Sooners searching for consistency
Oklahoma needs to become more consistent and finish the season strong to make its case for an NCAA Tournament bid.
NORMAN — Sherri Coale knows looking at her team’s conference record can be dizzying.
Entering Saturday’s game with No. 21-ranked West Virginia, Coale’s crew is searching for consistency — and its first two-game win streak since beating Iowa State and TCU on Dec. 31 and Jan. 4, respectively.
Since then, the Sooners (11-11, 6-5 Big 12) have alternated wins and losses.
“I really do think it’s just getting that second (win),” Coale said of the key to finding consistency. “You get that and then who knows what can happen after that.”
With seven games left in the regular season, the Sooners badly need to string together a couple of wins to make their case for an NCAA Tournament bid.
OU has been to 18 straight NCAA Tournaments, but that streak could very much be in jeopardy if the Sooners don’t get hot to close the season.
On the surface, OU’s 11 losses don’t look great, but thanks to a tough nonconference schedule, the Sooners are ranked No. 36 in RPI, four spots above West Virginia (17-5, 5-5 Big 12) at No. 40.
Seven of OU’s 11 losses came to a team ranked in the AP top-25, and four of those were to top-10 teams.
Of the four losses to unranked teams, two were to teams that currently top their conference standings. At 8-2 in conference play, DePaul is tied for first in the Big East with Marquette. Arkansas Little-Rock, which beat OU 68-56 in November, is first in the Sun Belt.
South Dakota State, a team that took down OU 67-61, is second in the Summit League.
OU’s worst loss of the season is a 80-61 drubbing by Florida, a team that’s 10th in the SEC with just two conference wins.
While the Sooners have a couple of bad losses on their tournament resume, they do have a few solid non-conference wins, coming against then-No. 16 South Florida and then-undefeated New Mexico.
With a depleted roster thanks to off-season transfers and preseason injuries, Oklahoma has struggled to find a rhythm this season with a nineman rotation.
“I think our biggest thing has been consistency, whether that’s people showing up in production ways or showing up in leadership,” guard Maddie Manning said. “We’ve had some unfortunate events. Some injuries, some sickness that have hindered us at key times it seems like.
“Beyond that, just showing up and producing. One night, I’m shooting 70 percent from the 3 and the next night I’m 0-for-4. Same thing with Gabbi (Ortiz), same thing with other people.”
At 11-11 entering Saturday’s game, the Sooners have the potential to win out and finish the year 18-11 with a 12-5 mark in conference play.
But, with both Texas and Baylor on the road in the final seven-game stretch, sweeping the rest of the season is a tough task.
If the Sooners only lose to both Baylor and Texas, they’ll finish regular season play at 16-13 and 10-7 in the Big 12. That, combined with a couple of wins in the Big 12 tournament, would likely get the Sooners an invitation to the big dance.
“Looking back on your career, maybe you were inconsistent most of the time, but I don’t think anybody will be upset if we find it for these last games and put it together,” Manning said. “I don’t think anybody will have too much to say about it.”
As of Thursday, Oklahoma isn’t included in the bracket made by ESPNW analyst Charlie Creme. They aren’t even listed as a bubble team.
But Coale isn’t looking at that, and she hopes her team isn’t, either.
“The only thing we can control is how we’re playing right now, and are we continuing to get better?” she said. “It’s fun for the public and everyone to look at and prognosticate about. For our guys, we have to be where we are and this group as done a really good job of just continuing to get better.”