Whitney Hand out for season with torn ACL

[badger]

I thought this deserved its own thread.

Here's a recap (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20121207_92_B1_ULNSUs334915) for those of you that missed what happened last night.

Sherri couldn't even do her postgame radio show and had the shortest postgame TV interview that I've ever seen (even shorter than post-loss interviews).

Here is another recap. (http://newsok.com/ou-basketball-whitney-hand-injured-in-sooners-win-over-north-texas/article/3735331)

For those of you that are wondering, Landry Jones was indeed there for his wife's game and met her at the tunnel and I assume accompanied her as she left for her MRI to confirm the ACL tear. And yes, like Jason White, this is her SECOND acl.

Here is SS.com's recap. (http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/120612aaa.html)

My heart breaks for Whitney. LJ didn't just come back for a chance at football success, I'm convinced he also came back because Whitney had a season of eligibility left too.

:(

[salth2o]

I hate it for her.

[badger]

Because her OU career is probably over (but I hope it isn't), a tribute to Whitney Hand, who was part of two Final Fours (although one was next to Sherri as she tore her first ACL) and a lot of wins:

SF.com's first mention of Whitney Hand was back in November 2007, before she was even at OU. She had just defeated Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks in a three-point shooting contest (and won his shoes). Most memorable, however... start this video at 2:10:

Link (http://www.sportsstarsoftomorrow.com/articles/detail/DallasFW/Top-Rated-Girl-basketball-player-Beats-Jason-Terry-at-3-point-contest)

Jason: What college are you going to next year?
Whitney: Oklahoma.
Jason: Give her a hand!
Kids: Booooooo!
Whitney: (incredulous look) Hook em

Yes, she shook her head at the booing kids and did upsidedown horns back at them :D

Jason: A lot of Texas Longhorn fans in the house!
Whitney: Boooo! Hook em

So, even before she arrived, she was a Sooner fan favorite from the start :)

[badger]

If your emotions can handle it (so it may not be SFW in that regard), SS.com has posted tweets from various players supporting Whitney. You can view them here (http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/120712aaa.html)
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/w-baskbl/auto_bsi_player/7597292.jpeg

[C&CDean]

Female knees are not made for basketball. They're made for putting them up by their ears.

So now I hope Whitney gets knocked up and poops out a few rug rats and becomes a happy mother.

I was glancing at the tube last night when she got hurt and it made me kinda sick. I mean WTF else can go wrong?

[OkieThunderLion]

She'd get a 6th year if she wanted it. Seems doubtful though.

[badger]

Promo video from her froshie year:
wv9VTGQh8as

We were ranked No. 2 in the nation behind ****ing Puke-On UConn her froshie year, 2008-09, which was also our first Final Four season since Stacey Dales' senior year of 2001-02 in February. ESPN thought it would be a good idea to be in town when Pat Summitt got her landmark 1,000th win. OU, however, had other plans.

This game was memorable for so many reasons, and was probably the most memorable of Whitney's freshman year.

- We were at OKC's Ford Center/Chesapeake Arena
- We were preventing Pat Summitt from getting her 1,000th win
- Courtney Paris' double-double streak came to a close as she fouled out with 9 pts and 11 rbs
- Bobby Knight.

At the time, rumors (unfounded!) were that he was returning to college basketball, I think the program rumored at the time was Georgia, so as Whitney is shooting the lights outta the Thunderdome, Bobby Knight drops this line:


"If I ever coach again, I'm going to see if she can transfer and take her with me"

Whitney played all 40 minutes in the 80-70 victory over Rocky Top, scored 20 pts off 4 for 5 three shooting (8 of 9 overall)

After the game, Sheri was asked about her then-young stars, Whitney and D-Rob:


“Fabulous. Wise beyond their years. Poised. Two of the strongest students of the game that I’ve had at Oklahoma. They watch film every day; they want to work every day; they want to have a great day; they want to figure out what they can do better and want to find out what they did wrong the next day.”

[badger]

Around the time that everyone was melting down about conferences, with the potential for a Pac 16 and the Forgotten Five and Misery's governor starting the whole mess, another thread on another SF.com forum was taking over the pages views and drawing tons of outside traffic:

The inaugural (and only, because I'm not doing it again) Hottest of OU womens basketball poll. (http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?141963-Hottest-of-OU-women-s-basketball-poll)

Whitney outlasted the likes of Stacey Dales and even Sherri herself, but could not beat everyone's favorite off-the-bench Sooner, Krista Sanchez

Finale link here (http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?142727-Finale-Hottest-of-OU-womens-bball)

I still can't believe I did that stupid poll. You all seemed to love it though, and I remember there being demands for other polls (other teams, including men's teams, and more womens basketball photos).

Ultimately, it was too much time and there was too much complaining... and campaigning. Silly, silly campaigning. Maybe if we lose to Baylor by too much this year, I'll do an "ugliest Baylor basketball person" poll so that baylorfans.com hates me even more. :eek:

[NMSooner'80]

This whole thread is a great tribute to Mrs. Hand-Jones. I read some of those tweets from that link, and I'm rather "misty" while trying to type.

[Soonerjeepman]

just an unfortunate yr for OU women's bball. She's a trooper but her career is over. Her guy will be in the NFL next yr, she'll be a wife, and a mother in the soon future I'm sure.

Hopefully their kids will be studs and eventually head to OU.

[8timechamps]

My heart breaks from Whitney. I hope she can fully recover and I'm sure she'll support the team.

What is it with CLs and OU lately?

[olevetonahill]

Female knees are not made for basketball. They're made for putting them up by their ears.

So now I hope Whitney gets knocked up and poops out a few rug rats and becomes a happy mother.

I was glancing at the tube last night when she got hurt and it made me kinda sick. I mean WTF else can go wrong?

Yer a sexist Pig, I like it
Now she can also get to makin Landry sammiches like shes posed to.

[PalmBeachSooner]

Can we find a way to blame Schmitty?

[badger]

Can we find a way to blame Schmitty?
always... after all, if Schmitty didn't tell Landry that the best way to strengthen his knees was to be repeatedly punched in the face by opposing players, maybe he wouldn't have shared that conditioning advice with Whitney. ;)

Because you're probably all sick of me typing stuff like that, here's some links to what others have been writing about Whitney Hand lately:

Though Whitney Hand has played her last game for OU, don’t think she’s finished making a difference for her team (norman transcript) (http://normantranscript.com/sports/x2120613234/Though-Whitney-Hand-has-played-her-last-game-for-OU-don-t-think-she-s-finished-making-a-differnce-for-her-team)
Injuries threaten what kind of season the Sooners can have (ou daily) (http://www.oudaily.com/news/2012/dec/10/wbballdec2012/)

And now, to continue with my little Whitney tributes since I am (sadly) assuming she's done playing:

Some KU beat writing had the genius idea to interview Whitney Hand about her then-boyfriend Landry since KU was about to play them in football. This was 2009, so it was back when KU actually still cared about football and not about how quickly they could forget they still had football. 2009 was Mangino's final year at KU before the 2010-2011 Turner Gill experiment and the whatever-you-wanna-call-it Charlie Weis thing they did this season. Gah.

This was (also sadly) before her promising career started getting bit by the injury bug. You can read the fun interview here. (http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/sideline_report/2009/oct/21/the-sideline-report-with-landry-jones-girlfriend/)