Oklahoma Women's BB Plays I-State in Semis Today @ 1:30 PM in KC

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners Women's Basketball team will face the Iowa State Cyclones today at 1:30 PM in one Semi-Final game in Kansas City. In the other Semi-Final, Texas will face Kansas State at 4 PM after the first Semi-Final game. Today's game is on ESPN2.

The Sooners defeated the Cyclones in the only game they played in conference by the score of 86-72 as Payton Verhulst scored 25 points to lead OU. Having said that, the Sooners will have to play well to defeat Iowa State as there is a bit of a matchup issue with Iowa State.

Iowa State's starters are Jackson 5'9" Guard, Belanger 5'8" Guard, Ryan 5'11" Guard, Brown 6'2" Forward and Crooks 6'3" Center. The Cyclones bring in 5'10" Kelsey Joens, 6'2" Bristow, 6'2" Diew and 6'5" Natabou. They get bigger when they go to the bench.

Oklahoma counters with Tot 5'3" Guard, Keys 5'7" Guard, 5'10" Williams Forward, 6'1" Verhulst G/F and Vann 6'0" Forward. The Sooners bring in 6'4" Johnson Forward, Culliton 6'3" Center, 5'9" Guard, 5'10" Scott Guard and Tucker 5'10" Guard.

I think these keys will play out in the game.

1) How much Williams can affect the game on offense and on the boards today for Oklahoma. Against bigger forwards, if Williams can remain on the floor and rebound and score, it is an advantage for Oklahoma.

2) Can Oklahoma defend inside against Crooks and other Cyclone inside players without being in foul trouble? I expect to see Culliton and Johnson in the game a bit more than usual today. If they play well, it helps OU.

3) Can Oklahoma push the ball up the court and cause Iowa State to play a bit of a smaller lineup? If OU can do this, it may keep Crooks on the sidelines more than I-State would like.

I believe that Oklahoma can shoot the ball well enough to win the game today as they run with pace every chance they get. Hopefully, one or two of Keyes, Verhurst and Joens will be hot shooting from downtown today.

Here is to the Sooners as they try to keep their season going very well today with a win and the best of luck to them.

Boomer Sooner.

[SoonerGirl1201]

I didn't get a chance to watch the game but just caught the score and was a little shocked. Looks like a butt-kickin by Iowa State (OU loses 68-85). My guess we had tons of turnovers and Iowa State shot lights out with lots of 3s? At any rate it has been a great year and we got the regular season title. Excited to see if they can perhaps make it to the Sweet 16 in the tourney....

[OUBeliever56A]

The Iowa State Cyclones defeated the Oklahoma Sooners today in Kansas City 85-68 as the Sooners had little to no answer to the inside game for I-State and when they tried to double-team down low, the pass outside found hot shooting Cyclones who made more than half of their three's in the game. It was a difficult game to watch as OU floundered against Iowa State from almost the first minute of the game.

Some teams just have an 'achilles heel'. Oklahoma's 'heel' is their inside defense against a big good shooting post. They try to play behind the post player and hope that they will miss about 75% of the time. The other times they try to help from the offside with a smaller player. Against a good post player, the ball will find a wide open player on the arc. Today, the player on the arc shoot very well. Oklahoma does not really have a solid zone defense that they can rely on either. A good post player than can score is just a tough draw for the Sooners.

The second 'achilles heel' is their poor shooting at times. Today, the Sooners shot 36.1% from the floor today. The Cyclones shot 57.9%. That 'heel' quickly became an 'achilles leg'.

I do not mean to be so negative, but it was a tough game today for Oklahoma.

Now, after rising a bit in the polls and it being believed that Oklahoma could get a 4-seed in the tourney, it is now doubtful that will occur. The Sooners have lost 2 of their last three games. They lost to Kansas on the road 83-74 in their last regular season Big 12 conference game with the regular season championship wrapped up. Then they defeated a TCU 69-53 in the first round of the Big 12 Tourney. Today they lost to Iowa State 85-68 and did not look like a 4th seed at anytime in the game.

I hope the Sooners still get that 4th seed and play a game or two at home. But I am prepared for them to start the NCAA Tourney on the road instead.

Coach Baranczyk and the Sooner team should be proud of what they have accomplished this season. But even with that, learning how to play against a post player better be learned quickly. With a poor matchup for them (defined as a good big post player) the Sooners can find the first round of the NCAA difficult.

I am still very proud of the Sooners and will applaud them for their season. Good luck to them on their seeding also.

Boomer Sooner!

[TN Sooner]

Tough loss for sure. This team has a very wide gap between their best game and their worst game. I don’t remember seeing a team that is as jeckyl and Hyde as these ladies are. I just keep reminding myself how far above expectations they have performed - picked 5th in the conference and that was assuming Liz Scott was a starter.

Bracketology ship has sailed I fear - we are back to a 5seed playing in colorado.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story ... rojections