Sooners looking to rebound in NCAA Tournament

As the OU women’s basketball team prepares to play Gonzaga in the opening round of the NCAA women’s tournament, coach Sherri Coale wants her team to focusing on rebounding.

Like many of the Nikesponsored programs, the Oklahoma women’s basketball team was given special shooting shirts for March Madness.

Most of this year’s shirts are screenprinted with ‘[insert school name here] Mentality’ across the chest, but the sleeves are customizable, a place where each individual team can print its own motivational phrase.

So on the left sleeve of the Sooners’ shirts stretches what looks like a math equation: E+R=O.

That formula is shorthand for ‘event plus response equals outcome,’ one of coach Sherri Coale’s favorite phrases, borrowed from Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer, who borrowed it from consultant Tim Kight ahead of the 2015 season.

She’s drilled the saying into the minds of her players this season, imploring them to become better responders to all situations. To ensure her players wouldn’t forget that winning formula, Coale gave them the cheat sheet on their sleeves.

The No. 6 seed Sooners can put that phrase into practice Saturday afternoon when they take on No. 11 seed Gonzaga to open the 2017 NCAA women’s basketball tournament in Seattle’s Alaska Airlines Arena.

By the time tipoff rolls around at 5:40 p.m., the team will have had two weeks between competition, time that’s been mostly focused on rebounding.

Not only were the Sooners outrebounded in blowout losses to Baylor and West Virginia, but on the season, OU’s outrebounded by an average of a board a game. During the conference season, that mark was even worse with opponents averaging 42.6 rebounds per game to OU’s 38.9.

“The offensive crash is the part of it that I want to see develop a little bit more,” Coale said. “We get really dependent on whether or not that ball goes in the basket. When it’s going in, then we think ‘Ah, we don’t have to crash, we just get back on defense.’ When it’s not going in we grab our head and go, ‘Oh my heavens, what are we going to do, we can’t make a shot.’ When the only thing you can do about missing a shot is go rebound it and get another one.”

Remember Coale’s equation? If the Sooners respond better to their missed shots by crashing the offensive glass, they’ll create a better opportunity to recover and score — all things that will be key in beating a fundamentally sound Gonzaga team that just won the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament.

Every time a Sooner shot goes up, Coale expects to see at least three of her players viciously attack the rim, vying for the offensive rebound. If her team can do that, Coale said, things should bode well for OU.

“Lots of times, we have no one crashing or maybe the post player who’s down around the rim,” Coale said. “No one really makes an effort to go get the ball, and that’s where your offensive swagger comes from. You’re going to miss some shots.

“Get another one. You don’t have time to hang your head and think about it. Go get the ball and get another one.”