Oklahoma vs Oklahoma Christian

[schooner2]

Left the game with about 4 minutes to go and OU was maintaining a 30 point lead.

My impressions:
Shuknecht looked fantastic scoring about 24 points in the first-half and getting stronger and better by the minute. As a local media person wrote earlier this week, Villarroel may not even be Newcomer of the Year on her own team as Shuknecht should vie for that Big 12 honor. OU will need her desperately against Tennessee on Sunday.

Villarroel - yes she's fast, but she was having some trouble with ball-handling on penetration moves. But the tandem of Jackson and Villarroel on a fast-break will be hard to beat. Villarroel just glides past everyone while running downcourt. The two of them converted several fast-breaks with ease.

Jackson looks like her old-self as does Caton Hill. But both got knicked up in the game. Hill sat down the 2nd half with an ice pack on her right elbow. Jackson looked like she tweaked one of her heels or something and wasn't going 100 percent.

Freshman Welch, Higgins, and Andrews were all played quite a bit. Looks like some good talent there. Should definitely get some quality minutes from this trio, which will be needed.

Wadsworth looks like she has a lot of rust to peel off after rehabilitating from surgery to repair her ACL. She looked slow and out of rhythym. Not really as good as she was this time last year. Have to give her more time to fully recover from her injury.

Don't really know what to expect against Tennessee. Overall this team is very, very young. And even a couple of our seniors and juniors are playing their first seasons. Lots of raw talent. Time to build a lot of chemistry.

[swok34]

I agree and it's going to be a fun year http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif albeit perhaps one for the patient fan.

I really like the way Erin Higgins played tonite, scrappy player.
Chelsi had some freshmen jitters right from the start but she seemed to smooth out and got going. Laura Andrews really had a case of the freshmen jitters.

I was really, really impressed with Beky Preston and the way she plays around the basket.

Antoinette had some additional surgery about 6 weeks ago, I think it was relatively minor...perhaps removing scar tissue, something to do with the knee with the torn ACL.....she doesn't look anywhere near like she looked out of the gates this time last year.

I like the chemistry Caton and Schuknecht have going on. And, you are right, Jackson and Villarroel on a fast break is a thing of beauty and should improve. I've heard there are some communication problems with Villarroel, given that English is not her first language.

[35TangoTango]

I concur that Theresa was definitely the news of the night. I think she finished with 28 points, but it could easily have been 50 if they wanted to do that. More moves than I've seen a center have in a long time. Gets up and down the court as fast as the guards!

Maria needs to learn that it is as blessed to give as to receive - she can definitely finish, but her passing game is not as mature as her one on one skills. She can really get down the court and up to the basket, though.

It was fun to watch Chelsie progress and become more comfortable as the game went on. She has more moves than a snake, but couldn't always finish. That will come, and come quickly I suspect.

Erin doesn't have Chelsie's moves, but seemed to have adjusted to the offense quicker - she looked pretty comfortable and played good defense, too. Shots weren't falling for her, though.

Laura Andrews was another that began to blossom towards the end of the night - Can either play post or wing.

Beky Preston was the last player to get into the game, but I think she may have improved her position by her performance once she got in. She obviously has offensive skills, probably has some defensive learning to do. She ought to get that in practice - I'd say if she could learn to defend Theresa, she could handle just about anyone!

Caton was Caton, but seemed quite content to set up Theresa. Dionnah moved with effortless ease - seemed to concentrate more on running the offense than on scoring herself.

Stephanie Luce also looked good running the point - here's a girl that will just be a role player, but probably could start at point guard on half the teams in the conference!

At this point, the post play is way ahead of the perimeter game - exactly the opposite of last year. Lot of work to do, and Sunday is going to get here awful fast.

This team may take some lumps in the winter, but come spring this is a sweet 16 team at least!

[catladyok]

Yes, there is some heavy-duty talent on this young team and it's going to be great watching them grow and develop. Coach Coale really knows how to pick 'em, doesn't she! She could have emptied her bench a little sooner tonight, IMO, since we had a 30+ point lead fairly early in the game, but that's okay. I hope that all of the newcomers will get a lot of playing time early in the season so that they can become more confidant. It won't be long before this team is a Mean Machine.

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BIG XII RULES!

[schooner2]

Actually catladyok, I'm surprised she didn't keep the core group of players (starters plus a couple off the bench) in the game longer to get them ready for Tennessee. They can use all the practice they can get right now.

[35TangoTango]

Originally posted by schooner:
Actually catladyok, I'm surprised she didn't keep the core group of players (starters plus a couple off the bench) in the game longer to get them ready for Tennessee. They can use all the practice they can get right now.

I had the same thought. Coach Coale obviously takes a more long-range view than either of us. This game was more preparation for the whole season than specifically for Tennessee.

[swok34]

I agree, I was surprised she didn't play the starters longer in the second half, though she did keep Welch, Higgins and Andrews playing in the second half; I'm sure they need all the time on the court they could get before going into a hostile environment.

I think had they been able to play both exhibition games prior to the Tennessee game, the substitution patterns would have looked a whole lot different.

[metromaniac]

Since Coale played there and is obviously good friends with their coach, it would have bordered on bad "coaching etiquitte" to do so and in this first game, would have been a bit overreaching, in my opinion.

[schooner2]

Originally posted by soonerman:
This team may take some lumps in the winter, but come spring this is a sweet 16 team at least!

Given that OU is already assured of playing on their home court prior to the Sweet 16 - OU should definitely be shooting to make the Sweet 16.

This team should look so much different by March than it does now. Will be interesting to watch them gel and improve game to game.

[swok34]

Looking at the box score, Schuknecht was 10/14 FG...8/8 FT.
Caton Hill missed one shot...was 5/6 FG, didn't hit the free throw line. Mariaaaaaaa was 6 of 9, though was 0-2 from the arc, not her specialty. Preston was 3/4 FG.

High rebounder: Dionnah Jackson, with 10, Schuknecht with 9....
Jackson came close to a double double with 9 assists.

It's pretty evident in the box who the freshmen are.....
Chelsi Welsh was 2/10, Higgins was 1 of 7 and Andrews was 1 for 3....hmmmm, she only took 3 shots? I saw Welsh play in that HS All American game up in Connecticut and she played much better.
I think she will have an impact once she gets her freshmen willies out of the way.

[schooner2]

Originally posted by metromaniac:
Since Coale played there and is obviously good friends with their coach, it would have bordered on bad "coaching etiquitte" to do so and in this first game, would have been a bit overreaching, in my opinion.



But regardless, exhibition games do serve a purpose. I can see a scenario where she would simply tell Findley that she has to play to prepare for Tennessee. I'm sure Sherri's ex-head coach would understand.

[vickie1ok]

Thanks for the reports, guys...A few questions:

How did we look defensively? I know they had a poor shooting percentage, but was it us or them? Interestingly, they had more steals than us and we had more turnovers. It sounds like our to's were more due to inexperience. I would think with the quickness that Dionnah and Maria possess, they could develop into bb thieves.

While I'm happy our inside game is so much better than last year, I do worry about our perimeter game. We obviously had almost no perimeter shooting. Do you just attribute that to the youth of our guards and small forwards? Or just we so dominant inside we didn't focus on the outside game. I hope we develop it or teams will pack it in on us.

Can't wait for Sunday to see where we stack up early! It's going to be fun to watch this team develop, even if we have to go through growing pains.

[35TangoTango]

Originally posted by vickie1ok:
How did we look defensively? I know they had a poor shooting percentage, but ......

Actually, the shooting percentage was quite good! 52% for the game, 64% for the first half!

Oh, wait! I just realized you are talking about OCC's shooting percentage. It was us - our individual efforts. We are much more athletic than anything they are used to seeing (even though they had an actual game under their belts), and they couldn't get good shots.

The second half quickly deteriorated into school-yard ball. A lot of time with no starters on the floor, and not much accomplished except the new people got to try out their one-on-one moves and gain confidence. That's also where the bulk of the turnovers came.

As for defense, as I said, the individual efforts were there (in the first half), but lacked the team coordination that we are used to. Same could be said for the offense.


[This message has been edited by soonerman (edited 11-07-2002).]

[swok34]

vickie.......Coach Coale made a comment last week that the defense is lagging a bit behind the offense. So, if the game scores have to be 120-110, so be it.

Erin Higgins is a big 3 point threat for OU this year, she does have incredible range. Though she only went 1 for 5 in the exhibition, I think that was the freshmen willies.....I really liked all the other aspects of her game.