OU starting lineup shakeup

[schooner2]

Coach Coale decides to shake things up just a bit starting the freshman Preston over Schuknecht and starting Shoush instead of Andrews. Interesting..........

[This message has been edited by schooner (edited 01-26-2003).]

[schooner2]

This is one of Maria's worst games of the year. Just so many pointless turnovers on offense. Throwing the ball away time and again. Looks like Coale has had enough and she'll be sitting once again in the 2nd half with no points scored. Sorry for those who may have her on their Hoopla! team.

[YCN]

Schuknecht just fouled out, and there are 6 more players with 4 fouls with 5 minutes left in the game! Whitaker, Young, Blackmon, Chelsi, Disappeared Maria and Dionnah all have 4.

[schooner2]

Welcome to Oklahoma Laura Andrews - 21 pts and counting and she has almost single-handedly brought OU back into this game. 59-58 Baylor with under 3 minutes to go.

Maria fouls out with zero points. OU has only 7 playable players left.

Would be humorous if it went overtime - OU could end up playing with 4 players.

[schooner2]

OU down by 1 with 1:38 left and they have the ball. Luce has been playing point the last several minutes and have moved Jackson to 2-guard. Partly out of necessity, but it has also allowed Jackson more offensive freedom to score.

[schooner2]

HOLY COW, are you kidding me! Jackson nails a 3 with 2 seconds left and OU takes it's first lead 65-64. Game still not over though..................

[YCN]

This game has been a little surreal from the start. If OU wins this game, it will have to rank among the most improbable of Coach Coale's career.


[This message has been edited by YCN (edited 01-26-2003).]

[schooner2]

Jackson drove down looked desperately for someone to pass to after picking up her dribble beyond the arc and her defender dropped off. So Jackson turned around and calmly nailed a 3-pointer that went in, bounced out, and bounced back in.

Unbelievable. OU had no business winning this game. Shuchnecht and Maria had horrible games. 3 players foul out. But the freshman Andrews came alive big-time with a career high 21 points. unbelievable.

Now OU gets to play Texas and KSU back to back at home. OUCH.

[Bob_Ballew]

Baylor really blew this one. I must really hand it to OU and their perimeter shooting. If Baylor would have contested a few of those shots a little tougher, the game would have gone the other way. Baylor didn't hit any outside shots to speak of and they are going to have to get a balanced attack going or they will be going no where.

Blackmon had little impact on the game. I think Blackmon's problem is she isn't the star player she thinks she is and not getting the attention she wants. A real ego thing. Well, you got to earn that attention. Her Hoopla ranking will steadily decline if she doesn't straighten up.

Sophia Young is a legitimate candidate for freshman of the year and I enjoy watching her learn more and more every time she takes to the court.

You gotta hit your free throws.

BIG XII OFFICIALS STINK. They made pitiful calls both ways today.

[35TangoTango]

Zo!

I agree about the officials, as did Brian and Stacey on TV. As for Blackmon, that's probably the best she's been defended this year. Agree that Young is as good as advertised - definitely a contender for FOY!

I have avoided getting into the strength of schedule controversy, but I think it might have played a part down the stretch today. What definitely played a part was the Sooner's winning tradition. OU expects to win, even when they are behind, and they do what it takes. Somehow, that attitude got communicated to these players even though most of them weren't there last year.

Who would have thought on a day when Maria goes scoreless (sinking my Hoopla entry) that Laura Andrews (whose knickname was 14, after her shooting percentage) would go off for 21 points!

For what it's worth, the winning shot by Dionnah was a designed play. Figuring that everyone would expect Laura to shoot, OU ran a pick-and-pop with Laura at the top of the circle. Sure enough, every defender chased Laura, leaving Dionnah time to step back, find the three point line, and make the most wide open shot of the day. The only mystery is figuring out just when Sherri called that play.

[Press]

Originally posted by Zo3157:

I think Blackmon's problem is she isn't the star player she thinks she is and not getting the attention she wants. A real ego thing. Well, you got to earn that attention.


You know, I hate to say this, but her ego has always been an issue, even in HS. I know of a program that backed off recruiting her due to this. Of course, some said the same thing about Pierson coming out of HS too. Hope she gets her head on straight because she's very talented.

[This message has been edited by Press (edited 01-26-2003).]

[Jennifer]

WOw! I'm very glad I decided to stay in OK and watch the game in it's entirety rather than listen on the radio on the drive back to Dallas.

Hopefully Andrews' offense sticks around, what a game by the freshman.

I thought the officiating was very poor, OU's free throw shooting was worse, but gotta hand it to Coach Coale and the staff and the players for the fight that they gave.

Sophia Young was impressive--what an athlete!

[swok34]

Wow, I think this is the first game I've seen that OU actually win a game by putting up a last second shot.

The game plans were obvious.....stop Maria, stop Blackmon...and both teams did do that. The one time that Maria did start heading to the open floor, a Baylor player grabbed ahold...that's one way to stop her http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

We looked down the bench with about 6 minutes left and got a little wide-eyed when we realized only 2 players were left that could even come in and play.

In the past two years, I have NEVER seen a BU/OU game that wasn't exciting to the end, and today was no exception....
And huge, huge kudo's to Andrews....who knotted her 1st double/double as a Sooner.....yea, leave that girl out of the starting line-up if she can come in and do that....don't know that I agree with Preston, she's such a young post player.

And, I agree, horrible officiating. There were times I decided that the officials decided if they were going to miss the super bowl, they would bring the super bowl to the court...then, other times they decided we were actually playing "touch" football and calling EVERYTHING under the sun.

This young team needed this win so bad with Texas and Kansas State coming up.....but, believe me BU fans, we OU fans know exactly how you feel. Iowa State has a tendency to burn us in the same exact way, and did in Norman 2 years ago. I was telling my friends on the drive home that we were BU's nemesis, just like Iowa State has seem to be OU's nemesis.

Dionnah?.......I think that's the first 3 D's hit in conference play. I couldn't believe she was as wide open as she was..but she wasn't a perimeter threat all day.

BTW, ZO........I LOVED those tickets...I even got to peep over the statician's shoulder and see the stats...pretty cool.

And I was impressed with how long Sophia Young's arms are...
there was a horrible match-up with she and Chelsea to start the game.

[This message has been edited by swok34 (edited 01-26-2003).]

[Bob_Ballew]

I have to agree with you OU fans. It seems that coach Coale and the Sooners just have that desire to win and expect to win. Hats off to a very tough win for them. Baylor is going to have to either hit the treys like OU (10 of 26) or learn to defend the perimeter. BU was 1 of 6 from behind the arc, a 27 point difference. Free throw shooting was bad, but I believe the perimeter play was key to the game (obviously with Dionnah Jackson hitting the WIDE OPEN three).

Who would have thought Blackmon and Villarroel would have stunk up the place the way they did yesterday!

P.S. swok34, I am glad you enjoyed the seats. I sure hope it wasn't your being so close to the team, that your yelling inspired them.

[This message has been edited by Zo3157 (edited 01-27-2003).]

[catladyok]

Before we come down too hard on Maria V., let's think about how well-prepared the Lady Bears were. They were all over Maria, all the time. And I don't believe that our new scoring machine has ever been up against that type of defense yet, and it just threw her game all to you-know-where. I just consider this good preparation for Maria...a chance to learn how to keep it together in spite of what her opponents are willing to do in order to stop her. She is going to face 2 more 'Killer D's' this week, and I just hope that she'll be ready for all of the rough stuff that's coming her way. It's going to get a lot worse before it starts getting better, that's for sure!

Kudos to both the Sooners and the Bears for playing such a great game!

[carolann]

Unfortunately, I did not get to see or even listen to this game, so I'm left wondering - "How on earth did OU manage to get this win?" If we look at Baylor (as I do) and say, "Well, this is a young team who will certainly be better next year", then what do we say about OU? What a job by Coale and her players.

[Redbear]

Don't worry Carolann. Those of us that were there are still having a hard time figuring that one out also.

It was one of the best games I've seen in person. Two fabulous coaches. Two teams playing their heart out.

[swok34]

So do we OU fans......I don't know if folks realize that OU had NEVER led in this ballgame, only tied it right there at the end.
Had 3 players fouled out, 1 other with 4....Baylor had 3 players with 4. Kudo's to the coaching staff for realizing to go for 3 because I don't think OU could have withstood an OT and still had 5 players left.

I listened to Sherri on the radio this morning and she said that not calling that timeout wasn't a "brilliant" coaching move, OU didn't have any more timeout's to call. They had already set up the play on the offensive end for either Dionnah or Laura to take the final shot, depending on how the defense responded....
and of course, the defense went with the hot hand of Andrews.

I agree, that was one of the best OU game's I've ever seen....
I love the OU/BU matchup since KMR's taken over the Bears. I have not seen a game that wasn't exciting.

[This message has been edited by swok34 (edited 01-28-2003).]

[Jennifer]

According to the official OU release, OU's starting lineup tonight vs Texas will be:
Becky Preston (FR)
Dionnah Jackson (SO)
Chelsi Welch (FR)
Laura Andrews (FR)
Maria Villarroel (JR)

[swok34]

Now, we expect another double-double from Laura http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

She absolutely earned her starting spot back after the Baylor game.....though the shake-up hasn't managed to light the proper fire under Schuknecht......I hope Schuknecht finds the same Coale-fire that Andrews stumbled into the other night.