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Sherri Coale believes Sooners have earned NCAA shot
Tyler Palmateer
CNHI Sports Oklahoma @TPalmateer83
Oklahoma women’s basketball coach Sherri Coale has remained quiet long enough about whether her team deserves to be included in this year’s NCAA tournament.
The Sooners, at 16-13 overall and fourth place in the Big 12, belong in the field, Coale says.
“Shoot, No. 2 strength of schedule, No. 30 RPI, [fourth] place in the Big 12 conference. There’s no way they’re gonna take a team that’s below us [in the league],” said Coale.
The coach was right on both rankings, but the day after her comment, OU actually rose to No. 29 in the RPI. The Sooners’ schedule is still ranked second nationally.
The question is whether those figures are enough to extend OU’s streak of 18 consecutive NCAA appearances. After the Sooners’ loss at Texas on Tuesday, Coale said “I don’t even think it’s a conversation.”
The Sooners — who play TCU at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals — finished with an identical 11-7 league record as Oklahoma State, but dropped to the 4-seed because OSU won Bedlam twice. Coale believes if the NCAA committee takes OSU, it should take OU.
“Especially when our [RPI] numbers are so good, and better than Oklahoma State’s,” she said.
The Sooners were swept by TCU and OSU in league play and have a handful of non-conference games they’d like back, but they haven’t lost to an unranked team since Dec. 6 and have won six of their last eight games.
ESPN currently projects the Big 12 with three at-large bids: Baylor, Texas and OSU. OU is listed among the “first four out” and could remove all doubt by winning this weekend’s conference tournament.
Sooner players are trying to block much of that talk out.
“Just approaching what it is,” OU senior center Vionise Pierre-Louis said. “Don’t overthink or overanalyze, because that’s where the pressure comes and you’re missing shots and stuff like that. So I think you’re just taking one game at a time, like we kept saying, next.”
• Pellington reaches goal: In high school, OU freshman guard Shaina Pellington and some of her basketball teammates were asked during an activity to state their college goal.
The Ontario, Canada, native didn’t have to think too hard.
“We all said we wanted to go to the U.S. and make a statement. My version of making a statement was making sure I was selected for Big 12 freshman of the year,” Pellington said.
On Thursday, the league tabbed her as its top freshman and the goal was achieved. Pellington averages 12.8 points per game and clinched the award over teammate Ana Llanusa, who was considered another frontrunner.
“It’s not something I’m really settling on,” Pellington said. “There’s still a lot more work to do, especially with this tournament coming up. We want to win. So it’s a humbling experience, but at the same time there’s more I want to do here.”
• Big 12 tourney and OKC: Chesapeake Energy Arena will host the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament in 2019, before Kansas City takes the event for 2020.
Beyond that, future sites are undetermined. Oklahoma City will have to again prove itself as a rightful home for the tournament.
“If you go north, the southern fan base gets punished. If you go south, the northern fan base gets punished. So Oklahoma City is central to all those,” Coale said. “I think you’re less likely to completely annihilate a fan base when you’re some place centrally located.”
• Mindset change: Pellington and OU’s other first-year players have been versed on what life’s
like in the Big 12 tournament compared to the rest of the season.
“They basically told me it’s not gonna be the same TCU, the same OSU, the same teams you’ve played. It’s gonna be even, everything’s going to be up a notch pretty much,” Pellington said.
• This, that: OU hasn’t won two games in a Big 12 tournament since 2010, but has a 25-17 overall record in the event, which is second among league teams. OU has won at least one tourney game in 12 of the last 15 seasons. … OU is 10-6 when playing in Oklahoma City under Coale and 5-5 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. … Saturday is the Sooners’ first-ever Big 12 tourney game against TCU.
Tyler Palmateer
CNHI Sports Oklahoma @TPalmateer83
Oklahoma women’s basketball coach Sherri Coale has remained quiet long enough about whether her team deserves to be included in this year’s NCAA tournament.
The Sooners, at 16-13 overall and fourth place in the Big 12, belong in the field, Coale says.
“Shoot, No. 2 strength of schedule, No. 30 RPI, [fourth] place in the Big 12 conference. There’s no way they’re gonna take a team that’s below us [in the league],” said Coale.
The coach was right on both rankings, but the day after her comment, OU actually rose to No. 29 in the RPI. The Sooners’ schedule is still ranked second nationally.
The question is whether those figures are enough to extend OU’s streak of 18 consecutive NCAA appearances. After the Sooners’ loss at Texas on Tuesday, Coale said “I don’t even think it’s a conversation.”
The Sooners — who play TCU at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals — finished with an identical 11-7 league record as Oklahoma State, but dropped to the 4-seed because OSU won Bedlam twice. Coale believes if the NCAA committee takes OSU, it should take OU.
“Especially when our [RPI] numbers are so good, and better than Oklahoma State’s,” she said.
The Sooners were swept by TCU and OSU in league play and have a handful of non-conference games they’d like back, but they haven’t lost to an unranked team since Dec. 6 and have won six of their last eight games.
ESPN currently projects the Big 12 with three at-large bids: Baylor, Texas and OSU. OU is listed among the “first four out” and could remove all doubt by winning this weekend’s conference tournament.
Sooner players are trying to block much of that talk out.
“Just approaching what it is,” OU senior center Vionise Pierre-Louis said. “Don’t overthink or overanalyze, because that’s where the pressure comes and you’re missing shots and stuff like that. So I think you’re just taking one game at a time, like we kept saying, next.”
• Pellington reaches goal: In high school, OU freshman guard Shaina Pellington and some of her basketball teammates were asked during an activity to state their college goal.
The Ontario, Canada, native didn’t have to think too hard.
“We all said we wanted to go to the U.S. and make a statement. My version of making a statement was making sure I was selected for Big 12 freshman of the year,” Pellington said.
On Thursday, the league tabbed her as its top freshman and the goal was achieved. Pellington averages 12.8 points per game and clinched the award over teammate Ana Llanusa, who was considered another frontrunner.
“It’s not something I’m really settling on,” Pellington said. “There’s still a lot more work to do, especially with this tournament coming up. We want to win. So it’s a humbling experience, but at the same time there’s more I want to do here.”
• Big 12 tourney and OKC: Chesapeake Energy Arena will host the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament in 2019, before Kansas City takes the event for 2020.
Beyond that, future sites are undetermined. Oklahoma City will have to again prove itself as a rightful home for the tournament.
“If you go north, the southern fan base gets punished. If you go south, the northern fan base gets punished. So Oklahoma City is central to all those,” Coale said. “I think you’re less likely to completely annihilate a fan base when you’re some place centrally located.”
• Mindset change: Pellington and OU’s other first-year players have been versed on what life’s
like in the Big 12 tournament compared to the rest of the season.
“They basically told me it’s not gonna be the same TCU, the same OSU, the same teams you’ve played. It’s gonna be even, everything’s going to be up a notch pretty much,” Pellington said.
• This, that: OU hasn’t won two games in a Big 12 tournament since 2010, but has a 25-17 overall record in the event, which is second among league teams. OU has won at least one tourney game in 12 of the last 15 seasons. … OU is 10-6 when playing in Oklahoma City under Coale and 5-5 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. … Saturday is the Sooners’ first-ever Big 12 tourney game against TCU.
