Salute to the Sooners

[KSUron]

Great Job OU! The game site neat the Alamo may have been quite fitting. The Sooners put up a great fight and earned the respect of everyone who watched the game and understands WBB. There are always a few woulda coulda shouldas in a game like this and losing this has to hurt big time for the players and staff but they played with heart and class and almost pulled it off. We are proud of you OU!

[vickie1ok]

Thanks Ron. They did put up a valiant effort, but in the end rebounding did us in. In fact, lessor teams would have folded had they been outrebounded that badly. We did some good things; I thought our defense was very good except the post defense. I think our guards outplayed their guards both offensively and defensively. Most people thought the guard play would be a wash. Also, kudos to Stacey Dales for tourney MVP, though I know it is no consolation whatsoever to her. But I'm very proud of them; there are no high school all-americans on this team, but they played like a TEAM. Somehow I feel, we will be back there in the not too distant future. Thanks to all fellow Big 12 fans for the support. We appreciate it.

[PeachBasket]

Big time kudos to the Sooners from this Husky fan for a great season and a great NC game. The heart and courage that the Sooners showed was amazing, and only made me prouder of the Huskies that they were up to the challenge of such a fine team as OU. Both teams gave every bit of their all, and while I know it must hurt right now for the Sooner family, every fan of wbb was rewarded by seeing two absolutely first-rate teams battle to the very end. My hat is off to the OU players and staff, and to their fans, be quite sure that with the kind of program Coach Coale has developed you WILL be back at the very top, very soon!

[horntooter]

Great Job, OU! Thanks for making a statement to all the unbelievers. So much for the "real" championship game being the UConn-Tennessee game on Friday. After the first two minutes, Tennessee was never in their game; and for probably the first time this season, tonight UConn had to play all 40 minutes. The 12 point margin was closer than any other ranked team: Tennessee (14 and 23), LaTech (24), Fla Int'l (44), North Carolina (20), ODU (14), Notre Dame (27), Penn State (28), Boston College (23 and 42). You played hard and never gave up. And I'm really happy that Dales, Caulfield and Ross could play in front of a national audience.

[vickie1ok]

Thanks PB, and we are okay. I'm sure the players hurt alot more because they have simply become soldiers in Sherri Coale's quest for the past 4 years. Geno and your front court players were very gracious in their praise for OU and I know it was sincere. I agree with Geno in that Sherri is probably the best young coach in America, and she will be back there in the not too distant future. The Sooners played tonight without a single high school all-american; with this exposure, Sherri will only be able to recruit better players. I think the Sooners and Huskies will meet a few more times in the future. (grin) Congratulations.

[ChipperF1]

A well played ballgame both sides. Oklahoma played about as well as I figured they could play. The guards did their job most of the game. Inside play was the difference and that is where the Sooner didn't do their job. Too many confrontations for loose ball won by Connecticut, and at key moments OU didn't box out and at times, Oklahoma got passive when aggression was working for them.

Nonetheless, no one in crimson and cream should be crying. No hung heads. Stacey, LaNeisha, Rosalind and Caton built a future national champion last night. They gave it all they had and are a credit to the conference.

Connecticut? What more can you say. Best team in land. Best Womens College Basketball team ever? Hmmm maybe we could get that 2002 Connecticut-1998 Tennessee match together and find out.

The best thing about last night? No one can ever say, "The Big 12 has never gotten there" again http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

[Jennifer]

Though I'm sure it's not the most important thing to them right now, Kudos to Stacy Dales and Rosalind Ross for making the All Tourney Team. Swin Cash was named Most Outstanding Player, and joined on the team by Sue Bird and Aisha Jones.

[Cycurl714]

Thank you OU. You proved the country that you were one of the best teams in the country. I know it hurts now but you did what no one else could. So now I raise my glass to Sherri Coale, Stacy Dales, LaNeisha Caufield, Rosalind Ross, Jaime Talbert, and the rest of the 2001-2002 Oklahoma Sooner Women's Basketball Team.

[carolann]

Great job OU. I think it can be said that Coale got everything she could out of her players. Obviously, the inside players of Connecticut were to much to the Sooners. I was really happy to see Ross really show her talent both against the Huskies and against Duke.

[Bball Girl]

Just back from SA and I can't tell you how impressed everyone in the Alamodome was with OU and the Big 12. They never stopped fighting and working. They did a great job on Bird and Taurasi (except for that last 3 pt play) and in general on the perimiter. No 3 pt baskets for UConn last night. But as everyone has already said the post play of UConn was the difference. Swin Cash got great position all night and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th chance pts made the difference. But look how badly UConn beat Tenn....and I think many UConn fans were expecting the same. Things got pretty tense in the dome when OU pulled within 6.

But I heard nothing but compliments for OU and comments like geez if we played in the Big 12, we'd actually have some competition every game.
But I came away thinking that many of our teams could have and likely would beaten Duke and Tennessee and may have given UConn a game as well...but I was thankful that it was OU in the game. It was great to have the #1 and #2 teams fight it out at the end.

Many of the Tenneessee fans were pulling for OU. OU has every reason to hold their heads up high...they did do us proud and it was fun to be a Sooner for a few nights...but only a few nights http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

[vickie1ok]

I stand corrected on Stacey being MVP, but it was reported on the Sooner Broadcast Network after thee game. I read a story today which said the initial sheets the NCAA put out indeed showed Dales as MVP but quickly grabbed them back due to a clerical error. Probably the only glitch the folks in San Antonio made...

[swok34]

What a valiant effort the Sooners put up; I was completely impressed with their composure on Friday Nite vs. Duke. I suspected OU would win due to Duke's youth.

Most Sooner fans and "some" UConn fans just hoped for a close game no matter who won......I know sometimes folks from the "east" have a different way with their expressions than I do, given that I have always lived in the "south"......some of them were terribly arrogant, "we hope OU shows up"...I really like Connecticut's team and Geno, and I really, really wanted OU to win just to show some of those fans.

OU played really, really good.....so very, very proud of the heart and drive of this team. Connecticut is an incredible "blocking" out team....and thus, rebounding team. Connecticut's perimeter defense the last 3 minutes of the game was outstanding. They were determined that OU was not going to take any "open" 3 point shots.

Felt bad for both Stacey Dales for fouling out in her last collegiate game......a lot of folks I've talked to thought the officiating was bad. I've decided that OU and Connecticut play a very, very physical game of basketball when they meet on the court. They did miss a really bad Connecticut elbow job....it just happened to be down on our end of the court and we ALL saw it.

I think and have commented to folks that OU being in the Final Four is pretty incredible, given that they have no All-American hs players, nor any players that were highly recruited. That's probably going to change, and maybe not......Sherri seems to go after the best athletes on the court, hs american or not.....
I was speaking to Antoinette Wadsworth parents in San Antonio and she told us that Baylor, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, OU and Texas for awhile (until they filled their positions and dropped out)....were recruiting Antoinette.

Wadsworth went on ONE home visit, only to OU....her mother mentioned that Antoinette was very impressed with the team, their togetherness as a team, and the "family atmosphere" at OU.

[hawkeye]

Salute!
OU - you guys had a great year and represented the Big XII well at the NC. We are going to miss watching those seniors in action, but it will be fun to see the conference balance out in the fall.
Congratulations to Coale, the Sooner players and all you die hard Sooner fans. I'm sure it's been a fun run for you guys.