Sooner womens basketball thread

Dear Sooner Athletic Department,

You broadcast the first OU womens basketball game on Fox Sports Pacific. Pacific. If I'm not mistaken, you broadcast the next game last night on Fox Sports Central. Central. Why the hell can't you broadcast our games on Fox Sports Oklahoma or Fox Sports Southwest, you know, the channels that badger receives on this new fangled ATT Uverse that NP signed up for after Cox decided to raise our rates again.

A hearty eff-you to whoever is responsible.

I will be back later today to recap from the box score. Again.

Eff-you.

Love,
~baj

 

98-33

I love my Sooners. I really do. That's why it disappoints me so much to not-see them due to not-televised here on ATT Uverse. But, hopefully that means that some of you non-Oklahomans can get to see the team I'm grown to love during the past decade.

If you are new to SF or just dropped in by accident, here's my Sooner womens basketball fandom story: I was randomly assigned to the womens basketball pep band my freshman year at OU. I wasn't even going to do basketball band, but a director made a plea to trumpets to audition, because despite the fact that both the mens and womens teams were destined to go to the Final Four that season, nobody really stepped up to audition. So, I was like "Sure, why not, I can play Boomer Sooner a few hundred more times after football's over" and the rest is history.

Womens basketball is an easy sport to love at the college level, because unlike it's pro-WNBA counterpart, you have a reason to support your team (you already love OU) and the crowd is often made up of retired Sooners and kids that they give free tickets to.

If you are actually a professional troll and just like to distract athletes and realize you are vastly outnumbered in most college football venues, the basketball scene is easier to troll opponents in. In womens basketball especially, you will see opposing benches start little "de-fense" cheers, which you can easily change to "O-U" chants and drown them out. There are many other examples of player/opponent trolling that I've given in the past that I'll probably mention more of as the season goes on.

And now... let's see what the box score looked like to see if I can figure out what I missed last night:

Did they do anything wrong: Well, SS.com reports that they had an early shooting slump, but they apparently overcame that to score 98... so... shame on them for not hitting 100???

Whitney Hand is Landry Jones' better half: After LJ threw a few picks, Whitney has 11 points, 7 assists, 9 rebounds... and ZERO turnovers. Perfect from the free throw line, 3 of 7 from three... anyways, we all love our meerkat quarterback, but there's no doubt who the better Sooner is.

Everyone got to play again: Except Lyndsey, who as you all may recall, is finished playing basketball, unfortunately. Jaz Hartman continues to be the last in minutes and stats, so unfortunately, her senior sendoff will likely be a quiet one. Other than that, looks like we have a lot of potential.

Scam, opponents. This is Joanna's rebound, not yours: 13 boards. Our starting power forward pwns all.

Now, let's embarrass some players:

Turnover queen: Welcome to your second Sooner game, Nicole Korney. Now, please take the basketball and don't give it to anyone not wearing crimson and cream... well, I guess our uniforms are more white than cream, but anyways, FIVE turnovers?! Your freshman classification is showing. Glaring, really.

Team dishonor for missing threes: 11 of 27 overall, and here are some of your culprits: Morgan Le Tre (0 for 3) and Nicole Kornett again (1 for 4). My guess is they were just toying with Henderson State after awhile and had to end the shot clock in some situations. My guess.

Player of the game: Portia Durrett


The unquestioned player of the game had 26 pts and 9 rebounds. Congrats, juco transfer! Here's what Sherri had to say:

Next game: The Sooners will not even bother to give badger hope of seeing the game in a non-televised matchup against Creighton 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Omaha, Nebrasky.

 

Season opener (the first two were exhibitions):

1:30 p.m. Saturday
@ Creighton (it's somewhere in Nebraska, which is somewhere in the U.S., but definitely NOT in a football conference, hehe TRAITORS)
Radio: KREF 1400 AM in Oklahoma City/Norman

Owing to the fact that a majority of Sooner fans will likely be tuned into something else Saturday afternoon, this game will not be televised.

I have promised to post one Kim Mulkey photo for every point Baylor scores, unless OU scores 70 on them (the amount of pointage WVU scored on them earlier this season). Here's a preview:

Skeletor: RG3, I see that you have a heart right here where my hand is. What's it like to have a heart? Skreeeeeeeeee

 

I watched the HSU game and afterwards I was not all that optimistic about the upcoming season. I saw a lot of the same play as last year. We always seem to be out of control on offense. They really need to slow it down a little to limit turnovers. I can't believe some of the passes they try to make. It's really frustrating to watch.

 

You owe us some Baylor pics.

 

I would evaluate probably the same way, but alas, I apparently don't get the right Fox Sports channels on ATT Uverse... grrrrr...

Fiiiiiiine... here's a Baylor pic:

OMG LOOK AT BAYLOR!

Now... let's see... was there a game this weekend? A Sooner womens basketball game?
69-48
I know that we can't score 100 (or near-100) on every opponent, especially on the road, but I can't say that I'm too impressed with the box score.

But I disgress. It's a win and it's the first win of the season, a season that I hope is full of winning and since Sherri seems optimistic about this group this year, I'll try to put on my awesome face as well.

Seriously... why the eff is Jim Traber still my avatar here? I am totally making myself a Sooner awesome face avatar sometime this week and sticking that up there instead.

Half-half three-three: 7 of 14 from three-point range. That' snot terrible, but that' snot earth shattering by this team's expectations either. Yes, I just wrote out "snot" twice in one sentence.

Near-perfect frees: You know what's better than going 8 for 9 from free throw range? Making more than 8. Seriously, I love that we're almost-perfect, but I'd rather us get to the line more, even if it means bonking more shots.

The RETURN of Four-Foul McFarland: Oh Joanna, I thought that we never would see "Four-Foul" after your freshman year, except on special occasions. Seriously, you're too important to this team to be in foul trouble. Please refrain from future foul troubles, or I may have go off on a crazy fan-rant.

Six-turnover Whitney: I wonder what punishment Sherri inflicts for excessive turnovers. Then again, I recall her describing one of her freshmen high-speeding the offense to the point of the ball ending up all over LNC in practice, so perhaps things aren't normal when there aren't turnovers. Derp.

New rule: I only name player of the game if I like the outcome. I can't say that I like this outcome. It is as much of a "meh" win as the OU-Baylor win on Saturday. I don't like seeing us attempt only 8 free throws. I don't like seeing us have more turnovers as a team (19) than assists (14). I don't like seeing a so-so rebounding effort (44 total, no player in double figures). And finally, I don't like seeing us shoot 48 percent overall from the field. Yes, you're shooting lots of threes so that percentage is gonna be lower, but as noted, we shot 50 percent for 3s... so we actually shot worse from inside the line than outside?!?!?!

But, I'm probably being picky. Here's what Sherri had to say:

So, there you have it. I'm a picky badger. And if you don't like it, you must be a Baylor fan.

Next game: 7 p.m. Wednesday at LNC versus UCLA. TV coverage on FS Oklahoma+/FCS Central and radio on KOKC 1520 AM. I can't wait to see how ATT Uverse keeps me from watching this game.

ATT Uverse: Thank you for subscribing, new subscriber! We are going to put Lamar University versus Texas State on ALL 20 of your sports channels simultaneously!

 

Maybe i shouldnt complain when att uverse doesnt broadcast sooner womens games.

I am punching this boppy pillow repeatedly (dont worry, baby badger went to bed already) and i am really pizzed at everything im seeing.

More tomorrow. Will ou make up a 15 pt deficit? Or will baj epicly meltdown before your sf.com eyes?

Rabble rabble rabble.

 

Had the game on, but brought some work home so I didn't focus on the entire game. I watched a good part of the second half, and they made a good run...but it was just too little too late. It hurts losing to an unranked team, but UCLA is not a bad squad (they kept talking about how they were the third best team in the PAC). I'm thinking they'll make some noise before the season's over.

Anyway, I'm not sure how well our women played the first half, but they looked pretty darn good when I was watching. Plus they kept showing Landry, and he looked focused on WVU...

 

Landry looked as focused on stuff as he always does... which is to say not at all

I'll grouch about the game later this morning.

 

According to the box score I saw, we were out rebounded by 22 and gave up 24 offensive rebounds. That would seem to be a problem.

 

Let's just get this out of the way... despite the fact that we went to the Final Four last season...

^^^actual image from this year's OU womens basketball media guide^^^
We are not going this year. We are doomed. We are absolutely rebuilding and there's nothing our poor depleted roster can do about this year.


I watched the entire game, thanks to DVR and baby badger fussing at church last night (the perfect excuse to get her home and in bed!) so let me give my first impressions on each aspect of the game:

OU home crowd: Came alive when the team needed them, like when we finally got UCLA's lead back to single digits after being down by close to 20. Even if there's empty seats, we're sound louder than the football Notre Dame game crowd on TV. Kudos!

Billy Tubbs: He's awesome and I hope that he does more broadcasts in the future. He sounds like he's sipping bourbon the entire time, or at least he's just having too much fun doing his job. Lots of fun to listen to, especially when he rambles on with Sherri Coale postgame (she's always cordial and smiling, no worries).

Bob Carpenter: ELLENBERG. NOT BURGER! BERG! ELLEN-BERG! Now... learn the difference between HarTman and Campbell and we'll be all squared away. Seriously, you expect non-OU announcers to screw up player names, not one of our own

UCLA: Grudgingly respect how physical they played us. It's exactly the wakeup call we need before we face punchy teams like Texas A&M... oh wait! Well, before Skeletor and Co, I guess.

And now, our roster:

The n00bs: Nicole Kornet and Maddie Manning, our freshmen, really didn't do anything to stick out this game IMHO. Portia Durrett, our juco transfer, has potential to be like another Amanda Thompson, but is still coming off the bench.

Aaryn Ellenberg: As quick as our past point guards (Danielle Robinson comes to mind) but with a three-point shot. The only problem is her tendency to try to make up for team turnovers (not necessarily her own) by trying too hard to steal, often resulting in needless foul calls. Still, she's the one that kept us in the game in the first half (6 for 6 from three in the first half?!?!?!??!) and helped us return to the game in the second.

Nicole Griffin: I had higher hopes for her junior year. She simply missed too many close shots (3 for 7 overall) and too many free throws (6 for 12) and didn't get enough rebounds (4 total). Very disappointing if this is what her junior season is going to be like. She has the potential to be so much better, if for no other reason than she's taller than everyone else out there (6'6")

Morgan Hook: Positive first - the stat sheet said she had 8 assists. But the negative in this game for both UCLA as a whole and Morgan in particular was all of the close missed shots. 4-14 overall, 1-5 from three. Uggggggggghhhhhh

Sharane Campbell: When Bob Carpenter wasn't confusing her with Jasmine Hartman (angry face), she was a solid little worker bee. She didn't mess up terribly, she was consistent (12 pts) and didn't have too many turnovers (2).

Whitney Hand: Sometimes when she's out there turning the ball over and missing shots, I wonder if perhaps her freshman hype reputation has carried her through these iffy moments... and then, she goes to the bench and everything falls apart. Everyone's lost, a bunch of mindless zombies letting easy layups go by on defense, and easy turnovers on offense. So, Whitney continues to hold our fragile team together. Yay? She had 19 points and only missed four of her shots, shooting 3 for 4 from three.

Jasmine Hartman: The reason she doesn't have a lot of stats is because she does a lot of stuff that doesn't get you stats --- playing solid defense and not taking a lot of shots, but keeping the ball moving on offense and providing help during opponent traps. So, I wish she had the chance to do more, but we have a huge glut of guards right now. Too bad she's not taller. Then she could rebound and play forward/center

Joanna "Four Foul" McFarland: Remember Blake's final OU season where he took endless abuse (from judo throws to nut punches) from opponents and didn't seem to care? Well, Joanna doesn't have to worry about either of those yet, but she is taking tons of abuse from opponents and usually doesn't get the calls (or gets the calls against her instead) and it doesn't seem to bother her in the least! Simply amazing and to her credit. Alas, she had four fouls and was relegated to the bench most of the game because of it.

Sherri Coale: Much like Joanna, she is very good at controlling her emotions in public. She took that entire postgame interview with Billy and Bob cordially, even though it had to be disappointing beyond disappointment that her team was down by nearly 20, to cut that lead to 2 (I think) with a minute or so left, only to end up losing off some missed shots and opponent free throws.

Where we go from here: We need tons of improvement everywhere...

Defense: UCLA was missing waaaaay too many shots to have us not take advantage of that. We should have seen all of their misses and been like BOX OUT TIME! This shot is likely gonna miss! And gotten the board. Nope. Boo.
Rebounding: Please let there be more of this on both ends of the court, especially offense but ESPECIALLY defense.
Shooting: Threes, frees and every point value in between, we either need better shot selection or better shooting, period.
Fouling: Figure out how the refs are calling the game and adjust. If they're letting the Lady Bruins bully you, bully back!
Turnovers: I love moving fast, but if we're moving too fast to be catching passes, or end up getting trapped in the middle, then we're moving too damn fast.

Sherri? What say you?

Next game: Day: 2 p.m. Sunday against silly mascoted St. Louis. TV FS-OK/FS-Atlantic (billy tubbs!) and radio KOKC 1520 AM

BOOM***** ****ER

PS: We were evicted in the second round of the tournament last season, which is why you don't remember us going to Final Four.

 

We got out hustled last night. Ridiculous.

 

When we were hovering around a 15-pt deficit early in the second half (we were only down one at halftime!) and we were letting too many easy layups by, I took a break, kept the game running, and took a shower.

After I washed myself of our sloppy lazy play... we started cutting the lead! Alas, not so much that we had the lead, but dag nabbit, maybe I should've showered sooner so we wouldn't have run outta time

 

I'm in total agreement with the Badger that they push too hard (fast) which leads to costly turnovers and poor shooting. If the fast break ain't there run your half-court offense. This coast-to-coast crap on every possession isn't necessary.

We also missed a schmitt load of free throws. That's unacceptable at any level.

 

Some days are just bad hair days.

But at least we won the game, even if we *only* scored 68 doing it.

68-33
I have know no idea what a Biliken is, but that's who we beat (Univ. of St Louis).

Nicole leads scoring: She must have really taken to heart all of the missed free throws and other shots against UCLA, because she only missed three total this game (7 for 10 from the floor, 1-1 free throws).

Off-day for Aaryn: After solely keeping us in the UCLA game, Aaryn only shot 2 for 8 from three, missing more 3s than the rest of the team combined (who went 4 for 8 without Ellenberg).

Assists outnumbered again: By turnovers (16, compared with 14 assists). At least we weren't as bad as Billy-kin (4 assists, 23 turnovers).

Trying to guess: Which players are on short leashes, in Sherri's doghouse, injured, or just can ill afford to screw up lest they get playing time minimized more? Here's my guesses after this game:

Joanna "Two Foul" McFarland: She did not have her usual four fouls, but only played 18 mins, ending with 0 pts and 3 rebounds. I am going to guess "injured" based on how much UCLA beat her up.
Morgan Hook: I used to call her "Le Tre" based on how many threes she took and made, but this game, she went 0 for 0, but shot a paltry 2 for 6 from the field, and also only played 18 mins. I will guess "short leash," because she ran a lot at the basket against UCLA and missed a lot in the process. Might as well have turned the ball over with those misses, alas.
Sharane Campbell: 13 minutes?! She was behind everyone else in this stat against St. Louis. I am definitely going to guess Sherri's doghouse. With as capable as she showed she was last year, it's way too early to declare "sophomore slump" and bench her. Hmmm...

Usually this is the point in the entry where I quote Sherri, but I like opposing coach Lisa Stone's quote better... sooo... Lisa?

We really do need to get better, especially in the Big 12. At least Baylor got Stanford'ed and also sits pretty with one loss too

Next game: Untelevised, unradio'ed Friday in Hawaii versus Arkansas.

boomer!

 

Sorry, been preoccupied with being a single mom this week (NP outta state), so here's a pic of Morgan Hook's tongue to make up for it:

100-61
In what will hopefully not be our losing score to the Football Quacks in the Fiesta Bowl (d'oh!) we beat the Lady Quacks in Hawaii on Saturday. Here are the key stats:
Scoreburger: Aaryn Ellenberg(er) scored 27, mostly because she went 7 of 12 from three-range. Maybe now the announcers will get her name right(er).

Assists, not TO: 26 assists to 18 turnovers. Thank goodness. Sherri, you SURE you still don't wanna go to the Pac conference? (and yes, I remember that we lost to UCLA recently)

I would do more, but SS decided that the box score doesn't exist

73-70
OU followed up its Quack victory by beating the Lady Sooies (hey, at least I didn't call them Lady Pigs or Lady Backs!). Alas, Aaryn couldn't have two good nights in a row, so here's the OTHER key stats:

19 points to Griffin-dor: Take that, Hwerflepurff, Ravenslaw and Slithersnape - we are gonna win the Housh Carp! (just had to type that to make Potter fanatics scream at their computer screens) She shot well from everywhere on the floor, expect threes (0 for 0) and frees (3 for 8?! seriously?!?!)

Eff the TOs: 19. Gah. Who really cares about assists (there were 15), there is still too many. And yes, I'm going to repeat this until there aren't.

Five Foul McFarland: Oh Joanna, I don't want this to be a new nickname for you. She only had 12 minutes, probably due to foul trouble. Too bad, too, because she had 9 boards and shot 2 for 3 from three.

The n00b starter: Maddie Manningham was one of our starting five, while our other two n00bs, juco Portia and froshie Kornet, hardly played (5 and 3 minutes, respectively). Will be interesting to see if this lineup continues, or if it was a Lady Razor killer.

Now... let's end me talking and listen to Sherri instead:

Next game: 7 p.m. Thursday at home vs. Northwestern State (it's in Louisiana). TV is FS Oklahoma/FS Southwest+

Boo - oah'u - mer!

 

Actually, the Lady Pig (I'll use that name! LOL!) game was the day BEFORE the Orygun game, not the other way around so it looked like we improved instead of regressed! They played The Lady 'Bows (Hawai'i) the 3rd night and won too.

 

i'm firing myself, lol.

baby badger is going to play for sherri someday --- too much energy. alas, she may contribute to the turnover problem --- she regular drops toys that don't hold her attention

 

:highly_amused:

 

I thought Brittany was taller than that?