bluesooner17
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Manning knows how big her final season must be
Along time ago, Kelvin Sampson referred to Tim Heskett as “Old Man River.” It was funny mostly because it really did seem like Heskett had been in Norman forever and it was really funny because Heskett was not yet a senior.
Maddie Manning has no moniker. The alliteration of her name is enough for the 6-foot-2 Ankenny, Iowa, native to stand out whether her name be uttered or written.
Maddie Manning.
See?
Yet, the Heskett reference still seems right. It seemed like he was in Norman forever.
Manning actually has.
The fourth game of her true freshman season, she supplanted Joanna McFarland from the starting lineup. The date was Nov. 23, 2012 Two days later, still at the Rainbow Wahine Showdown, against host Hawaii, Manning lost her first collegiate season to her first knee injury. And before the next season even began, she’d lost her second to her second.
That’s why she’s still here, long after earning her undergraduate degree, readying for one more go-round in her sixth year on campus.
The fall semester has not quite arrived and preseason practice won’t arrive for a little longer and the Sooners’ Nov. 10 season opener against Belmont is even further away.
Still, Manning already knows her final season will be her most important season.
She’s been a valuable player for a long time and a game-changing player some of the time.
A year ago, she did a little of everything, averaging 12.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and more than two assists per outing while making a healthy 39.7 percent from 3-point land.
Still, very few athletes, five years after their arrival, get one more season to bring their very best, to finally break out. Manning has it and she knows it.
“Absolutely, and I need to for this team,” she said. “I mean, it’s been no secret that I’ve been learning to be a scorer. I think everybody that watches our games gets frustrated with me for not doing that.”
What she’ll do after the coming season isn’t entirely clear, though she knows a few things. Like, she knows she wants to coach.
“I have my goal down to a T, where I want to coach, what I want to end up doing, but you can’t be as picky as my dream,” she said. “But it’s definitely to be a head coach somewhere.”
She just doesn’t know when it will begin: immediately after 12th semester at OU, or after spending a few years taking advantage of overseas playing opportunities.
Leah Rush is one former Sooner who used basketball to see the world and Manning thinks she might use it that way, too, before finding a job on somebody’s bench.
“Either way,” she said, “the path will be college assistant first.”
Now, you might think, Manning’s last season as a Sooner might be connected to what happens next. Like, the better her season, the more opportunity she might have.
Well, maybe, but not so much. The chance to play overseas may be more about the overseas than the playing.
But her last season at Lloyd Noble Center? That’s entirely about the basketball and, yeah, about finally breaking out.
“It’s my last year, I know there’s a lot more I can accomplish personally, there’s a lot more I can do on the court,” she said. “And, for me, that’s what it’s going to take to win this year.”
Only a few collegiate athletes are ever as senior as Manning will be. And for her, it’s very different than even last season.
“Not that I’m not being coached, I’m obviously still learning,” she said. “But it’s more of me taking ownership and teaching other people stuff because I’ve been around so long that I know it like the back of my hand.”
And delivering on the court.
“There’s no question about it,” Manning said.
Along time ago, Kelvin Sampson referred to Tim Heskett as “Old Man River.” It was funny mostly because it really did seem like Heskett had been in Norman forever and it was really funny because Heskett was not yet a senior.
Maddie Manning has no moniker. The alliteration of her name is enough for the 6-foot-2 Ankenny, Iowa, native to stand out whether her name be uttered or written.
Maddie Manning.
See?
Yet, the Heskett reference still seems right. It seemed like he was in Norman forever.
Manning actually has.
The fourth game of her true freshman season, she supplanted Joanna McFarland from the starting lineup. The date was Nov. 23, 2012 Two days later, still at the Rainbow Wahine Showdown, against host Hawaii, Manning lost her first collegiate season to her first knee injury. And before the next season even began, she’d lost her second to her second.
That’s why she’s still here, long after earning her undergraduate degree, readying for one more go-round in her sixth year on campus.
The fall semester has not quite arrived and preseason practice won’t arrive for a little longer and the Sooners’ Nov. 10 season opener against Belmont is even further away.
Still, Manning already knows her final season will be her most important season.
She’s been a valuable player for a long time and a game-changing player some of the time.
A year ago, she did a little of everything, averaging 12.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and more than two assists per outing while making a healthy 39.7 percent from 3-point land.
Still, very few athletes, five years after their arrival, get one more season to bring their very best, to finally break out. Manning has it and she knows it.
“Absolutely, and I need to for this team,” she said. “I mean, it’s been no secret that I’ve been learning to be a scorer. I think everybody that watches our games gets frustrated with me for not doing that.”
What she’ll do after the coming season isn’t entirely clear, though she knows a few things. Like, she knows she wants to coach.
“I have my goal down to a T, where I want to coach, what I want to end up doing, but you can’t be as picky as my dream,” she said. “But it’s definitely to be a head coach somewhere.”
She just doesn’t know when it will begin: immediately after 12th semester at OU, or after spending a few years taking advantage of overseas playing opportunities.
Leah Rush is one former Sooner who used basketball to see the world and Manning thinks she might use it that way, too, before finding a job on somebody’s bench.
“Either way,” she said, “the path will be college assistant first.”
Now, you might think, Manning’s last season as a Sooner might be connected to what happens next. Like, the better her season, the more opportunity she might have.
Well, maybe, but not so much. The chance to play overseas may be more about the overseas than the playing.
But her last season at Lloyd Noble Center? That’s entirely about the basketball and, yeah, about finally breaking out.
“It’s my last year, I know there’s a lot more I can accomplish personally, there’s a lot more I can do on the court,” she said. “And, for me, that’s what it’s going to take to win this year.”
Only a few collegiate athletes are ever as senior as Manning will be. And for her, it’s very different than even last season.
“Not that I’m not being coached, I’m obviously still learning,” she said. “But it’s more of me taking ownership and teaching other people stuff because I’ve been around so long that I know it like the back of my hand.”
And delivering on the court.
“There’s no question about it,” Manning said.
