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Mulkey flourishing in freshman season at OU
NORMAN — You’ve probably seen Nancy Mulkey around Oklahoma’s campus.
She might be walking down Asp Avenue, all decked out in crimson sweats, her straight brown hair pulled up in a high ponytail. She might be with a bunch of friends, noticeable as her torso, shoulders and head extend far beyond nearly all of her peers.
Maybe you caught her at the Lloyd Noble Center as she swatted one of her 40 blocked shots as the No. 20 Oklahoma women’s basketball team took on another Big 12 opponent.
Or maybe you’ve seen her at the JD McCarty Center, where she’s volunteered with the women’s basketball team, and where the aspiring special education worker hopes to spend more time in the future.
But wherever it is that you might run into the freshman center, please, please don’t open a conversation by uttering those four dreaded words.
How tall are you?
“I personally don’t like it, when you come up to me with those kind of comments,” she said. “Honestly, I’m going to blow you off just because I’ve heard it all my life and you would think that somebody would know not to do that.
“You wouldn’t go up to a heavy person and say ‘Oh my gosh, how much do you weigh?’”
As the tallest woman to ever play basketball at Oklahoma, the 6-foot-9 Mulkey is pretty visible around Norman and she certainly catches the eye of other teams when she steps onto the hardwood — and with good reason.
“For opposing teams, she’s intimidating,” junior center Vionise Pierre-Louis said. “You see a 6-foot-9 girl walking in and it’s very intimidating. And then when she plays, there aren’t many tall girls out here that can play. Her skill set is just out the roof.”
Mulkey, who starred in the first season of TLC’s My Giant Life, finished her high school career at Cypress Hill (Texas) with her school’s first ever state championship and invitations to the McDonald’s All American game and Jordan Brand Classic. She also grabbed two gold medals with USA Basketball in the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 Championships and the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championships.
Now as she transitions into the collegiate world, Mulkey is learning to diversify her game as she competes against a wide range of Big 12 post players.
“There’s never been such differentiation in basketball in her life,” coach Sherri Coale said. “It’s like basketball has always been black or white and then you get here at this level and suddenly there are 25 different shades of gray in between. And she’s got to try and float in and around that. So she’s just finding her way right now. There will be teams in our league that she will handle much better than others just because of how they play. She’ll have to grow into that.”
Halfway through her first collegiate season, Mulkey is right on schedule for acclimating to Division I basketball. She’s started seven games and expects to start against Oklahoma State in her first Bedlam experience Sunday. With 4.9 points per game, her offensive game is developing steadily, but she’s made an immediate impact on the defensive end by averaging 3.2 blocks per game in conference play.
Though she’s adjusting well on the court, not everything about starting college came easily. Leaving home is always tough, but for Mulkey, moving six hours away from home meant shedding the protective cocoon she had with her family, including her mom and two brothers who all range from 6-foot-8 to 7-foot-3.
“I think she’s come out of her shell a lot, being on campus and not around her family,” said her mom, Dolores Bootz-Mulkey Kramer. “She’s always said that she feels comfortable around her family because her brothers are tall, I’m tall. She fits in with us, we all fit together. I think being on campus and being away from home and being alone, she had to. It’s just a great growing experience for her.”
Bootz-Mulkey Kramer, who played basketball at Georgia Tech, felt her daughter truly turn a corner when she returned to Oklahoma from Christmas break.
“She went back crying because she wasn’t ready to go back,” Bootz-Mulkey said. “The boys were home, everybody was home and she didn’t have to worry about getting questions or getting looked at, things like that. But once she got back on campus is when she really took 10 steps up from where she was just in confidence.”
Mulkey’s personality is just as supersized as her lanky frame. Though she’s just a rookie on a team filled with veterans, she’s hardly timid.
“She’s a loving, caring person, and she’s out and vocal and talks,” Pierre-Louis said. “It’s just the combination. Her tallness and her vibrant personality draws people to her.”
So next time you see Mulkey and feel drawn to her, ask her more than her measurements.
Tell her that you saw her dominate in the post. Ask her about working into a starting role as a freshman, or about her S p o r t s C e n t e r - w o r t h y dunk in practice. Ask her about her two tattoos, like the one on her wrist that reminds her to take everything one day at a time.
Ask her more.
Mulkey flourishing in freshman season at OU
NORMAN — You’ve probably seen Nancy Mulkey around Oklahoma’s campus.
She might be walking down Asp Avenue, all decked out in crimson sweats, her straight brown hair pulled up in a high ponytail. She might be with a bunch of friends, noticeable as her torso, shoulders and head extend far beyond nearly all of her peers.
Maybe you caught her at the Lloyd Noble Center as she swatted one of her 40 blocked shots as the No. 20 Oklahoma women’s basketball team took on another Big 12 opponent.
Or maybe you’ve seen her at the JD McCarty Center, where she’s volunteered with the women’s basketball team, and where the aspiring special education worker hopes to spend more time in the future.
But wherever it is that you might run into the freshman center, please, please don’t open a conversation by uttering those four dreaded words.
How tall are you?
“I personally don’t like it, when you come up to me with those kind of comments,” she said. “Honestly, I’m going to blow you off just because I’ve heard it all my life and you would think that somebody would know not to do that.
“You wouldn’t go up to a heavy person and say ‘Oh my gosh, how much do you weigh?’”
As the tallest woman to ever play basketball at Oklahoma, the 6-foot-9 Mulkey is pretty visible around Norman and she certainly catches the eye of other teams when she steps onto the hardwood — and with good reason.
“For opposing teams, she’s intimidating,” junior center Vionise Pierre-Louis said. “You see a 6-foot-9 girl walking in and it’s very intimidating. And then when she plays, there aren’t many tall girls out here that can play. Her skill set is just out the roof.”
Mulkey, who starred in the first season of TLC’s My Giant Life, finished her high school career at Cypress Hill (Texas) with her school’s first ever state championship and invitations to the McDonald’s All American game and Jordan Brand Classic. She also grabbed two gold medals with USA Basketball in the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 Championships and the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championships.
Now as she transitions into the collegiate world, Mulkey is learning to diversify her game as she competes against a wide range of Big 12 post players.
“There’s never been such differentiation in basketball in her life,” coach Sherri Coale said. “It’s like basketball has always been black or white and then you get here at this level and suddenly there are 25 different shades of gray in between. And she’s got to try and float in and around that. So she’s just finding her way right now. There will be teams in our league that she will handle much better than others just because of how they play. She’ll have to grow into that.”
Halfway through her first collegiate season, Mulkey is right on schedule for acclimating to Division I basketball. She’s started seven games and expects to start against Oklahoma State in her first Bedlam experience Sunday. With 4.9 points per game, her offensive game is developing steadily, but she’s made an immediate impact on the defensive end by averaging 3.2 blocks per game in conference play.
Though she’s adjusting well on the court, not everything about starting college came easily. Leaving home is always tough, but for Mulkey, moving six hours away from home meant shedding the protective cocoon she had with her family, including her mom and two brothers who all range from 6-foot-8 to 7-foot-3.
“I think she’s come out of her shell a lot, being on campus and not around her family,” said her mom, Dolores Bootz-Mulkey Kramer. “She’s always said that she feels comfortable around her family because her brothers are tall, I’m tall. She fits in with us, we all fit together. I think being on campus and being away from home and being alone, she had to. It’s just a great growing experience for her.”
Bootz-Mulkey Kramer, who played basketball at Georgia Tech, felt her daughter truly turn a corner when she returned to Oklahoma from Christmas break.
“She went back crying because she wasn’t ready to go back,” Bootz-Mulkey said. “The boys were home, everybody was home and she didn’t have to worry about getting questions or getting looked at, things like that. But once she got back on campus is when she really took 10 steps up from where she was just in confidence.”
Mulkey’s personality is just as supersized as her lanky frame. Though she’s just a rookie on a team filled with veterans, she’s hardly timid.
“She’s a loving, caring person, and she’s out and vocal and talks,” Pierre-Louis said. “It’s just the combination. Her tallness and her vibrant personality draws people to her.”
So next time you see Mulkey and feel drawn to her, ask her more than her measurements.
Tell her that you saw her dominate in the post. Ask her about working into a starting role as a freshman, or about her S p o r t s C e n t e r - w o r t h y dunk in practice. Ask her about her two tattoos, like the one on her wrist that reminds her to take everything one day at a time.
Ask her more.