NCAA Tournament 2000 - Sooners look forward to playing UConn again

Sooners look forward to playing UConn again
Associated Press

NORMAN, Okla. -- Even though her team lost by a wide margin to top-ranked Connecticut earlier this season, Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale says the experience should benefit the Sooners when the teams meet Saturday in the NCAA East Regional semifinals.

"I think that if you haven't been on the court with them, they are almost larger than life," Coale said Tuesday. "You look at their record and how they just plow through teams. But we've been on the floor with them.

"Sometimes they turn it over, just like we do. Sometimes they blow layups. Sometimes they foul, just like we do. They're very good basketball players and they're an exceptional team, but they're human. I don't know that we would understand that if we hadn't been on the floor with them already."

Connecticut (32-1) is the top seed in the region and has looked the part, winning its first two games by 71 and 38 points. The Huskies have two first-team All-America selections in Shea Ralph and Svetlana Abrosimova.

In December, the Huskies visited Norman and beat Oklahoma 84-68.

"I think the mystique has kind of decreased a little bit," guard Stacey Dales said. "The intimidation factor has gone down slightly. The first time we played them, we had some jitters we hadn't experienced before because they're a powerhouse."

That game was played in front of 10,713, the largest crowd ever to watch a women's game in Oklahoma. The Sooners (25-7) went on to tie for first place in the Big 12 regular season, and showed some mettle Monday by rallying from a 17-point deficit to beat Purdue 76-74 on Purdue's home floor.

"I'm still a little stunned, not only due to the fact that we're going to the Sweet 16, but also by the way we won the game," Coale said. "We are thrilled to still be playing. We're one of 16 teams in America who have practice today and a game this weekend."

Oklahoma stumbled a bit heading into the tournament, losing to Texas in their opening game of the Big 12 tournament. But they beat Brigham Young in the first round of the East Regional and followed that with the victory Monday.

"We are a wiser team than the one that went to Kansas City and lost to Texas," Coale said. "That might have been the best thing that every happened to us, because I don't think we would have beaten Purdue had we not endured what happened to us in Kansas City.

"That's why you play games, to find out what you're not very good at. Then you go home and fix it."

Oklahoma has been to the NCAA tournament two other times, most recently in 1995. But the Sooners lost in the second round each of those years, which helps explain why even a meeting against the nation's No. 1 team can't diminish the excitement.

"I have to be honest, I was just happy to make it to the tournament," senior forward Phylesha Whaley said. "I wouldn't have been that sad if we lost (to Purdue) because it's been a great year. And it's getting better and better."


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