Light at the End of the Tunnel

Nov. 19, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. -- After playing the past two national champions (away from home) to start the season (with a lineup that has less combined experience than its head coach has ever put on the court), the Oklahoma women's basketball team is off for another tough road trip.

The No. 10 Sooners "recovered" from games against No. 3 Maryland and No. 1 Tennessee with three straight days of grueling practices and will leave Tuesday for a resort in Cancun, Mexico.

But this will not be just another day at the beach.

"There's nothing easy about the month of November for our basketball team," OU head coach Sherri Coale said. "Not one easy thing -- Nothing simple; nothing uncomplicated; everything is complex and challenging.

"It's like you're crawling uphill with a 50-pound weight strapped to your back. As a result of that, if we can make it to the top of the hill, everything will seem easy after that."

The next stops on the ascent are No. 14 Arizona State and Mississippi State, the teams that await OU at the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun in what has been the nation's toughest schedule so far in the 2007-08 women's basketball season.

The most important aspect of the early season schedule, according to Coale, is not wins and losses, but gaining experience for her young team. With no seniors, Coale relies on juniors and sophomores to be the mentors as the freshmen adjust to collegiate basketball and all its intricacies.

"The most difficult thing, probably, for the young guys is just learning how to travel," Coale said, "how to pace yourself, how to adapt to time changes and sitting around an airport. You take that coupled with the caliber of opponents we've been playing -- I think they've felt like they've been hit in the head with a 2x4.

"It's tough. I think that's one of my favorite things about this early schedule -- is that it gives us an opportunity for growth physically, mentally and emotionally. How tough are we going to be? When things are going well, it's easy to be confident, full of life and full of energy. But, when you have some adversity, how are you going to react to it?"

That reaction will be a key come March. Aside from battling four teams who could make the NCAA Tournament, Oklahoma covers nearly 8,000 miles; about half of its total travel, in the first two weeks of its schedule. Despite the strength of the remaining slate, an equivalent amount of stress and fatigue will not be duplicated again until postseason tournaments.

"We grew a lot between Maryland and Tennessee," Coale said. "It remains to be seen how much we grow between Tennessee and Arizona State."

Oklahoma responded well from a season-opening 10-point loss to Maryland by taking it to the top-ranked Lady Vols until the final buzzer.

"What happens now? How do you get back up after playing an opponent like Tennessee? That next game is always tough. And yet we add to that, how do you get on a plane and travel again and face all the complexities that are associated with that?

"This young team has their hands full and the toughest juncture of this entire month might be these two games we're about to play because of what they're on the heels of."

Whatever the outcome, Coale already knows that the price her team is paying now pays dividends in March and April.

And by the spring, the Sooners won't be wearing those weights on their backs anymore.

"We'll finally get to the top of the hill, stand up and jump around a little."