Norman — By Clay Horning
Transcript Sports Editor
Oklahoma is the No. 3 seed in the Kansas City Regional and will begin NCAA Tournament play around 9 p.m. Sunday at Lloyd Noble Center against South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits are the No. 14 seed.
In Sunday’s early game, set to tip at 6:16 p.m., it’s No. 6-seed Georgia Tech against No. 11-seed Arkansas-Little Rock.
Playing on their home court, the Sooners are favored to win twice, thereby reaching the Sweet 16, and move on to Kansas City’s Sprint Center, where regional semifinals will be played March 28.
The interesting thing about that is, judged by recent wins and losses, one could easily make a case for the two underdogs in the field.
S.D. State has won 11 of its last 12 games. UALR has won 21 of its last 22 games. It’s Georgia Tech and the Sooners that have experienced losing lately.
The Yellowjackets have dropped four of their last seven games. The Sooners have dropped four of their last nine.
Of course, judging an ACC and Big 12 schedule against that of the Sun Belt or Summit League, like comparing apples and pomegranates.
Two of Georgia Tech’s most four most recent losses came against No. 6 Duke. Another one came to No. 11 Florida State. The remaining loss was taken at North Carolina State, an NCAA Tournament team.
Of the Sooners quartet of recent losses, one came against No. 1 Connecticut, another against No. 4 Nebraska and at the hands of No. 9 Texas A&M.
At least where the Sooners are concerned, they don’t feel like they’re struggling.
“I didn’t know we were 5-4 over our last nine games,” point guard Danielle Robinson said. “It feels like, we’ve played so well, that we’ve won 10 in a row.”
Though a loser of four of nine, OU is also a winner of three of four, beating No. 20 Oklahoma State twice and No. 14 Baylor once.
The Sooners lost their last game, the Big 12 title game, 74-67, to Texas A&M.
“I think that we’re peaking at the right time,” Robinson said. “I mean, A&M’s a great team … and if we make layups and free throws it’s a different ball game, but that’s stuff we can fix.”
What the Sooners are, is confident and energized.
“Even though we’ve lost,” team captain Amanda Thompson said, “we’ve been finding ourselves.”
The only downside to OU’s most recent games has been the special nature of them. A player like Baylor’s Britney Griner can dictate an entire offensive gameplan, just like a player like OSU’s Amanda Riley can dictate an entire defensive gameplan.”
“It’s offensive polish, defensive polish (we’re working on), reviewing all the things that we do that we haven’t used the last couple of weeks, maybe because of the particular competition we’ve faced,” OU coach Sherri Coale said of her squad’s preparation.
Today’s practice will make it three days of OU working on itself. Then, Coale said, the focus will turn toward the Jackrabbits.
The Sooners believe they’re working from a good place.
Clay Horning
366-3526
cfhorning@normantranscript.com
