Oklahoma Meets SDSU in First Round

March 18, 2010

No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 14 South Dakota State
Date & Tip Time	Sunday, March 21, 2010 \| 8:30 p.m.
Location	Norman, Okla. \| Lloyd Noble Center \| Seating Views
Tickets	OU Athletics Ticket Office All-Session: Adults -- $46, Youth (Ages 2-18) -- $36 OU Students with Valid Student ID -- $36
TV	ESPN2 DirecTV Channel 722; DISH Channel 147; AT&T U-Verse 616
Radio	Sooner Radio Network KOKC AM 1520 in Oklahoma City, KTBZ AM 1430 in Tulsa
Live Stats	SoonerSports.com GameTracker
Game Info	Game Notes (PDF)

GAME PREVIEW
No. 3 seed Oklahoma will host No. 14 South Dakota State Sunday, March 21, at approximately 8:30 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA Championship at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla. The game will tip-off 30 minutes following the conclusion of the Session 1 matchup between No. 6 Georgia Tech and No. 11 UALR, which tips at 6:16 p.m.
• The games of the NCAA Championship will be televised on ESPN2. In Norman, the first and second rounds will be called by Dan McLaughlin (play-by-play) and Fran Fraschilla (analyst).
• The OU radio broadcast with Brian Brinkley and Kendra Wecker can be heard on the Sooner Sports Network (KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City, KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa).

NCAA Women's Basketball First & Second Rounds | March 21 & 23, 2010
The 2010 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship is coming to Norman with first- and second-round games at the Lloyd Noble Center. A pair of first-round games will be played on Sunday, March 21, with a single second-round game on Tuesday, March 23. Order Tickets Now | 2010 NCAA at OU Central Page

The Teams
• Third-seeded Oklahoma is ranked No. 12 by the Associated Press and No. 12 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll.
• No. 14 seed South Dakota State is not ranked.
• Oklahoma is 23-10 overall and finished 11-5 in the Big 12. The Sooners lost to No. 9 Texas A&M in the Big 12 Championship final.
• South Dakota State is 22-10 overall and finished 14-4 in the Summit League. The Jackrabbits won, 79-75, in overtime to Oral Roberts in the conference championship game.

Saturday's Practices Open to Public | March 20, 2010
The opening practices for the NCAA Women's First Round at the Lloyd Noble Center are open to the public. Practices begin at 12 p.m. and fans must enter through the east doors of the arena.

Georgia Tech: 12-1 p.m. | UALR: 1:05-2:05 p.m. | Oklahoma: 2:10-3:10 p.m. | SDSU: 3:15-4:15 p.m.

The NCAA Championship
• The appearance is Oklahoma's 13th overall and 11th consecutive in the NCAA Championship. The Sooners are 22-12 all-time in the NCAA tournament, losing last year to Louisville in the Final Four. Oklahoma advanced to the Sweet 16 in 1986, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2009. The Sooners played in the national championship in 2002, losing to Connecticut. Oklahoma has hosted the first and second rounds in Norman four times, achieving a 5-1 record.

The Coaches
• Sherri Coale is 309-142 (.685) in her 14th season at Oklahoma. Coale is 19-10 in the NCAA Championship.
• Aaron Johnston is 247-75 (.767) in his 10th season at South Dakota State.

The Program
• OU's victory over Kansas (Jan. 23) was victory No. 300 for Sherri Coale. Coale is OU's all-time wins and winning percentage leader.
• OU's all-time program record is 633-435 (.593). OU is 146-76 (.658) all-time in Big 12 regular-season play.

South Dakota State Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2009-10 Statistics
22	Ketty Cornemann	F	5-11	Sr.	11.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg
40	Maria Boever	F	6-1	Sr.	14.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg
20	Jennifer Schuttloffel	F	5-11	Jr.	1.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg
2	Macie Michelson	G	5-6	Jr.	8.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg
14	Kristin Rotert	G	6-0	Jr.	12.6 ppg, 3.9 rpg

Oklahoma Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2009-10 Statistics
13	Danielle Robinson	G	5-9	Jr.	16.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 5.2 apg
1	Nyeshia Stevenson	F	5-10	Sr.	13.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg
45	Jasmine Hartman	G	5-11	So.	2.1 ppg, 1.5 rpg
21	Amanda Thompson	F	6-1	Sr.	13.2 ppg, 10.5 rpg
34	Abi Olajuwon	C	6-3	Sr.	10.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg

PREVIEWING OKLAHOMA
The Sooners were picked by the league's coaches to finish fifth in the strong Big 12 Conference this season, but tied for second in the final standings.

Following a season when Oklahoma notched a program record 32 wins, won its sixth Big 12 regular season title and made its second trip to the Final Four, the Sooners had to make immediate solutions to losses of the Paris twins to graduation and star sophomore Whitney Hand to an ACL injury early in the playing season.

The Sooners are 23-10 overall and finished 11-5 in the Big 12 with the nation's toughest strength of schedule and No. 8 RPI.

Sooner to Watch
	Amanda Thompson \| Sr. \| Forward Amanda Thompson will not let her senior season end quietly. The forward averaged 17.3 points and 15.0 rebounds in the Big 12 Championship, setting a semifinal round record for rebounds. Despite running on fumes in the final game, Thompson scored 20 points and collected 19 boards.

THREE SOONERS ALL-BIG 12
Oklahoma's Danielle Robinson, Nyeshia Stevenson and Amanda Thompson were named to the All-Big 12 Team in a vote by the league's coaches.

Robinson, a unanimous choice, and Thompson were voted to the 10-member first team. Stevenson was selected to the second team.

Robinson was also named to the All-Defensive Team for a second consecutive season.

All-Big 12 First Team
Brittney Griner, Baylor; Alison Lacey, Iowa State; Ashley Sweat, Kansas State; Kelsey Griffin, Nebraska; Cory Montgomery, Nebraska; Yvonne Turner, Nebraska; Danielle Robinson, Oklahoma; Amanda Thompson, Oklahoma; Andrea Riley, Oklahoma State; Tanisha Smith, Texas A&M.

All-Big 12 Second Team
Danielle McCray, Kansas; Nyeshia Stevenson, Oklahoma; Tegan Cunningham, Oklahoma State; Brittainey Raven, Texas; Danielle Adams, Texas A&M.

ROBINSON ON EVERY WATCH LIST
OU junior Danielle Robinson's big play has her in the national spotlight. She's in consideration for All-America honors as well as the Naismith, Wooden and Lieberman awards.

Robinson compares favorably with the past six winners of the Nancy Lieberman Award, given to the nation's top point guard.

Year	Player	G	PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	FT%
2010	Danielle Robinson, OU	33	16.9	3.1	5.2	.472	.872
2009	Renee Montgomery, UConn	39	16.5	2.1	5.1	.448	.744
2008	Kristi Toliver, Maryland	37	17.1	3.4	7.4	.444	.860
2007	Lindsey Harding, Duke	34	13.6	4.0	3.9	.444	.748
2006	Ivory Latta, North Carolina	35	18.4	2.1	5.2	.455	.852
2005	Temeka Johnson, LSU	36	10.4	3.3	7.7	.479	.723
2004	Diana Taurasi, UConn	35	16.2	4.0	4.9	.456	.795

Robinson Named State Farm All-Region
Danielle Robinson was one of 52 players named to a State Farm All-Region Team, joining six other Big 12 Conference players on the All-Region 5 squad. From that list of 52, 40 selections will contend for 10 spots on State Farm All-America Team to be announced at the Final Four in San Antonio.

Two Collect Tournament Honors
Danielle Robinson, who averaged 21.0 points and 4.3 assists, and Amanda Thompson, who averaged 18.3 points and 15.0 rebounds, were named to the All-Big 12 Championship Team. The Sooners fell to Texas A&M, 74-67, in the final round.

Three Named Academic All-Big 12
Danielle Robinson (first team), Jasmine Hartman (second team) and Amanda Thompson (second team) were named to the 2010 Academic All-Big 12 Women's Basketball Team on March 4.

About the Lloyd Noble Center
The LNC opened in 1975 and has a capacity of 12,000. The largest crowd ever for a women's game was 12,112 for the Feb. 12, 2006 Oklahoma-Baylor game. OU won, 81-77, in overtime.

NCAA Women's Tournament in Norman for Sixth Time
This marks the sixth time that NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament games have been contested in Norman, Okla. All were played in the Lloyd Noble Center. Results from those games are listed below (number in parentheses represents regional seed). The only team in this year's first and second round games in Norman that has played here before is Oklahoma ...

2004 Midwest Regional • (1) Tennessee 71, (4) Baylor 69 • (6) Stanford 57, (2) Vanderbilt 55 • Tennessee 62, Stanford 60	2003 Mideast Region 1st and 2nd Rounds • (7) George Washington 71, (10) Oklahoma 61 • (2) Villanova 51, (15) St. Francis (Pa.) 36 • Villanova 70, George Washington 57
2002 West Region 1st and 2nd Rounds • (1) Oklahoma 84, (16) Hartford 52 • (8) Villanova 67, (9) Pepperdine 46 • Oklahoma 66, Villanova 53	2001 West Region 1st and 2nd Rounds • (7) Stanford 76, (10) George Washington 51 • (2) Oklahoma 70, (15) Oral Roberts 64 • Oklahoma 67, Stanford 50
1986 Midwest Region Second Round • (4) Oklahoma, 86, (5) Vanderbilt 67

Higher Seed's Haven
Of the 13 previous NCAA Tournament games played in Norman, 12 were won by the higher seeded team. The lone exception was sixth-seeded Stanford's 57-55 win over second-seeded Vanderbilt in the semi-final round of the 2004 Midwest Regional.

Convincing Victories
The winners in Norman have advanced in impressive fashion. Nine of the 13 games played were decided by double digit margins. The most significant exception was the 2004 Midwest Regional in which all three games were decided by two points.

Crowd in 2002 Still Holds Spot in Record Book
The crowd of 11,200 that was on hand for the first-round games at Norman in 2002 still represents the 10th-largest single session gathering in first- and second-round games history.

Other NCAA Championship Events
The Lloyd Noble Center also has played host to the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships in 2002 and 2006. Oklahoma won both of those titles.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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