right and left, respectively
Expectations high for Coale's team
By LYNN JACOBSEN World Sports Writer
7/31/2006
OU's coach can't wait to get on the floor with her new group of players.
Time is passing a little too slowly for Sherri Coale's liking these days.
The University of Oklahoma women's basketball coach is eagerly anticipating the start of the 2006-07 basketball season.
And why not? She returns all five starters from a team that went 31-5 and breezed through Big 12 competition in both the regular season (16-0) and postseason.
And among the five newcomers this year are high school All-Americans Amanda Thompson and Abi Olajuwon, the daughter of NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon. Coale already has her first commitment for 2007-08 in Carlee Roethlisberger, the younger sister of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
"I'm real excited to get on the floor with this group," Coale said in a phone interview before hitting the recruiting trail. "There's so much teaching to be done with the new players but so much talent to accompany that."
She's isn't alone. Fans are ready to plunk down hard-earned dollars to guarantee themselves seats in what looks like a record-setting attendance season for the women's team.
Already, the Sooners have 3,404 commitments for season-ticket renewals. Last year's season
ticket sales topped out at 4,051.
An average of 7,630 fans watched the OU women's team in 2005-06, eclipsing the previous season-high average of 6,606 fans during the 2001-02 national championship runner-up team that included All-American Stacey Dales.
"For sales to be exceeding what they were last season without any type of formal intent is pretty amazing," Coale said.
"It speaks highly not only to the number of games we won, the fact that we went undefeated in the league and went to the Sweet Sixteen, I think it also is a reflection of how our team plays, how they compete. It's a product people enjoy being a part of."
So does all this translate into added pressure for Coale and her staff to produce a national championship for this season or in the future?
"Oh gosh, I don't think there could ever be any added pressure on us more than what we've put on ourselves," she said.
"If our chemistry can continue to be as positive and as strong as it has been the last few years and particularly last season, then the expectations should be high."
Coale said the biggest mistake the Sooners can make is trying to compete with last year's success. Instead, she prefers the team builds expectations for this season.
"I don't know that you sit down and say you want to be undefeated," she said. "I also don't think you want to say we don't want to lose more than two games. You have to be really, really careful about putting numerical expectations on a season.
"For us, the important thing is for us to face each game with the right mindset, that being a healthy dose of respect for our opponent and a really high expectation of performance for ourselves. We are a little older and more experienced, and with that comes an even smaller margin of error. That will be the key for us."
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Lynn Jacobsen 581-8461
[email protected]