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Signing with dream school brings out Jessi Murcer’s emotions
John McKelvey
CNHI Sports Oklahoma @John_McKelvey
OKLAHOMA CITY — Westmoore guard Jessi Murcer looked like she was about to shed a tear. Then, as fast as it came, the moment was gone.
“I had to remind myself I don’t cry,” Murcer said.
On a day when she signed with her dream school, Oklahoma, the program she grew up rooting for, wishing and hoping she would one day take the court for a coach she idolized, in front of her closest friends and family, who all bleed crimson and cream just like her, all of it hit at once.
“I’m going to, in my mind, the best program in the country for basketball, academics and coaching,” Murcer said.
From the moment she burst into her young sister, Kristen’s, room, telling her OU was interested, to her official visit where after being offered, she immediately committed, Murcer had one of shortest possible recruitments.
This was it. There was no thinking, no waiting for other offers, no keeping her choice close to the vest or checking out other schools just be sure. Before OU coach Sherri Coale called, she had one dream, and after getting a first-hand look at her possible future, Murcer didn’t hesitate.
“It was surreal when it happened,” her mother, Julie, said. “We went to a basketball game and then to the locker rooms afterwards, and Sherri brought us into a film room to talk to us. When coach Coale told Jessi, ‘We want you here. We don’t want you anywhere else,’ she committed on the spot. She was so happy, we started crying and it was wonderful.”
Not lost on her is the chance to leave a mark before taking the short drive down I-35. The Jaguars, already playing in preseason scrimmages, return everyone after finishing one game short of making the state tournament for a second-straight season last year.
Leading the way are the two Murcers and Whitney Outon, who signed with Cameron University Wednesday. There’s legitimate hope that this team could bring the program its third state title, first since 2002.
That all kind of took a back seat Wednesday.
As Murcer walked across the court, on which she will leave quite a legacy, the focus was on her future. With a friend already on the team in signees OU announced, included among them Madison Williams (Trinity Valley School, Texas). The 5-foot-10 wing is ranked the No. 77 player nationally according to ESPN.
Williams is OU’s highest-rated player signed thus far in the class.
The Sooners secured two other ESPN three-star products: Tatum Veitenheimer, a high-scoring guard from Windthorst, Texas, and forward Nydia Lampkin from Palm Bay, Florida.
Taylor Robertson, who was the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year in 2016-17, verbally committed to OU in July but her signing has not been announced.
Choctaw graduate Ana Llanusa, she’ll be more at home when she arrives in Norman than many incoming freshmen across the country.
“Just really getting to know coach Coale and the other coaches is one thing, but then you take a look at the girls,” Julie said. “Some of them have the sweetest disposition. You know the upperclassmen are going to take care of her, be a good mentor and a guide for her. I’m elated. The type of people, the character qualities that OU and that organization possess, I’m 100 percent for.”
She’ll also have her family to lean on, including her sister. The two look strikingly similar, separated by just one year, and to Kristen’s chagrin, quite a few inches in height. Their personalities are different, with the bubbly energy of Kristen clashing with the calm and quiet demeanor of her sister.
“She’s always been there for me,” Jessi said. “I don’t know where I’d be without her. I go to her for everything, whether it’s advice or I’m telling her about my day. She’s the first one I told [when OU called], and she just started laughing. She was so happy, and I was too.”
Still, nothing quite brings out Jessi’s emotions like OU and basketball. Wednesday, both of those combined, and it was just a little too much to hold back.
John McKelvey
CNHI Sports Oklahoma @John_McKelvey
OKLAHOMA CITY — Westmoore guard Jessi Murcer looked like she was about to shed a tear. Then, as fast as it came, the moment was gone.
“I had to remind myself I don’t cry,” Murcer said.
On a day when she signed with her dream school, Oklahoma, the program she grew up rooting for, wishing and hoping she would one day take the court for a coach she idolized, in front of her closest friends and family, who all bleed crimson and cream just like her, all of it hit at once.
“I’m going to, in my mind, the best program in the country for basketball, academics and coaching,” Murcer said.
From the moment she burst into her young sister, Kristen’s, room, telling her OU was interested, to her official visit where after being offered, she immediately committed, Murcer had one of shortest possible recruitments.
This was it. There was no thinking, no waiting for other offers, no keeping her choice close to the vest or checking out other schools just be sure. Before OU coach Sherri Coale called, she had one dream, and after getting a first-hand look at her possible future, Murcer didn’t hesitate.
“It was surreal when it happened,” her mother, Julie, said. “We went to a basketball game and then to the locker rooms afterwards, and Sherri brought us into a film room to talk to us. When coach Coale told Jessi, ‘We want you here. We don’t want you anywhere else,’ she committed on the spot. She was so happy, we started crying and it was wonderful.”
Not lost on her is the chance to leave a mark before taking the short drive down I-35. The Jaguars, already playing in preseason scrimmages, return everyone after finishing one game short of making the state tournament for a second-straight season last year.
Leading the way are the two Murcers and Whitney Outon, who signed with Cameron University Wednesday. There’s legitimate hope that this team could bring the program its third state title, first since 2002.
That all kind of took a back seat Wednesday.
As Murcer walked across the court, on which she will leave quite a legacy, the focus was on her future. With a friend already on the team in signees OU announced, included among them Madison Williams (Trinity Valley School, Texas). The 5-foot-10 wing is ranked the No. 77 player nationally according to ESPN.
Williams is OU’s highest-rated player signed thus far in the class.
The Sooners secured two other ESPN three-star products: Tatum Veitenheimer, a high-scoring guard from Windthorst, Texas, and forward Nydia Lampkin from Palm Bay, Florida.
Taylor Robertson, who was the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year in 2016-17, verbally committed to OU in July but her signing has not been announced.
Choctaw graduate Ana Llanusa, she’ll be more at home when she arrives in Norman than many incoming freshmen across the country.
“Just really getting to know coach Coale and the other coaches is one thing, but then you take a look at the girls,” Julie said. “Some of them have the sweetest disposition. You know the upperclassmen are going to take care of her, be a good mentor and a guide for her. I’m elated. The type of people, the character qualities that OU and that organization possess, I’m 100 percent for.”
She’ll also have her family to lean on, including her sister. The two look strikingly similar, separated by just one year, and to Kristen’s chagrin, quite a few inches in height. Their personalities are different, with the bubbly energy of Kristen clashing with the calm and quiet demeanor of her sister.
“She’s always been there for me,” Jessi said. “I don’t know where I’d be without her. I go to her for everything, whether it’s advice or I’m telling her about my day. She’s the first one I told [when OU called], and she just started laughing. She was so happy, and I was too.”
Still, nothing quite brings out Jessi’s emotions like OU and basketball. Wednesday, both of those combined, and it was just a little too much to hold back.