Sooner womens basketball thread

Can you believe it's less than a month till tipoff?


I will be back later this month to preview stuff, introduce our three freshmen to you all and bash Baylor. If you like Baylor, go here. Or here. Or anywhere else. Anywhere else likes Baylor more than I do.

 

Cool! I enjoy reading these every year.

 

I saw this on SS.com and thought you all would want to see it to:

In case you are curious, she is 47 and will turn 48 this January.

 

Hey, I'm back! Yes, I need breaks from shaming the losing fanbases with football meltdowns and talking politics.

Sherri Coale once again (do all of you remember that she taught English at Norman High before getting hired?) has an awesome blog entry. read it here.

And no doubt you noticed that our roster last year looks different from our roster this year. Here are our subtractions, and then we'll get to the freshmen additions before season starts:

Jacqueline Jeffcoat

A once promising and heralded recruit (her twin brother is now starting on whorn's abysmal football team), Jackie just could not stay healthy. Usually in sports lingo that means injuries, but in Jaq's case, that also reportedly meant mono, if I recall correctly. As someone that once had that too (don't even go there --- I accidentally switched cross country jackets with another guy on our co-ed team who had it without knowing it...and when we switched back, ugggggh), I know how much that crap can impact your energy levels.

DaShawn Harden

I wish I had a reason for her offseason transfer, but I can only speculate. Guard is a very competitive position at OU between vets and newbs, so my guess is that there was a logjam at the position and whereas many though Harden would emerge as a starter, she seemed to actually go backwards as the season went on. In any event, I wish she stayed with the team for more than one season.

Kaylon Williams

This was not the news I wanted right before the season started --- one of our best chances at pizzing off Baylor is out for the season with injury. It's the infamous Jason White injury. AHHHHHHHH!!!!

Katherine Zander

With as few times as I saw her, I was starting to wonder if (a) she was a walk-on and not a scholarship player, (b) she was redshirting, (c) she was injured or (d) in the Sherri Coale doghouse. I have no idea and now she's transferring so... it is what it is.

Jelina Cerina

Lastly but not leastly is our sole departing senior, Jelina Cerina. Our Serbian 6-5er was a presence in a league that depends on size (grrrr Baylorrrrrr) so she will be missed.

I wish the best of luck to all of our transfers and Jelina. I also wish a SPEEDY RECOVERY to Kay Kay.

 

Why Baylor sucks
1- Skeletor
This is our SF nickname for their head coach, Kim Mulkey. If you have never attended an OU-Baylor game, she stomps her heels along the side of the court, going onto the court to shout at her players and the refs during the game, not just timeouts, and has been known to make the most ugly, evil expressions that photos can capture. Seriously, just Google Image Search "Kim Mulkey" and you will see what we have all discovered.

2- Behemoth
This is their female dunker that has gotten punchy and has gotten ejected for leaving the bench. She is undisciplined, but unfortunately, also very tall in a game that is still made up of mostly under 6-feet players.

3- Fanbase
They travel, or at least they travel to LNC. We can white out 90 percent of LNC, but then 10 percent of them have to be wearing their greenie shirts with their little texas yipping during the game's silent moments (when OU is shooting free throws, grrr). Perhaps their AAU ringer men's basketball coach will cause their fanbase to follow them instead? I mean, they DO have brighter uniforms!

4- They beat us a lot
They beat everyone else too... but really, what does all of this winning do for them? Whether you win 30 games in your title year or 20, it's still a title. OU was once a 6-seed in a 12-member Big 12 for our championship tournament and we won it all. Did having more wins help seed 1-5 beat us in the postseason. NO! Does dunking the ball make a shot worth more than 2 points?! NO! Does having three titles mean jack sh!t now that we have a new season? NO.

And as such, I present to you, the lately masterpiece by Soonerpsycho, which shows exactly what will happen to Baylor this season after that they destroyed every opponent in the past, but only have a few dust collecting trophies to show for it:



You're going down Baylor. In this season or the next.

 

One of Skeletor's better pics!!!



And another!!

 

Picture it! A 2-year old child throwing a temper tantrum!!!

[video=youtube;Qxs1kBYWE8s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxs1kBYWE8s[/video]

 

what has been seen cannot be unseen. i must have looked away when they initially showed that (or was having pregger issues, heh)

 

Eff Domer. HATE GREEN

Now that we can leave that crappy weekend behind, let's look forward to NEXT MONTH, which starts in less than a week!
We are No. 12! We are No. 12!
And it's not in football... sorry, sorry, I promise that game is out of my system now. HATE GREEN


The bad news is that Baylor, yes, THAT Baylor is the unanimous No. 1. Well, then they can just fall farther from being up so high, right? So, we are the second-rated Big 12 team, while West Virginia, who, thanks to Skeletor, we are tied for second in Big 12 preseason polling of coaches, was No. 16.

Pokes are No. 23. I didn't see any other Big 12 teams make the top 25.

I have yet to see the OU womens basketball media guide posted online, so they either didn't produce one, or they just aren't going to post it online, so I will have to find alternative pics of the newbies on the team. Or I can draw them. Nah, better not.

Anyways, I'm gonna get to the freshmen soon, hopefully before the season starts??

 

I HATE GREEN too, Badger!!!

Am anxious to see how this team does this year. I think they will really be improved and the 2 frosh and JC player are really going to contribute a lot, I think. Just wish KayKay hadn't been injured. Really going to affect our depth and options inside. After seeing the scrimmage Fri night, Nicole Kornet and Maddie Manning are going to be really good players for us in the next 4 years!

 

A funny thing happened when NP and I were listening to the radio en route down to Norman Saturday (came to visit family, left before the game to get back to Tulsa since we didn't have a tickets but did have an infant): Sherri Coale popped onto the Bob Stoops radio show set at Red Lobster (they were rebroadcasting it).

And Sherri mentioned that the team now had a 6'2" point guard. The women's team. A 6-foot-2 point guard. What?

And that leads me right into this year's preseason preview: One n00b freshman at a time:
Maddie Manning

PS: SS.com, you have not posted your media guide online yet. Either post it, or Maddie's preseason photo is THIS little boring photo you posted from your Big 12 media day thingie. Yawn.

Hometown: Ankeny, Iowa
Height: 6'2"
Position: Guard
High school awards:
• Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year
• 2012 4A State Tournament MVP
• 2012 4A All-Tournament Team Captain
• 2011 and 2012 First-Team All-State
• 2010 Third-Team All-State
• No. 10 Guard (Blue Star Report)
• No. 11 Guard (ESPNU HoopGurlz)
• No. 33 Overall (ESPNU HoopGurlz)
• No. 70 Overall (Blue Star Report)

Sooner impact: Questionable-longterm

Baj's overview: I am excited about the idea of having a 6'2" point guard on our team, without knowing anything else about Maddie whatsoever, especially since Sherri took the time to mention that random tidbit on the Stoops radio show (since, you know, he had spare time due to not taking fan phone calls anymore, heh). But, it's questionable what her immediate impact will be, because...
(a) Jaz Hartman is returning from her season-ending injury of last year. She's now a redshirt senior and team captain, just like Whitney, and
(b) We have this other player that led our offense a lot last year named "Morgan Hook"
So really, I'm not sure how much she will contribute right away, but longterm? KILL BAYLOR. They're not the only team in this league that can abuse the others with a size advantage, and if our guard is 6'2", then next thing you know, our forwards might be 6'10" and our center will be more than 7 feet tall. Dunking? Pbbbth. We'll still probably all shoot 3-pointers instead

Please tune in before the season starts next month as I go through the rest of our Sooner n00bs (two more)

 

Part 2, beyonces.

Nicole Kornet

PS: SS.com just isn't going to post their media guide this year, are they? Boo on them.

Hometown: Lantana, Texas
Position: G/F
Height: 6'1"
High school awards:
• Team MVP, 2012 WBCA High School All-America Game
• First-Team TAPPS All-State (2012)
• Area MVP, Denton Record-Chronicle (2012)
• All-Tournament, 2011 TAPPS 5A State Championship
• No. 5 Guard (Blue Star Report)
• No. 6 Guard (ESPNU HoopGurlz)
• No. 19 Overall (ESPNU HoopGurlz)
• No. 68 Overall (Blue Star Report)

Impact: Immediate!

Baj's overview: When KayKay went down, after punching things and shedding a tear for the potential to pizz off Baylor more lost, you have to remember that injuries are also opportunities for others to step up. KayKay had the opportunity to make such an impact on our roster last year because Lyndsey Cloman went down (but she will return this year, hopefully as healthy as ever). While there's a logjam at guard, if she is a "forward" instead, she could provide Joanna/Lyndsey relief... not just a breather, but when they inevitably get in foul trouble. We also have another forward to add into the lineup that I'll preview tomorrow.

One to go! And something tells me I'm gonna have to use a crappy media day photo rather than a perfect media guide photo for it

 

I'm not sure Lyndsey will provide much help this year. She's evidently recovered from knee injury but now having back issues and wasn't even suited up for the scrimmage the other night. I hope her issues improve but at this point it doesn't look very promising.

 

Part three... our new juco transfer!

Portia Durrett

Hometown: Louisville, Ky.
Position: F
Height: 6'1"
Juco accolades:
• 2012 NJCAA First-Team All-American
•2012 NJCAA Region VII Player of the Year

Impact: Immediate!

Baj's overview: When I think of recent jucos that Sherri's brought it, they have usually meant "immediate need, must fill this position NOW." For example, our Serbian sensation from last year, Jelina Cerina filled a need at center while Nicole Griffin either had foul trouble or needed a break. Thus, you can be assured that Portia has not been brought in as a bench warmer. What would be even better is if Portia were five inches taller and could help Nicole out at center... but as our team stands, I see us as a 3-forward lineup when Nicole is having foul trouble (or needs a break), so look for everyone that can be classified as "forward" to get lots of playing time.

Season starts... tomorrow! I can't believe I finished this preview on time. As per tradition, Sherri will scrimmage her alma mater to nearly 100 points as usual to open the season. You can catch our beatdown on TV (really????) at 7 p.m. Thursday on FCS Pacific. Now to wonder if we actually get that channel on our new U-verse service...

Boomer!

 

Holy cow they actually posted the media guide!

Wait... does this mean that they actually read this?

Um... hi!

...anyways, enjoy the media guide. I will probably steal images from it later this season.

 

My mom is very happy with the schedule since she won't have to miss church very often. Quite a few of the best conference matchups are on Saturday instead of Sunday. Also, Sunday tip-off times at home seem to have been moved back to 3pm allowing fans to get home from church and then drive to the game. Whoever is responsible, thank you.

 

118-53

A hearty EFF YOU to Fox Sports, whose seven regional channels that my ATT Uverse carried ALL showed the OSU men taking on Ottawa in a mostly-empty GIA and absolutely NONE showed Sherri's Sooners. EFF YOU, Fox Sports. EFF YOU.

As such, looking at the SS.com recap, here's what we can take away from our annual OCU exhibition:

- Everyone got to play. It appears that Jaz Hartman is either not fully recovered, or is not being involved much in her final Sooner year, with the fewest minutes of everyone, seven. Of course, Joanna McFarland only had 12, and there's really not much doubt in my mind that she'll start, so perhaps it was just a game to give our freshmen a chance to play in front of...

- 3,000-5,000 fans. Seriously, way to go, LNC. Most womens teams would kill for the chance to play in front of a 3k (estimated attendance) to 5k (official attendance) crowd for a regular season game and we get that for an exhibition. It's probably a bunch of Norman retirees who HATE GREEN, hehe. But still, awesome jorb. OSU men didn't have that much for Ottawa, I bet, hehe.

- OMG Nicole Griffin. 23 points, shooting 8 for 9, and 7 for 8 from the line. Then again, shouldn't someone as tall as her have more than 3 boards (no typo - THREE)

Free throw dunce hat: Portia Durrett. Welcome to OU, juco transfer! Now wear this free throw dunce hat, for missing four of your eight. Everyone else was near-perfect (without her, 26 of 28) and she misses/makes half.

Clang clang clang went the 3-pointer: Nicole Kornet. Welcome to OU, freshman! Now, if you are going to shooting 2 for 7 from three point range in the future, expect to be benched. If you can't make your threes against an exhibition opponent, then I'm not sure what to tell you. Then again, the entire team went 12 for 30, so maybe we should not use this as our crutch this year?

Miss Foul Prone: Maddie Manning. Welcome to OU, other freshman! Why, pray tell, do you have four fouls? Was it because you were trying to get a steal after a Sooner turnover? Was it because you were afraid of them hitting an open shot, so you took a swat at their arm instead? Seriously, I have no idea why, SINCE FOX SPORTS' BILLION CHANNELS WERE SHOWING OSU MEN VERSUS OTTAWA INSTEAD!!! grrrr... whatever it was, I've seen it in freshmen early in their careers before. Please stop it by regular season, because if you don't, Sherri will bench you by Big 12 regular season, and definitely come tourney time.

Now that I've embarrassed all of our new Sooners, a player of the game award:


Seriously, there's nothing more promising that her stat line that should make you look forward to this season more. Look past her rebounding, because the team had 6 players with at least 6 rebounds, so the ball was getting to our team somehow. I'd like to imagine that she was tipping missed shots to her teammate. Why am I imagining this because FOX SPORTS WAS ONLY BROADCASTING THE POKE MEN BEATING UP ON SOME TEAM THAT THEY CAN PRETEND WAS THE REAL OU, SINCE OTTAWA UNIVERSITY IS ABBREVIATED OU. STUPID POKES. STUPID FOX SPORTS. STUPID! STUPID STUPID!

Boomer.

 

Also, on a sad note, Lyndsey Cloman, due to lingering injury issues, had to quit basketball. From Sherri's postgame presser:

We all know that she will go on to great things, even without basketball. Good luck, Lyndsey!

 

FYI: You can watch the games live online now. Scroll down and you can still find the replay of the game.

http://www.soonersports.tv/

 

Forget Election nite coverage. You know that the west coast won't stop voting till 9 p.m. Oklahoma time and they'll be declaring races all night long anyways, so why not watch your very own RANKED Sooner womens basketball team tonight instead?

Time: 7 p.m. tonight
Opponent: Henderson State
TV: COX 271 | AT&T U-Verse 648 | DirecTV 623
Radio: KREF 1400 AM in Oklahoma City

What to watch for: Will the Sooners score 100+ on their OTHER exhibition opponent this preseason? Seriously, I can't think of anything else... OH! And see if the n00b honors I dished out last game based on box score alone were warranted or not.