Sooners a No. 4 Seed in OKC Region

-- For tickets, call the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 456-GoOU or (405) 325-2424. --

March 17, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. -- The cheer let out by the 12 members of Oklahoma women's basketball team was more than enough to describe the enthusiasm the Sooners expect to carry into the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Chants of "OKC...here we come" followed the announcement that OU will play in the Oklahoma City Region as the No. 4 seed, with its first round opponent being No. 13-seed Illinois State Sunday, March 23, at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Sooners and Redbirds will tip-off at 11 a.m. Central (noon local time). The winner of the game will face the winner of (5) Notre Dame and (12) SMU on Tuesday, March 25.

Coach and Player Quotes | Tournament Bracket (PDF)

The news that the No. 14 Sooners (21-8) would get a chance to play at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City was a healthy surprise after the team suffered an overtime loss in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.

"I don't know that any of us knew what to expect, truthfully," OU head coach Sherri Coale said. "We just knew we were going to be fortunate enough to be in the bracket somewhere.

"We could really stand for something good to happen to us right now. We don't really care form whom it comes or whence it comes."

  Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale
  Oklahoma Junior Center Courtney Paris
  Oklahoma Sophomore Forward Amanda Thompson
  Oklahoma Freshman Danielle Robinson

Coale was quick to point out that it was likely more than wins and losses that factored into the tournament selection committee's decision.

"I really feel like there are two reasons we are playing in Oklahoma City. One, being our strength of schedule. Doing what we did in the pre-conference in situations we've put ourselves in really, I think, plays a huge role in the eyes of the committee.

"I also think that our fan base plays a tremendous role. I think that the statement that we made consistently, regardless of who we're playing, when we're playing, was the number of people who file into the Lloyd Noble Center to watch us play. And the statement that Oklahoma City made in hosting the Big 12 Tournament last year, I think people look at that and I do think it matters."

First, the Sooners will return to the site of one of the program's epic victories -- West Lafayette, Ind. -- for a matchup with Illinois State. The Sooners rallied to defeat Purdue, 76-74, on their home court to advance to Coale's first Sweet 16 in 2000.

"Such sweet memories of West Lafayette," Coale said. "Sometimes there's just some serendipity involved. That's where we really catapulted on the national scene."

Though much of the excitement was about the possibility of playing front of the hometowns fans once more, the Sooners know that much work lies ahead.

"I don't think there will be a challenge to remind our team how important it is to get a win right now," Coale said. "We are hungering and thirsting to get on the floor and right the ship and really restore pride in the way we play, the way we compete and who we are together."

Oklahoma is 2-0 all-time against Illinois State (a 67-65 victory in the 1984 NWIT Tournament and a 69-56 win in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3, 1993) and 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament at Mackey Arena.

Illinois State (26-6) earned an automatic berth in to the tournament with is Missouri Valley Conference Championship.

Said Coale of her first-round opponent: "From what I can tell on paper, they might be like a mini-Iowa State. Their head coach is a former (Iowa State) assistant of Bill Fennelly's and they've got two girls who've shot over 130 threes and they're very efficient offensively.

"Their assist-to-turnover ratio is excellent, among the top 10 in the country. They share the basketball -- assists are really high. They don't beat themselves. Sounds like a little bit of Iowa State to me."

The appearance will be Oklahoma's 11th in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Tournament. The Sooners are 16-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and have been to six Sweet 16s, including two consecutive, and were national runners-up in 2002.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors