KANSAS CITY, Mo.: Oklahoma was a recreation above .500 following a loss to Southern three days earlier than Christmas, and there appeared few causes to imagine the Sooners would flip round their fortunes when their final run by the Big 12 Conference started the next week.
More than two months later, Jennie Baranczyk’s crew has misplaced solely three extra instances.
Led by Skylar Vann and Louisville switch Payton Verhulst, the No. 19 Sooners (21-8) rolled to their first Big 12 common-season title since 2009 earlier than they be a part of Texas in departing for the Southeastern Conference subsequent season.
That additionally gave Oklahoma the No. 1 seed when the convention match begins Thursday in Kansas City.
“This team has really found itself to be a really good team,” Baranczyk mentioned, “and I don’t mean good because we won a Big 12 championship. I mean good because they cover for each other. They help each other. They believe in each other. And they never quit on each other, and they never have a second of doubt, even when it seems impossible.”
The Sooners earned a double bye because the 14-crew Big 12 Tournament begins at T-Mobile Center, the place the boys have performed for years however the ladies are getting equal billing for the primary time. They had performed down the road at Municipal Auditorium.
Oklahoma will play the TCU-Oklahoma State winner Saturday evening because it seeks its first Big 12 tourney title since again-to-again championships in 2006 and ’07.
“The tradition here is amazing, and everyone knows that,” mentioned the Sooners’ Lexy Keys, a switch from Oklahoma State. “This program is amazing. This team is amazing. Playing against them, I knew that going in.”
The highway to the Big 12 Tournament title received’t be straightforward, although.
The second-seeded Longhorns (27-4), who will play the BYU-Kansas winner Saturday evening, are the best-ranked crew at No. 6 within the AP Top 25 this week. In all, there are 4 groups within the ballot and three extra receiving votes, and every of these seven are virtually sure locks when the NCAA Tournament choice committee meets to determine its area.
“It’s been a little bit of a grind,” mentioned Texas coach Vic Schaefer, whose crew received the Big 12 tourney two years in the past, (*2*)
Especially within the Big 12, the place No. 16 Kansas State — the No. 3 seed — was ranked as excessive as No. 2 within the nation this season.
“We definitely ended conference play on a good note,” the Longhorns’ Shaylee Gonzales mentioned. “Obviously we’re going to take that in but realize we’ve got games ahead of us that we need to prepare for. They’re all good teams. And we’ve all played before.”
The ladies’s match beforehand ran alongside the boys’s match, which allowed followers touring to Kansas City to catch each of their groups in the identical week. But the Big 12 wished ladies to have the identical highlight at T-Mobile Center as the boys, and that meant transferring up the beginning of the tourney by per week. The championship recreation is Tuesday evening.
No. 17 Baylor, which performs the Houston-Texas Tech winner Friday evening, has received 5 straight to climb to the No. 5 seed. Other groups on the rise embrace fourth-seeded Iowa State (18-10), which earned the final of the 4 double byes, and seventh-seeded Kansas (18-11), which has received eight of its final 9 video games to work its method into the projected NCAA Tournament area.
Kansas State (24-6) hasn’t been the identical since All-America candidate Ayoka Lee missed a couple of month due to ankle surgical procedure, dropping 5 of its final 9 after a 20-1 begin to the season. Texas Tech was 16-6 after beating TCU on Jan. 27, however it enters the Big 12 tourney on a 9-recreation skid and certain wants 5 wins in 5 days to make the NCAA area.
Baylor began the season 14-0, went by a 4-6 stretch halfway by the season, then beat Oklahoma State on senior day for its fifth consecutive win. Now, the Bears will go for his or her first Big 12 tourney title since 2021, when the Bears received the final of three straight championships underneath former coach Kim Mulkey.
Ninth-seeded TCU enters the Big 12 tourney 19-10 total and 6-12 in convention play. How do the losses compute? The Horned Frogs forfeited two video games after they didn’t have sufficient wholesome gamers, which counted towards their Big 12 file however not their total mark. They have received 4 of their final 5 and will work their method into the NCAA area in Kansas City.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
