the other hand, will likely not get to play in the tourney at all, because it has been pretty obvious from the start that she carries this team... and she knows it and acts like it.

Thus, regardless of where the Pokettes play and what they are seeded, they will lose in the first round (as you all recall, she is required to sit out the first round of the NCAA tourney should OSU make it because of her past thug-like transgressions).

So, root for the Pokettes to make the tourney. This might be the funniest show on TV since Gundy's team nearly lost to Colorado on national TV with an incompetent backup QB :D

[edie]

badger - they've got some tough games coming up. baylor / texas / texas tech / iowa st / OU. they beat baylor once, but who hasn't (well we didn't the first time) already lost to tx and tx tech. you never know what iowa state is going to do. if they get hot from the 3pt line osu is goner. and then of course they end their season against us in LNC. i feel pretty good about that one!!

i'm one of those annoying people that say i always root for the big 12 unless they're playing us so i've got nothing against osu. just don't care for riley. from friends etc i've heard that there are a number osu fans are ready for her to be gone also.

i'm ready for that nebraska game!! but i guess we better beat k.state first!

BOOMER.........

[Salt City Sooner]

Last I saw in Creme's bracketology, he had OSU as a 4 seed. They're pretty much going to have to lose out or come very close to it in order to miss the tourney.

[NormanPride]

Riley has a mean right hook.

[badger]

NP likes to take about how some teams live and die by the three-pointer. In the case of OSU, they live and die by Andrea Riley. Does Coach Whats-his-face think that he is sending her or the rest of the team any type of message... and if so, what message?

1- See, ladies? This is what the first round of the tourney's gonna be like... if we make it.

2- I passed first grade math, and therefore, if you go 0-10 in the first half, logic dictates that you will go 0-10 in the second half. You should be thanking me that ended up 0-10 and not 0-20.

3- GIA is named after two men's sport coaches, and the court is named after another mens sport coach. Benching Riley is the only way I can get attention!

[edie]

ok i'm giving you plenty of time to make your plans. WEDS., FEB. 24th 7:00pm - LNC - we'll be playing nebraska, still undefeated. TIME FOR THAT TO END!!! you saw the crowd at the uconn game. i really believe the noise that crowd made had a little something to do with our performance that night. LET'S DO IT AGAIN against nebraska. can't promise you a t-shirt but i'll go out on a limb here and say i can promise you a good game.

let's pack the place CRIMSON!!

To purchase women's basketball tickets:
Purchase Online | Call (405) 325-2424 or toll-free (800) 456-GoOU | Group Tickets

[badger]

I felt like ick today, but was able to see the women cap off their victory in Little Apple in front of Little Crowd. Kansas State used to be one of the top womens basketball programs in the conference. Guess everyone has an off-year, right UNC mens team? :D

I will do the traditional recap with links and possibly a pic or two tomorrow

[badger]

Skipping right to the numbers:

16: How much OU was down at the half by, just shy of how many points we had at that time, 18.
22: How much OU outscored KSU by in the second half, to win 64-58
21: The largest lead KSU had.
20: How many turnovers OU had, compared with KSU's 12.
100: Our free throw percentage.

Turnover queen: Ny (5)
Our usual culprit only had 3... actually, they both had three (Tank and D-Rob)

CP3-throw memorial (for shooting a lot of foul shots): D-Rob, 8-8
I like this memorial award much better than the other one.

Foul happy: None
Even Four-foul McFarland only had three.

Player of the game: Tank Thompson
It is difficult to choose in situations like this, where we needed a hell of a lotta scoring to stay in this game, but since Ny had five turnovers, Tank gets the nod for her ninth double-double (17 points and 10 rebounds).

If there was ever a trap game, this was it, as it's the eye of the storm between UConn last Monday and Nebraska this coming Wednesday. I am impressed at how good our team has become at free throws after complaining about it a lot early in the season. The turnover issue is facepalm worthy.

On paper, it sounded like after Whitney Hand tore the ACL like we'd be having the season that the men are - only nine (now 10) players, a tough conference with a lot of ranked foes, not much star power after the Paris twins left - however, we've risen to the occasion while other conference powers have someone crapped out despite what some believe to have the best blocker in NCAA history (the Baylor Behemoth) and the score-happy ballhog that despite having a lot of things to hate, is allegedly quite a talented guard (OSU's Thug Riley). I am still not sure how to describe Nebraska, but I might have an idea come Wednesday... and not much to say about A&M, other than the fact that they appear to be softer and kinder to us this year sans-Parises.

And now, for Coach Coale to take it away:


"We've been playing the trap game lately. I thought Colorado was a trap game. It was between Baylor and Connecticut, so I tried to make that one the trap game and make this one seem like it was something different and it this one ended up being the one. I am so proud of their (the team's) effort from the 16-minute mark on, as proud as I have ever been of them. That is not an easy thing to do and this is not an easy place to do that. You take that with you back to Norman."

http://i48.tinypic.com/fwt4kp.jpg
BEAT NEBBISH!

[NormanPride]

We get a good break to re-focus and rest up for the big game. Good luck, girls!

[badger]

As is tradition on Monday, the rankings are out and OU stays at its season-best 11.

Link! (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/rankings)

Barring a late season meltdown, Nebraska and its three-game lead on us is gonna win the Big 12 and have the one-seed come tourney time.

3. Nebraska. Still No. 3?! Guess they have to beat us if they'll ever pass one-loss Stanford.
11. Oklahoma. The second Big 12 team has three conference losses and hasn't loss to a non-UConn team since Feb. 3.
12. Texas A&M. Five conference losses and fifth in the conference now.
14. Texas. A loss to A&M breaks the Big 12's stranglehold on the center of the polls.
15. Iowa State. Unlike us Big 12 South teams, they had to lose to Nebbish twice. HA!
17. Baylor. Winning streak from 11/17 to 1/8. Since? Six losses. Ouch!
23. Pokette. Remember when OP.com was bragging that they were ranked in front of us fairweather fan cheatin' gooners? lulz. Pokette State hasn't won since January.

Most Big 12 teams have about four games left before the conference tourney, hence me signing off of any chance of winning the Big 12. Nebraska's only ranked opponent left is us, followed up by Mizz, Kansas and KSU.

As for OSU's free-fall into uber meltdown mode that would make its football meltdowns following another Bedl@m loss blush, Riley et al have a very good chance of finishing out the season with nothing but losses. Next up is Texas (loss!) at Tech (they lost to them at home), Iowa State (who already beat us) and... us. In Norman. We beat them in Stilly. They are doomed. This free-fall will not only ensure a one-game ouster in the conference tourney, but also a longshot to even make the NCAA tourney. Bye, Thug Riley. Won't miss ya at all.

This is not to suggest that we can cakewalk to the No. 2 seed. We have four challenging games left, with both Texas and A&M on the road, and Neb and OSU at home. One loss and ISU gets the tiebreaker over us to knock us to No. 3. Two losses if one is against Texas, and we're down to No. 4. Three losses, with one against A&M, and suddenly we're five. Yikes!

[edie]

PACK THE PLACE CRIMSON !! your gonna wish you'd been there !!

BOOMER....

[NormanPride]

SOONER!

[badger]

There are three finalists in the Big 12 for the Liberman award, given to the top point guard.

Link! (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20100223_92_0_Oklaho711504)

So, the point guard from Iowa State, OSU's Thug Riley, and :les: DANIELLE EFFING ROBINSON! [hairGel]

I already did a blog on D-Rob vs. Rileyrileyriley, so let's look at this ISU point guard vs. D-Rob, shall we (keeping in mind that we beat OSU and lost to ISU)

ISU's Allison Lacey vs. OU's :les: DANIELLE EFFING ROBINSON! [hairGel]...

Ok, so the stats are really not very good and I'll just link them here if you want to check them out. (http://soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2009-2010/20100127.html) Seriously, they both had really quiet games as we quietly lost to ISU on the road. Zzzz.

Seeing what ISU has to say about Lacey, she apparently leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio. (http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=204893834&DB_OEM_ID=10700) Well, we know she has D-Rob beat there pretty much, heh :O

I just hope they don't give Thug the award.

[Sooner04]

Will the loss of Thompson and Stevenson next year be addition by subtraction? They were a combined 9 of 32 from the floor tonight.

[Collier11]

Getting gaurds like those two are what allowed OU to become a Final 4 team again, remember before them we had a bunch of unathletic chicks who couldnt break a press and could barely get the ball up court and get their own shot off

[Sooner04]

Getting gaurds like those two are what allowed OU to become a Final 4 team again, remember before them we had a bunch of unathletic chicks who couldnt break a press and could barely get the ball up court and get their own shot off
I remember the year before these two clankers arrived our girls went 16-0 in the Big 12. It just seems like when the chips are down those two try to take over and it often leads to disastrous results.

[Collier11]

well Robinson has never been a great shooter, she is just a good PG. Im just saying that we used to be really unathletic and teams that had big time athletes used to handle our girls

[badger]

Begrudging congrats to Nebraska on their first Big 12 womens basketball title :mad:


“We had them on the ropes because we were playing so hard but you can’t beat them if you shoot 30 percent from the field. The interesting thing is that we have been so good at the free throw line and we were just lousy tonight, and when we had to have one, we couldn’t get it. You can’t beat the top five teams in the country doing that.

When you see a score like 80-64, you might think that Nebbish destroyed us, which is only partially true. The fact of the matter is that late in second half, OU was actually ahead 61-60. It is at that point that I think we might actually pull this off. Then, Nebbish is up four, then six, then eight, then nine... then next time I check my computer, the game is over and we're down by 16. Arrrrrrgh.

This is a game where having Whitney Hand would have made a huge difference.Instead of Carlee taking five threes (and missing them all), we'd have Hand out there shooting those key shots... and making at least one. But those weren't the only shots we were missing...

CP3-throw memorial: Team (14 for 24)
Special distinction to Carlee (1 for 4) and Ny (2 for 5). Our free throws once again weren't free in this loss.

Foul happy: "The Waitress" and Abi (4 each)
Late in the game, Coale started calling for fouls more to stop the clock, which only expanded Nebraska's lead. See? Free throws! FREE! ...if you make them :mad:

Turnover queen: Waitress (that's Amanda Thompson, btw... still hate that nickname), Ny, Abi, McFarland.
Normally I'd zero in on the turnover leader (D-Rob with four), but since she had more assists (six) will let it go and glare straight in the direction of those that freely turned over the ball without having a single assist on the box score.

As always, there is no player of the game after a loss, unless you're Nebraska, in which case the culprit once again is their Griffin #23, who had 30 points and 13 rebounds... and zero turnovers.


Kelsey Griffin tied Andrea Riley of Oklahoma State for most points scored against OU with 30.

Our killer schedule of doom ends with Texas (currently one game behind us in Big 12 standings), Texas A&M (currently two games behind us in Big 12 standings) and Pokette (currently on the biggest losing streak of any ranked team and so pathetically awful that an OU loss would ruin the season... and like all Poke wins over OU, would make their season suddenly a success). Did I mention that the toughest of those two games are on the road, and that we already lost to Texas at home this season (by 18).

Doom and gloom, here I come. :(

[NormanPride]

Who can I call/write to display my disgust that the game was not televised in Tulsa? Two of the best teams in girl's basketball and they're not even televised in the second largest city in the state. When a team has a large following in the stands, usually there is a large following behind the TV screen. The fact that we have been able to watch about TWO games here in Tulsa is unforgivable. It's not feasible for us to make the two hour drive in to Norman on a Wednesday night to see them play, so there is no reason to black out the area. We got tons of their games last year, so what gives?

[edie]

"If you must lose, then lose to quality opponents."

we didn't lose to a quality opponent. we lost because we played bad. missing free throws, missing layups, couldn't hold on to the dang ball. 3 turn overs in a row right in front of my seats. we looked like crap.

i don't mean that nebraska wasn't a quality opponent. they are a very good team and it's great that they won the conference but there is no one to blame but ourselves for losing to them.

i'm more disgusted with this game than any other i've seen this year.

[Collier11]

yep, we missed a layup to go up 4 and then we fell apart at the seams

[NormanPride]

We'll get them in the tournament. I'd rather win the tourney than the regular season.

[badger]

We'll get them in the tournament. I'd rather win the tourney than the regular season.

especially since the regular season was already pretty much out of our hands. :(

[birddog]

i just can't seem to wrap my mind around the words "nebraska" and "women's basketball" as something that would strike fear in opponents.

[badger]

Bird - The good part is that this Nebraska chick is a senior (I think) and as soon as she's gone from Lincoln, there's nothing to suggest that they will continue being good, much like Pokette will return to Goodenough-era mediocrity when their ballhog thug leaves this season.

Speaking of ballhog thug, they beat Texas in OT last night. So much for their losing streak. This also means that the ladywhorns will be coming off a loss when they face us at home. :mad:

[royalfan5]

Bird - The good part is that this Nebraska chick is a senior (I think) and as soon as she's gone from Lincoln, there's nothing to suggest that they will continue being good, much like Pokette will return to Goodenough-era mediocrity when their ballhog thug leaves this season.

Speaking of ballhog thug, they beat Texas in OT last night. So much for their losing streak. This also means that the ladywhorns will be coming off a loss when they face us at home. :mad:

I wouldn't get to far ahead of yourself on that. We have plenty of decent recruits coming including Jordan Hooper who is a more athletic version of Griffin including the ability to dunk.

[edie]

thanks rf5 - something to look forward to :)

not taking anything away from nebraska - wish we could have given you a better game. by better i mean i wish we would have won!! maybe we'll wake up by tourny time and have another chance at ya.

i've read a little about hooper and she's going to be something.

[NormanPride]

A women's basketball team, more than any other sport I can think of, can be made by one player. If a team has 4 mediocre or even bad players and one really great one, then they suddenly become a good team.

[badger]

I wouldn't get to far ahead of yourself on that. We have plenty of decent recruits coming including Jordan Hooper who is a more athletic version of Griffin including the ability to dunk.

Great - dealing with two of them. :mad:

:D Oh wait a second... Baylor had a midseason meltdown when they arrived in conference play that has not only tanked their conference standing, but also their national ranking, so don't get too far ahead of yourself. We WILL beat Nebraska next season... hopefully in womens basketball AND football... arrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[badger]

http://i46.tinypic.com/1zxc37.jpg
The answer is more than $1 million per season, and like Mack Daddy, her early years at Texas have not produced any championships, despite the hot recruiting area.

But why dedicate this entry to bashing Texas after such an awesome win? I was not feeling too confident, so I turned the game on while playing a round of Civ IV... and the announcers on FSN couldn't say enough good things about OU. Ny's three pointers... all the forced turnovers on the Lady Whorns... hell, they even complimented Whitney Hand on being a player-coach on the bench next to Sherri. Yes, the game was that out of hand and there was very little to worry about... if you are an OU fan.

This was a very good win... so let's dish out a bunch of compliments like the announcers:

Lady Horn Nuisance: Abi. She may not be the rebounding machine that CP3 was last year, but she still holds her own in the paint, sure to drive Lady Whorns insane. 12 pts, 8 rbs, 3 steals.

Austin angst: Coach Gail was so angry at the way her starters were playing that she called a hockey-style line change after one of Ny's many 3's... only for Ny to make yet another 3 on the bench warmers. Hehe. 28 pts, including 6 three-pointers.

Tank: Outta the way, Thompson's gonna score again... or get a rebound. Or both. Once again got a double-double. 16 rbs, 13 pts

Ratio rules: After a few months of calling her out for turnover issues, D-Rob is now making up for it by having more assists. She also went 6-for-6 from the line. 16 pts, 7 assists (four turnovers, grrrrr... still too high!)

Earning her spot: Jasmine Hartman played all 40 minutes. While her stats aren't really stellar yet, I really think this experience will pay off in years to come. 4 pts, 2 steals, 2 rbs, 2 assists

Four others came off the bench, including Carlee (who unfortunately still has not found her shot it seems) McFarland (who had four fouls, haha), Willis and Cloman, who were only in for a minute each.

Turnover queen: Team (22)
Sure Texas had 19, and sure I wasn't worried about winning after awhile... but this number is still too d@mn high.

CP3-throw memorial award: :mad:
This angry face is looking at the stats and realizing that five players didn't even get to the line.

Foul happy: Abi and McFarland (4 each)
Unlike recent losses where players foul at the end to stop the clock, this was not an issue today...

Player of the Game: Ny.
Her shooting helped us to our 20th win this season... and a step closer to solidifying the No. 2 spot in the conference tourney. Yay!

Up next is Texas A&M on Tuesday, followed by a regular season closer hosting OSU on Sunday.


I think it was a pivotal point for our team, and as I’ve said many times to our local press, by the time I got finished with the press room (after the loss in Norman), and did all the things I had to do after the game and got to the locker room that night, I felt pretty sure that we would get things corrected. The team had already done all the work. By the time I got back to the locker room I knew that they understood why we had lost and the mistakes we made that were unacceptable. Those were mistakes of effort and not competing, and we responded and have played very hard since them and I thought we played exceptionally hard tonight.

And just for fun...


It was the best I’ve seen OU play, as a team, all year. I’ve seen them come out and give great individual effort, but tonight they played with a lot heart of and emotion, collectively.

[NormanPride]

It's always great to get compliments like that from the opposing coach. Gail is a good one, but she's got a hard conference to work her way up.

[badger]

It's Monday and it's noon, so that means it's time for the AP to release its poll!

OU once again is No. 11. (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/rankings)

It was a crazy week of meeting the other undefeated program in the country and embarrassing Texas on their home turf (hardwood???). We are the only team in the top 17 to have EIGHT losses, a testament to our tough schedule. Hope it pays off come tourney time.

Around the Big 12...

3. Nebraska. If beating us won't get them the No. 2 spot, nothing will... but it's getting closer. Lock for Big 12 regular season championship. :mad:
11. Oklahoma. The win over Texas nearly locks us for the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 tourney with two games left in the regular season.
13. Iowa State. The pesky north team gets disrespect for losses to KSU and Drake this season. They will take the No. 2 seed if we both win out.
14. Baylor. After a midseason meltdown, Skeletor and Behemoth are back on track with four-straight wins.
15. A&M. Loss to Baylor, but win over Colorado. Faces us tomorrow in College Station.
18. Texas. Bawww, look who's had three-straight losses! It's you! It's you!
20. OSU. After a big arse losing streak, won two straight... but look for their losing ways to resume against ISU (Weds) and OU (Sunday)

If Pokette can pull off the upset Wednesday, we are back in the No. 2 slot with two wins this week at A&M and at home against OSU (which, if memory serves correctly, will likely double as a Sherri birthday celebration as it does every season). I have slight doubts about our ability to beat A&M again... but absolutely no confidence in Pokette. We are looking at the No. 3 seed for the Big 12 tourney now, not the No. 2. Still, a very good season that should have amply prepared us for the tourney.

[edie]

nice article on jasmine in the DOK. i was going to comment but i think they locked it so i can't complain about the coverage anymore:)

she still makes me a nervous wreck when she brings the ball up but there certainly has been improvement in her game. once she can start scoring a little more she's going to be something. going to need her tonight and sunday. first we kick a&m and then sunday take it to the pokes.

i'd say to buy your tickets for sunday but from the pitiful turnout against the #3 team in the country last week i won't hold my breath.

i can't help myself - GET TO NORMAN ON SUNDAY - BEDLAM!!

BOOMER..............

[edie]

29% - i think that sums it up

[Boomer.....]

21 turnovers sums it up also.

[NormanPride]

Baaaaad game. Hope we got that out of our system. I think A&M is a bad matchup for us.

[badger]

Sherri thinks her players are better in pink.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/articleimages/2010/Thumbs/20100303_sherri_package.jpg
And better at home, too. I am looking at the Big 12 standings here (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/conferences/standings?confId=8) and as you all can see, the No. 2 seed is pretty much out of the question now. Iowa State has the tiebreaker with our annual loss to them. Heaven help us if we lose to Pokette this weekend - there are so many Big 12 teams with six conference losses right now that we split the matchups with that it would be a big ol clusterefffffff trying to figure if we're the 3 seed or the (dun dun dun!) SEVEN seed.

So, how does a team that is more capable than Capel-ball lose by 23 points?

Turnover queen: Ny and D-Rob (5 each); Hartman (4)
I cannot stress how terri-bad this is. The team had a 10-to-21 assist-to-turnover ratio. Ahhhhhhh!

CP3-throw memorial: Hartman (2 for 4)
The team shot 21 for 24, so this wasn't a big issue.

Foul happy: Carlee (5); "The Waitress" (4)
If I had to guess, Coale called for fouling at the end of the game again to stop the clock.

So, it wasn't free throws that did us in, nor was it fouls. So... what was it? Let me introduce some new dishonorable categories:

Brick layer of threes: Ny (0 for 5); Entire team (0 for 8)
At least we only shot and missed eight?!?!

Big air (ball) award: Team (shot 29.8 percent from the field)
Special dishonorable distinction to Carlee (2 for 8), D-Rob (4 for 16), Ny (3 for 14).... eff it. Just the team. It was everyone. EVERYone shot bad. 50 percent or worse across the board. Arggggggggg

Selfish award: Team (nobody had more than 3 assists; 6 of the 9 players had one or less)
Maybe this is just because they were passing to the wrong team so often?!?!?!

I will definitely bring out those awards again should we have another performance like that. The few highlights were that we matched rebounding well with the Laggies (lady aggies) and didn't foul as much as they did... speaking of which, quotes from the game had a theme to them:


"Being physical was what won us the game... We were physical inside and outside with them.


"It was a very physical game and we didn't handle that very well."

So, Texas A&M returns to their thuggery ways. Alas, we have a chance of redemption at home this weekend at Pokette, where we face the biggest thug in all womens basketball.


"You don't beat anyone shooting 29 percent from the field and zero from the three. I think when you make shots, it gives you life. When you miss them, then they take them away. We just need to go on to the next one and go get ready for Sunday (against Oklahoma State). Bottom line is we have to be tougher. We know what we are going to get when we come here (and face A&M's defense). We have to respond better."

[edie]

i'm glad it wasn't on tv. bad enough on the radio.

hope we can pull it together for sunday and take the pokes to town.

get to norman, sunday @ 4:00. you never know what to expect!! it will be sad to say good-bye to amanda, ny and abi. regardless of their consistency all 3 have given us some great moments in some great games.

going to miss seeing you girls!! good luck to each and every one of you.

[Salt City Sooner]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtaPtQnu370

So, Ms. Griner decks a gal after a hard foul, & gets tossed. Toots, if you think it's gonna get any better, I've got a certain CP3 you need to talk to. Welcome to ParisWorld for the last 4 years.

[Collier11]

very smart there, maybe she needs to talk to Blake about being fouled hard, that was weak sauce

[SicEmBaylor]

The Tech player is as much at fault. You can clearly see her in the video grab her by the jersey and try to pull her down. Both behaved poorly and both are responsible.

[Collier11]

Me thinks Griner was completely at fault here, I think she is done for the big 12 tourney

[badger]

Me thinks Griner was completely at fault here, I think she is done for the big 12 tourney

pleasepleasepleaseplease :D

Behemoth is at fault for one reason and only one reason - retaliation. If Blake ever retaliated at any of the ninja throws or other craziness opponents tried to put him through, Blake would have been punished. If Behemoth didn't retaliate, Tech girl would have been called for a foul. Instead, Behemoth got tossed and will likely get suspended. Way to go, Behemoth. Right before postseason against a semi-crappy team that you would have beat regardless.

As NP said as he watched the video over my shoulder, looks like the Big 12 has a new thug. :mad:

[badger]

Also, since someone brought up Blake...

http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_gallery/0903/cbk.ncaa.top.tournament.moments/images/9.blake-griffin.jpg

Many of the photos originally posted are gone, but a few from last year's "Let's kill Blake" tourney (and some womens tourney pics) can be viewed in this thread here. (http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130091&highlight=tourney+photos)

[NormanPride]

The Tech player is as much at fault. You can clearly see her in the video grab her by the jersey and try to pull her down. Both behaved poorly and both are responsible.

You're a homer. It's a hard foul that happens all the time, and the girl lost it. She throws a crappy punch, too.

[badger]

It should be noted that Behemoth wasn't the only player to retaliate - as the video shows, a few Skeltor minions started shoving Tech players as well. Morgan Medlock got T'd up. In case you're worried that Baylor got the shaft, the refs apparently reviewed tape for 10 freaking minutes to get the call right. Barncastle was called for a foul, BUT GRINER RETALIATED, got called for both a flagrant and was ejected.

It is interesting to note that Behemoth (who I would say definitely has earned that nickname) had 21 points at the time of ejection and will likely get the wrath of the Big 12 if Baylor chooses to go the Boise State or Florida route for discipline.

EDIT: I have lurked on a few Big 12 boards, and BF.com (that's Baylor Fans, which is actually more active than when they tried to reprimand the beer thief, hahahahaha) had this look...
http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ghrNLXz0Lv5FnA3CKCEolPYA0VS_O0GXe3HgapHlDTKdW73YZy Tta8WxJJvQvj__BoRhEaoiNHdasWJLWO42Wr1MMg=s512

However, the best one-liner belongs to our dear sister school site OP.com:


Someone should have taught him you don't hit girls.

[edie]

good article on the ?? if a.riley is the thugette what is greiner going to be?

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/columns/story?columnist=voepel_mechelle&id=4964568

[badger]

If A. Riley is the Thugette, Griner is the Fugette... half fugly, all thugly.

And with this new highlight reel that involves absolutely no blocking or dunking, she shall be the BFF:

Baylor. Fugette. Forever.

And thanks for the link! I've always like Mechelle's work at Espen. OU was very fortunate to have both CP3 and Blake Griffin. They both suffered some really bad abuse from opposing players and fans and did not once go to retaliate.

[badger]

Behemoth update - at least one game for breaking Tech chick's nose, as per NCAA rules.

Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=4966163)

[Collier11]

I think she is done thru big 12 tourney, alot of natl media think she should be done into next season

[outuba]

Unfortunately, she was only given a 2 game suspension (1 by the Big 12 and the other by Baylor). It's sad that something like that only receives a 2 game suspension and a possible assault charge from Barncastle.

[NormanPride]

I'm trying to be surprised that Skeletor failed here, but I'm just not. She's terrible.

[badger]

Not saying that Baylor sucks without its Behemoth... but they definitely are not the No. 3 team in the Big 12 tourney without her.

As such, look for Baylor to drop to the No. 7 seed (at least) after the UT loss. Then, because Baylor doesn't totally suck, look for them to womanhandle whatever crappy north team they're stacked up against in the first round. Finally, laugh at whatever higher-ranked team gets screwed in their first round by having to face Baylor and the returning Behemoth (unless its us, in which case, angry face!)

I agree with the sentence for the following reasons:

1- Sends a message that something like this warrants more than the minimum punishment, and

2- Takes into account that it is her first offense.

When Thug Riley got her still-not-served-yet-but-will-this-postseason suspension, it was not her first offense. It was her second and it still haunts her today. If Behemoth hulks up again and smashes some poor girl's nose for trying to play defense, look for a bigger punishment.

If Skeletor has any honor, she'll use this as a teaching opportunity and limit Behemoth's minutes for the rest of their season. But who are we kidding?! There's a reason we call her Skeletor, and it's not just because she's a scary looking opposing coach! She's a VILLAIN and she coaches a team of VILLAINS.

[edie]

"Do you feel the punishment is appropriate? Keep in mind, the punch wasn't thrown while the two were tangled under the basket. The rough play was over, the players were separated, she walked at least three full steps and threw a punch that broke the nose of the other player. Not a push or a chest bump, a Mike Tyson right cross to the face.

I think the punishment would have been appropriate if the punch happened while they were tangled under the basket battling for position as an instant reaction. She clearly had 3-5 seconds to contemplate what she was going to do and she walked over and did it."

borrowed the above from the OP board. the amount of time between the tt girl kind of throwing her and the amount of time it took bg to walk over to her and throw the punch.... she seems to have had plenty of time to decide, "yep, i'm going to hit her."

my vote - she's out for the remainder. or she SHOULD be out the remainder. i really think i would say the same if courtney or abi had done it. call me old fashioned but there just is no room for this is bb. not just wbb but basketball in general.

[NormanPride]

We kicked a girl off our team for stealing makeup. Punching someone is grounds for exile from the state.

[badger]

Yeah, well, that's Sherri Coale and that's OU. We have higher standards. I can't think of the last time any of our players got a T. I remember Sherri getting a T for arguing with the b!tch ref (you all know the one I'm referring to) about five years ago. That's it.

I also cannot remember the last time any of our mens players got a T (Longar doesn't count since that was flagrant, right?). I know Capel gets a few Ts when he's trying to fire his team up, but the players are under control.

The precedent has already been set for incidents like this, and it's a one game suspension. Riley got it for slapping an LSU player's head (from behind), and Behemoth got twice the punishment.

Would I love for Baylor to get "sent a message" or get a bigger punishment? Yes! But alas, the NCAA isn't going to overstep on this, nor is the Big 12, and certainly not Baylor and Skeletor.

Also, there's other ways to make players pay for mistakes other than game suspensions. Hope Griner is ready to be the target or every team and fanbase's wrath for the next several years :D

[SicEmBaylor]

Damn, what did I do with my boots? I'm going to need them to wade through the bull**** in this thread. ;)

[badger]

http://i45.tinypic.com/2hzgv7n.jpg

[NormanPride]

Quality work there, sweetie. :D

[badger]

Skeletor's next act will be to take a page out of Mighty Ducks' Coach Bombay's playbook -

Behemoth: Take the fall! Act hurt! Get indignant!
Skeletor: I can't hear you!
Behemoth: TAKE THE FALL! ACT HURT! GET INDIGNANT!

[Collier11]

2 games is weak sauce for the Griner deal, just sayin. That was a sucker punch

[badger]

Can you believe they're already seniors?!
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_bsi_wide/4591816.jpeg

These three outstanding leaders - Abi, Ny and Amanda - endured the nation's toughest schedule and have an RPI of 8. After being picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 and not picked at all for television in the Tulsa area most times (argh), they can get a first-round bye in the Big 12 tourney with a win.

Um... OSU... what to say about them... they have Kurt Burke, who is only winning when top scorer Andrea "Thug" Riley takes a lot of shots and take a lot of free throws.

The game will start at 4:07 p.m. Oklahoma time and is broadcast on allegedly on the Sooner Sports Network, KAUT Channel 43 in Oklahoma City or KQCW Channel 19 in Tulsa.

If you are a big loser like me and will miss this final regular season home game at LNC, do not fret. Norman is a host city for the first and second rounds of the tourney.

[badger]

I hope somebody is watching this game besides me. OU can't miss. OSU can. It is really fun to watch.

[silverwheels]

Teagan Cunningham wishes she were Andrea Riley. That was a weak-*** elbow she threw on Carlee.

[DeadSolidPerfect]

Aggies are a team full of punks. I'm really glad the Sooners embarrased them.

[badger]

I can say without exaggeration that if I were to ever have a daughter, I know that I would be able to rely on Sherri Coale and her team to provide the best role models an Oklahoma girl could ever ask for.

As Sherri gave hearty hugs to each of the seniors as the end of the blowout win (we could have scored more than 95 easily, but Sherri has more class than Skeletor), I was reminded of one of the final scenes of Jerry Maguire, because players who attend colleges elsewhere are going to see Sherri hugging her seniors and close to tears in postgame, then look at their coach and ask, "Why don't we have that kind of relationship?!" Their coach will then try to give them a haphazard hug and the player will push them away, disgustedly.

And this, in case you're wondering, is why the daughters of professional athletes send their daughters to OU, because while we may not have a 70-game winning streak like UConn or be a preppy private school, we have something that other programs don't that is worth far more. The younger sister of a Super Bowl QB, the daughters of a former NFL pro, the daughter of an NBA champion and Olympian, etc. etc. etc., they can go to college ANYWHERE they want, anywhere their families want. The families and the girls choose to go to Oklahoma. It's because "OU family" isn't just a David Boren catchphrase.

http://i45.tinypic.com/2wrk8eh.jpg
Rather than pound the fail drum more in OSU's face, let's just sum up their performance by saying IT WAS BAD.

Senior moment 1: Ny had 15 points and 3 assists.

Senior moment 2: Abi had 10 rebounds and 6 points.

Senior moment 3: Tank/Waitress/Amanda Thompson had 29 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists!

Let's skip the negatives for once (because there really aren't any when you win 95-62) and skip right to team awards!

3-point shooting: 16 for 27 (which if my math is correct, just shy of 60 percent). Practically everyone had a 3-pointer drop by the end of the game. Yes, ever Carlee ;)

Assist-to-turnovers: 24-to-14, and no player had more than 3.

Player of the game: Amanda Thompson.
Like usual, "Tank" did everything on offense and defense for the team and got the biggest hug of all from Sherri at about the five-minute mark, when all of the senior left to an ovation.

Honorable mention: Carlee.
She finally found her shot again, but only after getting decked in the face by some b!tch named Tegan Cunningham. It was dirty. It was cheap. It was only called as an intentional, but the announcers were suggesting that it was worthy of ejection. Unlike a certain other Big 12 player, Carlee didn't retaliate and even got punched in the gut in the second half. Again, no retaliation. Did I mention how much I love our team's integrity?

[Boomer.....]

An amazing display of outside shooting. Great seeing AT leaving on a high note. Everyone played great!

[badger]

So... who is our next opponent?

Hint:
http://i50.tinypic.com/2vknn61.jpg
As they said in "A Christmas Story..." ...FUUUUUUDGE :mad:

View the Big 12 bracket here (http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&KEY=&ATCLID=204865964). A better insult to our likely first tourney opponent shall be forthcoming.

[badger]

Apparently Behemoth was in the Baylor student section giving autographs and posing for pictures while her team was losing to Texas on senior day :rolleyes:

In any event, it's poll time. OU drops one spot to 12. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/basketball/uconn-women-still-top-ap-poll/article1493851/)

(ESPN is being slow, so I'm linking a different site today).

Here goes!

3. Nebraska - the only non-Conn team to be undefeated sitting atop the Big 12... and still no respect over No. 2 Stanford?!

11. Texas A&M - Finished with a three-game winning streak, including against us.
12. Oklahoma - We got replaced at No. 11 by the team that beat us.
14. Iowa State - Lost to OSU, but still sealed the No. 2 Big 12 spot in the tourney with a win over us :(
15. Texas - Beat a Behemoth-less Baylor.
16. Baylor - Star player still has to sit another game. Can they beat Colorado without her? (yes, unfortunately)
20. OSU - They really, really, suck, but they beat Iowa State and we didn't, so there's hope of another matchup with them... which is to say, not a matchup at all.

This season has turned out better than even my optimistic self could have hoped for. Nothing short of amazing. Alas, to make another Final Four run, we'll have to go through Stanford, it looks like (according to Bracketology projections).

[badger]

A big kudos and congrats to Danielle Robinson, Amanda Thompson and Nyeshia Stevenson for receiving All-Big 12 honors.

Link! (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20100309_234_B8_Dneloi593644)

This news actually came out yesterday, but I'm trying to pace my excitement about this team. This team is more exciting than last year's Final Four team, if that's possible. It was pretty much a given that last year's team would go deep in the tourney and do well in the Big 12 tournament... and when the Big 12 tourney did not work out despite our homefield advantage, (http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&ATCLID=1524125) it suddenly got very questionable how deep we'd go in the postseason.

But this team? HUGE question mark. Sure, we are going to the tourney, but how far? This year, even the Big 12 tourney is a big question mark. I would probably die if Baylor were to pull the same 6-seed stunt that we did a few years back (winning the tourney despite a 6-seed).

Hopefully, I will return tomorrow with news of more player honors.

Boooooooooooomer!

[NormanPride]

No matter what happens this year, it's been fun. These girls really worked hard and I hope they view the tourney as a reward they can have fun with. Relax and play as hard as you can!

[edie]

sunday's game was THE best i've seen all year! 12,000 + showed up and a pretty good portion of the orange left @ halftime. the senior festivities were great after the game. courtney looked like she may have dropped a few pounds or at least worked out and changed her shape a little. saw where the chicago sky (courtney's wnba team) is going to be playing the new tulsa team in late august. we're going to make the drive.

we're going to miss the 3 seniors next year. i really hope we can get a post player and let mcfarland play out. once she gets over the freshman mistakes i think she's really going to be something.

let's see how far we can go from here. proud of our season...proud of our girls!!

BOOMER...

[...sooner]

SOONER!

im ready for whitney hand to come back too! i love her.

[badger]

Speaking of Tulsa Shock...

What. The. Hell. (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=413&articleid=20100310_413_0_Former861950)

(Hint: We are about to sign someone you've all heard of, even if she's not from OU)

[edie]

i just read that. i guess she can play basketball? bound to get a little press from the signing. their going to need something to get people in to watch the games.

[badger]

So good to see a lot of basketball talk for once... even if it's just lamenting the mens loss :(

In any event, the Big 12 womens tourney started today. The game that determines our first opponent, Crappy Colorado versus Skeletor's Minions starts at 7:30 p.m. Oklahoma time.

Read more on the once and future champs of this year, Nebbish, here. (http://proxy.espn.go.com/ncw/blog/_/name/ncwexperts) A shoo-in for coach of the year.

Chatter on Neb's undefeated run, whether Griner will kill us tomorrow or if Thug Riley will be Big 12's scoring champ (more thought on her being a fraud later if we play them later) here. (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20100311_234_B6_CanNeb541868)

Alas, not a lot of media stuff on the women just yet, so check out SS.com here (http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/2010_big12_blog.html) for a blog on their trip up to KC.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_bsi_wide/3740043.jpeg
Can't wait till tomorrow, but since I have to, GOOOOOOOOOO COLORADOOOO!

[edie]

k.state beats texas tech. read that barncastle played wearing a mask but didn't seem to add anything to the game. think i saw she played 17 mins.

nebraska should have their way with the wildcats tomorrow.

[badger]

Hope this works - a link to the senior tribute video (javascript:window.open('http://www.cstv.com/allaccess/player/07-oas-mediaplayer-okla.html?content=mms://a1981.v8108e.c8108.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1981/8108/v0001/cstvcbs.download.akamai.com/8108/open/okla/09-10/video/w-baskbl/03mar/20100308_senior_video.wmv&school=okla&','VideoPlayer','toolbar=no,resizable=no,scrollbar s=no,width=750,height=460');%20void('')). Very touching.