A year ago, no bones were made. The Sooners were out to win a national championship. And why not. They’d just gone 16-0 in the conference and only Laura Andrews, a swell kid but no starter, had been lost to graduation

It’s not like they shortchanged the conference. Winning the Big 12, regular and postseason, were preliminary goals and, indeed, were repeated, even if it took benching several veterans along the way.

But the national title didn’t work out. Nor did getting out of the Sweet 16, the place where the Oklahoma women’s seasons have gone to die four different times since Sherri Coale took over. The only time the Sooners even reached the Elite Eight, they played for the whole shootin’ match in 2002.

That’s a little history lesson because, at first glance, it’s what wasn’t said at Big 12 Women’s Basketball Media Day Tuesday in Kansas City that’s cause for surprise. Perhaps the question simply wasn’t asked. Maybe, seeing as how Oklahoma isn’t even the coaches preseason choice to win the league, it wasn’t appropriate. Anyway, there was no out front declaration of gunning for a national title.

Maybe it’s understood.

One of the bottom line things about getting the Paris twins, Courtney and Ashley, to Norman, Coale once said, was every year they’re on the roster the Sooners are in the winning-it-all mix.

Then there’s the schedule.

With made-for-TV season-opening contests against 2006 national champion Maryland and 2007 national champion Tennessee, Coale is at least scheduling with an eye toward winning it all.

“I’ll be quite honest,” she said. “I looked around the country and said every year Tennessee or Connecticut are playing in the Final Four. Every year those two teams have the toughest schedules in the country, one and two. So, if I want to be one of them, I want to be there, too. Find the best teams in America and put them on the preconference schedule.”

You can’t not love that kind of philosophy, especially at a school where the men’s coach once annually dodged Tulsa because, you know, OU might … lose.

Still, it’s like something was missing.

Maybe it’s Texas A&M;’s turn.

The Aggies received seven of the coaches’ first-place votes, the Sooners five. The Aggies’ backcourt, both A’Quonesia Franklin and Takia Starks, is the preseason all-conference backcourt. And Gary Blair’s a heck of a coach, clearly the best skipper in College Station.

But I’m pretty sure Courtney Paris remains a Sooner.

“I can’t tell you what an improved player she is right now, from who she was in the final game of the season last year against Ole Miss,” Coale said of the reigning national player of the year. “I can’t even quantify it.”

And Ashley Paris can play a little. And the best raw talent of the bunch may still be Amanda Thompson, who’s supposed to be playing pain-free for the first time in years. And it was the state’s new athletic darling, Jenna Plumley, who stepped in a year ago and saved the season. And I’m pretty sure that’s four returning starters. Even if Plumley tried to keep things bland.

“We’re not really focused on the end,” she said. “I know we’ve sat in this room the last two years and said, ‘We want to do this and we want to do this.’ Now, I want to go to practice tomorrow and be the best team we can be in practice tomorrow.”

That’s admirable. With Maryland and Tennessee on the way, it may be necessary.

But the end should still be out there for this team.

National title or bust?

No.

But a Final Four?

Yeah.

In Year 3 of the Paris twins’ era and with a third-straight fantastic class arriving on the Sooner doorstep, it’s not a case of daring to dream so much as a very real expectation.

Still.

It’s funny. A year ago, the Sooner women were judged in January and February against where everybody figured they’d be in March. This time around, they may lose two out of the gate. With Arizona State waiting in Cancun, maybe three.

But it’s just those kinds of tests, failed or passed, and all that talent, from the best player in the game to freshman Carlee Roethlisberger, sister of Ben, that leaves no room for a satisfying season should it all end in yet another regional semifinal.

Clay Horning

366-3526

cfhorning@normantranscript.com