When one loss tells you more than the rankings and lists ever will
Sooner women capable of being a top-five team, moving up in the NET and RPI, but first they must come out ready to play, prepared make the right choices
Remember how, previously, we explained NET and RPI?
Remember how the Oklahoma women are a bit of a strange case?
Because a week ago, though ranked eighth in both major polls, the Sooners were No. 14 in the NET, the most favored tool of the NCAA tournament’s selection committee, and No. 50 in the RPI, the previously favored tool, mostly because their schedule strength ranked 278th.
Funny thing about those figures?
This time of year, they may mean nothing at all.
Check it out.
Last Sunday, at home, against Mississippi State, owner of a healthy No. 35 NET and respectable No. 41 RPI, the Sooners rolled the Bulldogs 95-47. Four nights later, Thursday night, still at home, they could do nothing with Ole Miss — No. 23 NET, No. 48 RPI — falling 74-69 in a game they led for only 61 seconds and never by more than two points.
Coach Jennie Baranczyk’s team can’t seem to handle success.
There are isolated moments it appears the players never learned how to really play the game, or have forgotten how due to shattered confidence.
Oh, by the way, the original plan was to write about the OU men and women together, but I just can’t because I don’t want to start calling for Porter Moser’s job — AGAIN!! — so quickly, because what would that leave to write about next?
Nonetheless, he earned the sentiment, because there he was Wednesday night, on his feet the whole game, per usual, yelling and carrying on the whole game, per usual, as his team died on the SEC road, per usual.
It happened Wednesday night on Mississippi State’s home floor, a contest the Sooners absolutely needed to win and should have won, but were instead routed over the last 10 minutes into a 72-53 loss.
Embarrassing.
C’est la vie.
Back to the women.
Do they lack seriousness?
Because other teams lost last week, OU entered ranked fifth in the nation for the first time since ’09, when the program reached the Final Four behind Courtney Paris, Danielle Robinson and Whitney Hand (and Ashley Paris, Amanda Thompson and Nyeshia Stevenson, too).
Not ready to play, they were immediately down 15-3, missing eight or 10 points’ worth of layups along the way.
They played catch-up after that, which wasn’t easy as previous sharpshooter Payton Verhulst, who’s made 6 of 37 3-point attempts over her last eight games, shot 1 of 14 overall and 0 for 7 from 3.
Nor was it easy as likely All-American center Raegan Beers did not attempt a second-half shot until 4:31 remained, though it was nice it went in to make it 61-61 … only for Sira Thienou to knock down a 3 on Ole Miss’ very next trip down the floor.
Beers finished with 15 points and an amazing 20 rebounds, and she kept OU in the game in the first half with five offensive boards that, when not leading to points for her, led to points for others.
And still, at the very end, she did two things you just can’t do in a tight game, costing her team badly.
One, Ole Miss’ Cotie McMahon entered the lane on a drive that began far outside of it.
Beers had all the time in the world to move a foot or two to her left and stop McMahon cold, forcing her to dish, pull up for a jumper or retreat.
Instead, she did not move until McMahon was right there, in position to take the contact, get the shot up, make it and the following free throw, putting the Rebels up 69-66 with 1:40 remaining, moments after Aaliyah Chavez had nailed a tying 3.
Watch it right here at the 10:00 mark of these highlights.
Next, the score the same, the Rebels with the ball, just a few ticks’ difference between game clock and shot clock and OU uncertain whether to foul or play out the defensive possession, McMahon made the decision easy, entering the lane with the clear intention to shoot with almost 20 seconds remaining.
Any Sooner’s job there is to challenge the shot if possible, but by no means foul.
Beers, though, rather than go straight up with a block attempt, wound up swatting down with her right arm, missing the ball and catching McMahon square in the head. So emphatically wrong a play, the officials stopped things to decide if Beers’ foul was flagrant.
It wasn’t, but McMahon’s one made free throw was enough to put OU on the permanent wrong end of the game’s see-saw.
When the standard is high, and it should be for a program that’s reached four straight NCAA tournaments and last season’s Sweet 16, there are two ways to judge performance: body of work and winning (or losing) plays.
Beers’ body of work was terrific: 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 20 rebounds, four assists. Yet those two poor plays defined her game as much as the rest.
As good as she is — and she’s great — poor recognition and the choices it led to created huge errors.
Given Beers attempting only three shots after halftime and given Verhulst’s shattered shooting, you can guess who was doing the Sooners’ scoring.
Chavez made just 7 of 22 shots over the game, but 6 of 14 after the half and 5 of 11 from 3-point range. Her 23 post-half points were more than half of OU’s 37 and part of her game-high 26.
Two more interesting stats.
One, despite being the only Sooner who could make a basket for much of the second half and despite netting 26 points, Chavez still finished minus 11 over her 33 minutes on the court, worst among Sooner starters. And despite hitting 1 of 14 shots, most of them badly, Verhulst’s plus-minus over 33 minutes was zero, best among Sooner starters.
If you watched, you probably get it.
Chavez was on the court from the start, part of the Sooners’ from-the-tip sleepiness. Yet, in foul trouble, she wasn’t on the court when OU made its second-quarter run to trail 35-32 at the half.
Second, OU entered averaging 21.9 assists on 35.7 made field goals per game, or 61.3 percent of their buckets. Against the Rebels, it was 13 assists on 23 made shots, or 56.5 percent.
Bad all around.
The verdict.
OU must come out to play.
Its best players — Beers, Chavez, Verhulst — can’t take nights or halves off in any facet. If they’re not ready to play, the team’s not ready to play.
And close games demand correct choices. If a primary player flunks them, good chance the team loses.
After all of it, the Sooners remain ranked fifth with a No. 9 NET until Monday, while their RPI reset at 46 (previously, it had improved from 50th to 35th).
Sunday, they’re on the road at sixth-ranked Kentucky. But who really knows what that means after the Wildcats’ 64-51 loss at Alabama last night.
Enjoy the rest of the season.