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The Norman Transcript Saturday, April 3, 2010

In the midst of a season that doesn’t want to end, Sooners two games from winning it all

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Saturday, April 3, 2010 F3

SAN ANTONIO — Someteams are great, someachieve greatness and

some have greatness thrustupon them. The Oklahomawomen are clearly in themiddle camp.

Because truly great teamsdon’t lose 10 games before theNCAA Tournament. And,really, what does it mean tohave greatness thrust uponyou?

Whatever, it doesn’t seem toapply.

Instead, you’ve got thisSooner team that lost the bestplayer in program history,Courtney Paris, and one of thebest of the rest, Ashley Paris,to graduation last season.Then there’s the loss ofWhitney Hand to season-ending knee surgery, a lossthat left the program with

nine players in uniformuntil Kodi

Morrison found her place onthe bench.

Then, personnel aside,you’ve got a whole bunch ofnot-very-good basketball,followed by somepretty-darn-good-basket-ball,followedby thevictorythat hastheSoonerswherethey’restand-ing.Or,

really,wherethey’resprintingand smilingand yelling

andcarry-ingone because they’reso pleased withthemselves theycan hardlystand it.

It’s allabout they

way theybeat Ken-tucky.

Down 15-2about 5minutes intothe game,theSoonerscame

back like it was Stacey Dalesherself leading the charge.Because isn’t that what this

Why not win it allAfter all that’s happened, there’s no reason to think Sooners can’t win two more

Final FourAlamodomeSan AntonioSunday

Stanford (35-1) vs.Oklahoma (27-10), 6 p.m.

Connecticut (37-0) vs.Baylor (27-9), 8:30 p.m.

TuesdayWinners, 7:30 p.m.

F4 Saturday, April 3, 2010

ClayHorning

Sports Editor

Inside• Snapshotson the way tothe Final Four

Page F14

Sooner forwardAmanda Thompsonspears a reboundagainst NotreDame last weekat the KansasCity Regional.

AP Phto

See HORNING Page F10


Huskies, meet BrittneyNATIONAL VIEW: FOUR TEAMS WITY A STORY

AP Photo

Baylor freshman center Brittney Griner (42) should present a very unique challenge to Connecticut.

By Doug FeinbergAP Basketball Writer

A record-breaking teamon an unprecedented roll. Animpressive freshman withher own remarkablenumbers. And that’s only halfof the women’s Final Four.

San Antonio will have afamiliar feel with three teamsthat reached last season’ssemifinals returning. Leadingthe way are the dominantConnecticut Huskies, whoare two victories away frombecoming the first women’steam with consecutiveundefeated seasons.

The Huskies will have togo through 6-foot-8 fresh-man phenom BrittneyGriner and Baylor to wintheir seventh nationalchampionship. Griner hascarried the Lady Bears tothe Final Four, alreadysetting the NCAA tourna-ment record for blocks inonly four games.

“She’s the most uniqueplayer in college basketballtoday,” Connecticut coachGeno Auriemma said.“There isn’t any one thingyou can do against BrittneyGriner. I need a couple daysto think about it.”

The other game featuresStanford against Oklahomain a meeting of two teamsthat lost in the nationalsemis last season.

Stanford is one gameaway from a highly anticipat-ed rematch with Connecti-cut. The Cardinal are the

season of reaching itssecond championshipgame, losing to Louisville.

While the Sooners (27-10) weren’t able to fulfillCourtney Paris’ guarantee ofa national championship lastseason, this year’s trip to theFinal Four was an unexpect-ed surprise.

The Sooners had toreplace Paris and her twinsister Ashley. They also lostshooter Whitney Hand to atorn ACL early in the season.

The Lady Bears (27-9)advanced to their secondFinal Four in school history,knocking off Duke in theMemphis Regional final byrallying from an eight-pointdeficit in the final 5 minutes.The only other time Baylormade it this far was in 2005when the Lady Bears wonthe national championship.

Griner, who blocked 14shots in the second roundagainst Georgetown to setan NCAA tournamentsingle-game record, has 35through four tournamentgames. That broke theprevious record of 30 byDuke’s Alison Bales in 2006.

With Griner in themiddle, Baylor has heldeach of its opponents in theNCAA tournament to under35 percent shooting.

Only a three-hour busride away in Waco, Texas,the Lady Bears are the firstteam to reach the Final Fourin their home state sinceMissouri State made it to St.Louis in 2001.

last team to beat UConn, inthe 2008 NCAA semifinalsin Tampa, Fla. — but lost tothe Huskies in last year’ssemis. They also lost by 12in Hartford in December.

UConn (37-0) has beendominant since that 2008loss, winning 76 straightgames all by double figures.

The Huskies are in searchof the school’s fourthundefeated season and thesixth in women’s basketballhistory. Connecticutwrapped up a spot in Texasthat seemed like a foregoneconclusion all season with a90-50 victory against FloridaState. The Huskies cruised

through the first fourrounds, winning by anaverage of 47 points.

The last time the FinalFour was in San Antonio,UConn won the first ofthree straight titles in 2002.The Huskies beat Okla-homa that year.

Connecticut has entered

the NCAAs unbeaten onfour prior occasions. It wonthe title in 1995, 2002 andlast season, and lost toTennessee in the regionalfinal in ’97.

The Sooners are makingtheir second straight trip tothe Final Four. Oklahomafell two points short last

• Connecticut has beaten (and blasted) all comers, but the Huskies haven’t had to deal with Baylor center

108 Mercer 6651 Georgia 6274 TCU 7075 South Carolina-x 6787 San Diego State-x 4971 Notre Dame-x 81100 UT-Arlington 6787 Arkansas 8680 Marist 7159 Army 4667 Creighton 5895 Cal-State Fullerton 7675 Tennessee 9673 Texas Tech 5847 Baylor 5774 Texas A&M 6562 Missouri 6181 Kansas 6956 Iowa State 6370 Texas Tech 6657 Texas 7577 Oklahoma State 6662 Baylor 6065 Colorado 5560 Connecticut 7664 Kansas State 5864 Nebraska 8075 Texas 6055 Texas A&M 7895 Oklahoma State 6259 Baylor-y 5474 Oklahoma State-y 6967 Texas A&M-y 7468 S. Dakota State-z 5760 UALR-z 4477 Notre Dame-z 7288 Kentucky-z 68

x-Paradise Jamy-Big 12 Tournamentz-NCAA Tournament

Noteworthy• Sherri Coale is in her 14th season as Oklahomahead coach and has nowtaken the Sooners to threeFinal Fours, seven Sweet 16sand 11 straight NCAATournaments. The last time theFinal Four was at theAlamodome, OU reached thetitle game against Connecticut.


Confidence surging• Sooners have come so far this season they feel like they can do anything … and it shows

OKLAHOMA (27-10)

Sooner guardNywshiaStevenson (1)is embraced byJasimeHartman, asthey stand infront of Soonercenter AbiOlajuwon, afterStevensonscored duringOU’s overtimevictory overNotre Damelast Sundaynight at SprintCenter inKansas City.

AP Photo

F Y I• The last time the Sooners metStanford in SanAntonio, the gamewas at the AT&TCenter, where No. 4 seed Stanfordbeat No. 2 seed OU88-74. That was thefreshman season forCourtney andAshley Paris.

By Clay HorningTranscript Sports Editor

SAN ANTONIO — Youcould see it, sense it andhear it even in themoments after Oklahomawalked off the courtfollowing its 88-68 KansasCity Regional victory overKentucky.

“It just feels like we aregoing to fight throughanything,” Sooner centerAbi Olajuwon said.

But if that’s a thoughtmany a player might feelafter a very big win, theSooners nontethelessappear to have hit a newlevel.

Before they began toplay consistently well, theywere already beganlearning how to win closegames, and from behind.That’s how they came backfrom way back to beatArkansas, to top Marist inovertime at Marist, and toclaim narrow victories onthe Big 12 road, at Mis-souri and Texas Tech.

Still, just as the Soonersclearly closed the seasonplaying at a new andsustained higher level, theyappear to have done itagain after taking downNotre Dame and Kentuckyat Sprint Center.

Short of winning achampionship, the simpleact of getting better is hardto beat. There’s just no

See OKLAHOMA Page F11


89 Old Dominion 5681 Rutgers 6699 Pepperdine 5076 UC Davis 5160 Utah 41105 Gonzaga 7496 DePaul 6071 Duke 5567 Tennessee 5268 Connecticut 8068 Fresno State 4679 Cal 5882 Southern Cal 6265 UCLA 6180 Washington State 4366 Washington 5163 Oregon State 47100 Oregon 8071 Arizona State 4883 Arizona 6274 UCLA 5377 USC 3958 Washington 3698 Washington State 67104 Oregon 6082 Oregon State 4862 Arizona State 4375 Arizona 4863 Cal 4872 Arizona-x 5264 Cal-x 4470 UCLA-x 4679 UC Riverside-y 4796 Iowa-y 6773 Georgia-y 3655 Xavier-y 53

x-Pac 10 Tournamenty-NCAA Tournament

Cardinal’s turn?• In third straight Final Four, Stanford really wants to win its first national championship

STANFORD (35-1)

Noteworthy• Fifth-year senior RosalynGold-Onwude was on theStanford team that last playedOklahoma in San Antonio atthe AT&T Center. The star ofthat game was lefty Stanfordpost Brooke Smith, who ledthe Cardinal with 30 points,ending a 19-game Soonerwinning streak.

By Janie McCauleyAP Sports Writer

STANFORD, Calif. — Itused to be Tara Van-Derveer would accompanyAll-American CandiceWiggins to the Final Fourand they settled forwatching, because theCardinal already had beeneliminated.

Now, Stanford is headedfor a third straight FinalFour, determined to finallytake the next step and winit all even if dauntingdefending championConnecticut still stands inthe way.

VanDerveer’s Cardinalprogram experienced a 10-year absence betweenFinal Four appearancesfrom 1998 to 2007 beforeWiggins led them back atlast in ’08, when Stanfordbeat UConn 82-73 in thesemifinals before falling toTennessee.

“This time around I wantmore and I know our teamdoes, and I think that ishealthy,” VanDerveer saidWednesday as her teamprepared to play Oklahomain Sunday’s nationalsemifinals in San Antonio.

Stanford is trying to winits first national champi-onship since 1992. TheCardinal just barelyadvanced this time,needing Jeanette Pohlen’sbuzzer-beating layin in a

Stanfordcenter JayneAppel goes tothe basketduring theCardinalvictory overXavier that putthem in theFinal Four. Thisis Appel andStanford’s thirdstraight FinalFour. Stanfordis also the lastteam to beatConnecticut,topping theHuskies in a2008 nationalsemifinal.

AP Photo

F Y I• In Stanford’s only loss, an 80-68setback to No. 1Connecticut, theCardinal led 40-38at the half inHartford, Conn. The only other teamto lead UConnduring the secondhalf this season isOklahoma.

See STANFORD Page F11


105 Northeastern 3583 Texas 5887 Holy Cross 3491 Hofstra-x 4691 Richmond-x 3787 Clemson-x 4884 Vermond 4280 Hartford 4590 Iona 3580 Stanford 6878 Florida State 5991 Seton Hall 2484 USF 4283 Cincinnati 5188 North Carolina 4768 Marquette 4370 Notre Dame 4681 Duke 4874 Villanova 3573 Rutgers 3698 Pittsburgh 5680 West Virginia 4784 Louisville 3895 DePaul 6266 St. John’s 5276 Oklahoma 6085 Providence 5387 Syracuse 6684 Georgetown 6276 Notre Dame 5177 Syracuse-y 4159 Notre Dame-y 4432 West Virginia-y 3295 Southern-z 3990 Temple-z 3674 Iowa State-z 3690 Florida-z 50 w-WBCA Classicx-WBCA Classicy-Big East Tournament z-NCAA Tournament

The roll of all rolls • Everybody agrees UConn is going to lose eventually, but will it happen in San Antonio?

CONNECTICUT (37-0)

Noteworthy• Of Connecticut’s 76 straight wins, every single onehas been by at least 10 points.It’s four NCAA tourneyvictories thus far have been byan average 47 points. In order,the Huskies’ closest gamesthis season have come againstStanford, St. John’s, NotreDame and Oklahoma.

By Paul J. WebberAssociated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO —Former President George W.Bush called Baylor coach KimMulkey on her cell phoneWednesday while she spokewith reporters about playingmighty Connecticut in theFinal Four.

Bush was told to call back.Even in a phone face-off,

the Huskies can’t be beat.“The thing that you gotta

remember, guys, is I don’tcare how good UConn is,”Mulkey said before her phonerang. “One day they will lose.”

Few expect that day tocome anytime soon.

The Huskies are enteringthe Final Four on a roll. Anunprecedented 76-gamewinning streak. No margin ofvictory closer than 12 points.With two victories in theAlamodome starting Sundayagainst Baylor, the Huskieswill notch the first back-to-back undefeated seasons inhistory.

Connecticut (37-0) crushedFlorida State by 40 pointsTuesday to make the nationalsemifinals. Stanford (35-1)needed a stunning finish inthe last 4.4 seconds againstXavier to get here.

“They’ve made just sometremendous statements,”Cardinal coach Tara Van-Derveer said. “We’re gettingthere different ways. But we’reall there.”

Connecticutcoach GenoAuriemmalobbies for acall during theHuskies 90-50Elite Eightvictory overFlorida State.The Huskiesare looking fortheir thirdstraightnationalchampionshipbeginningSunday nightagainst Baylor.

AP Photo

F Y I• Geno Auriemmaand Sherri Coale arelongtime friendsgoing back to therecruiting processthat brought StacyHansmeyer fromNorman High toUConn. Auriemmawas a referencewhen Coale got theOU coaching job.

See UCONN Page F12

By Chuck CarltonDallas Morning News

WACO – As sheapproaches her 12thappearance in the NCAAWomen’s Final Four,Baylor coach Kim Mulkeycarries the same anticipa-tion that came with the 11previous ones.

She views the adrenalinerush that accompanies thetrip to San Antonio and achance to make historySunday against Connecti-cut as a positive sign.

“When a coach can’t feelthe same excitement andjoy, you need to get out,”Mulkey said. “It means youdon’t have the passionanymore.”

Her emotional edge hasbeen on full display afterupset tournament winsagainst Tennessee andDuke. Mulkey has taken ateam with just one seniorand four freshmen in theregular rotation furtherthan expected.

After Baylor started 2-4in the Big 12, Mulkey saidher team has “exceededand overachieved” thisseason, even with 6-8game-changing freshmanBrittney Griner.

“Kim has done asuperior coaching job witha very talented butextremely young team,”Baylor athletic director IanMcCaw said. “Most great


65 Tennessee 74100 Tennessee Tech 5569 Cal 49104 Jacksonville State 4582 Idaho-w 3789 La.-Lafayette-w 4287 Lamar-w 6577 La. Tech 6768 Boston College 55101 Oral Roberts 7670 Gonzaga-x 4970 Arizona State-x 66100 Texas Pan-Am 4699 Texas State 1865 Oklahoma State 7857 Oklahoma 4756 Nebraska 6562 Missouri 7061 Texas A&M 5350 Texas 6165 Kansas State 4776 Colorado 4260 Oklahoma 6245 Iowa State 6965 Texas Tech 4880 Oklahoma State 6965 Texas A&M 6370 Kansas 4769 Texas Tech 6054 Texas 7072 Colorado-y 6554 Oklahoma-y 5969 Fresno State-z 5549 Georgetown-z 3377 Tennessee-z 6251 Duke-z 48

w-World Vision Classicx-Las Vegas Hoops Classicy-Big 12 Tournamentz-NCAA Tournament

Mulkey motivates• Lady Bears have taken their coach’s lessons to heart and put them to use on the court

BAYLOR (27-9)

Noteworthy• Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey is no stranger tochamponships. In addition tothe one Baylor won in 2005,she won two nationalchampionships as a player atLouisiana Tech as well as anOlympic gold medal.

Baylor forwardMorghanMedlock (55)grabs arebound duringthe Lady Bearsregional finalvictory overDuke. Baylordid not evenreceive a byein the firstround of theBig 12 tourney,but havecaught fire atthe Big Dance.

AP Photo

F Y I• The Lady Bearsare making their firstFinal Fourappearance sincethe 2005 seasonwhen they won the nationalchampionship. TheLady Bears are 19-7all time (nine trips) atthe NCAATournament.

See BAYLOR Page F11


team reminded everybodyof against the Wildcats?

That team, the Soonersof Dales and LaneisheaCaufield and Caton Hilland Rosalind Ross, someof which are sure to be atthe Alamodome Sunday,played like that for anentire season.

This one played like thatagainst Kentucky. And yet,there’s this sense it is whothey really are.

Because the wholeseason has been like asingle trip up a spiralstaircase. Sometimes, it

seemed, OU was runningin place or in circles. Yethere they are, standing atthe top.

Now to be the last teamstanding.

But when you thinkabout it, why not?

What’s so great aboutStanford anyway? Yeah,the Cardinal’s lost but onegame, to Connecticut, by12 points, and nobody’splayed them any closer.

So what? It’s not like the Cardinal

looks like a million bucksstanding still, the wayConnecticut and Ten-nessee do, and it’s not like

the Pac-10 is any greatshakes.

What, Stanford’s sogood because it crushedArizona State twice? Comeon.

Still, it’s a great teamOU must knock offSunday. But did you seewhat the Sooners did toKentucky?

It’s a whole newballgame.

Then there’s Connecti-cut.

OU has plenty to fallback upon when it comesto the Huskies.

The Sooners took abrief second-half lead over

UConn Feb. 15 at LloydNoble Center. They hitonly a third of their shots,but they were right therefor a while.

Maybe, if they can winSunday night, they can beright there to the endTuesday, even in the samebuilding Dales’ group wasright there until about 2minutes remained againstanother bunch of unbeat-en Huskies.

Or lightning couldstrike two days earlier andwe could have an All-Big12 title game, the first onesince it was the OU andKansas men.

Baylor might even getthe favorite’s nod, whatwith the way BrittneyGriner’s fast achievingLady GaGa notoriety, fastbecoming a pop cultureicon.

Yet OU has playedBaylor three times thisseason and won twice. Inthe end, anything canhappen.

Even miracles.The Americans beat the

Russians. Notre Damebeat UCLA. Notre Damebeat Oklahoma. The Jetsbeat the Colts. Villanovabeat Georgetown. Chami-nade beat Virginia. Buster

Douglas knocked outMike Tyson.

These things happen.It might take lightning

in a bottle, but did you seethose Kentucky guardschasing Danielle Robinsonall over the court andNyeshia Stevenson knockdown all those shots andAmanda Thompson get toevery ball?

The Sooners have surecaught something.

Might as well ride it allthe way.

• Continued from Page F4

Horning

FINAL FOUR: OKLAHOMA, STANFORD, BAYLOR, CONNECTICUT

ROOFING BY

DAVIDFRIESFree Estimates

CommericalResidential

Roofi ng In Norman Since 1964

360-4772


Baylor Oklahoma


leaders don’t tend to beparticularly patient people.She has a shown a greatdeal of maturity andintelligence with thisteam.”

Now she just needs towork a miracle, somethingeven more surprising thanBaylor’s 2005 national title.

Mulkey has beennothing if not consistentregarding UConn, posses-sor of a 76-game winstreak, all by doublefigures. A few weeks ago,she proclaimed that thewomen’s college basket-ball world consisted ofUConn and everybodyelse.

“And you want to knowif I think any differently?No, UConn is up here andthe rest of us are playingfor second place,” Mulkeysaid Wednesday, raisingher hand above her head.“But that doesn’t meanwe’re going to go outthere, give up and startwaving the [white] flag.”

A couple of hours later,

she was coaching herteam on how to do theunthinkable.

Griner said she lovesthe way Mulkey chal-lenges her. After Grinerclaimed a career-high 21rebounds against TexasA&M, Mulkey asked, “Sohow many are you goingto have the next game?”

Said Griner: “She reallypushes me to be betterevery day.”

In an interesting bit ofsymmetry, Sunday willmark the 10th anniversaryof Mulkey’s hiring atBaylor from LouisianaTech.

“While I knew I madethe right decision, I wasstill uncertain. I wasscared,” Mulkey said. “Itwasn’t as enjoyable a pressconference as it shouldhave been because myheart was hurting.”

She had been Louisianaborn and bred and wasleaving her comfort zone.

“Ten years later, I cantell you it was the greatestdecision I’ve made,”Mulkey said.

Since then, she’sbecome what McCaw calls“a remarkable ambassa-dor” for Baylor. Mulkeyhas been rewarded with a10-year contract payingher $1 million annually.

Next season, Mulkeygains two significanttransfers in Brooklyn Popeand Destiny Williams,along with IrvingMacArthur’s OdysseySims, the nation’s top-ranked point guard. Baylormay be even betterprepared for UConn,which joins the LadyBears’ schedule nextseason and for 2011-12.

People have noticed theprogram’s success.

Former PresidentGeorge W. Bush, who metMulkey in 2005 at theWhite House, phoned hertwice Wednesday. Thefirst time, she was on anational media conferencecall, so he called back towish her luck in the FinalFour.

substitute for confidenceand OU’s clearly feeling it.

The squad arrived homefrom Kansas City very lateTuesday night and did notpractice Wednesday. Thatleft Thursday for one moreLloyd Noble Centerpractice before leaving forthe Alamo City. Asexplained, it was like whathappened against theWildcats bled right intoOU’s workout.

“We were really goodtoday,” Sooner coachSherri Coale said. “Wewent about an hour and 20minutes and I’d say aboutan hour and 15 minutes ofit was really, really good.”

There were times earlierin the season OU neverhad a practice like that.The again, the Soonershaven’t felt exactly likethey’re feeling these daysuntil now.

“It’s like, I don’t know,we’ve been working allyear and you finally see itpaying off,” senior teamcaptain and startingforward Amanda Thomp-son said. “You see it in thegame, literally, and that’swhat makes it great. Wedidn’t just almost get to the

Final Four, we got to theFinal Four and that’s whatmakes it so great.”

After a 78-55 loss atTexas A&M March 2, theSooners began to buildagain. They crushedOklahoma State by 33points in their regularseason finale, then playedthree strong games at theBig 12 tournament. Theylost the championship toA&M, but still left knowingthey’d played well.

If they were a little slowagainst South Dakota Stateand UALR to begin NCAAtourney play, they werestill making things happenthat seemed to bode wellmoving forward, like a bigfirst half against theJackrabbits and a hugegame from Olajuwon -—while others struggled —against the Trojans.

Next they offered theresilience to outlast theIrish in overtime, followedby maybe their finest 35minutes of the season aftera slow start against theWildcats.

Not yet have theSooners plateaued.

“It just feels amazing,”said sharpshooting guardNyeshia Stevenson, who

scored 52 points over twogames in Kansas City,“because we’re going intothis thing where basicallynobody’s been on our sideexcept for us … We’venever been the underdogwith Courtney and Ashley(Paris) and all that. Andthis year, we were kind oflow, so it feels good to riseto the top.”

Think about it.It’s hard to get drunk on

press clippings telling youhow great you are whenyou don’t have pressclippings like that. Really,the Sooners have had toearn everything. It’s not acase of false confidence.

“I don’t think we couldbe in a better spot rightnow … We’re beyondconfident right now,” pointguard Danielle Robinsonsaid. “We’re just at a spotwhere we know what wecan do and we’ve proven ittime and time again.”

The Sooners have doneit by getting better andbetter.

It’s a good feeling.Clay Horning

[email protected]

• Continued from Page Bx • Continued from Page Bx


UConn


Here for the secondstraight season are Stanford,Connecticut and Oklahoma,which also made the FinalFour in St. Louis a year ago.The lone newcomer isBaylor, making its first FinalFour appearance sincewinning the national title in2005. Beating Connecticut inthe semifinals may be even abigger feat.

“Somebody’s gotta beatConnecticut,” Oklahomacoach Sherri Coale said.“Somebody has got to stopthe madness at some point.”

Baylor also isn’t intimidat-ed. Mulkey likened it towatching others play againsther at Louisiana Tech in the1980s, when Mulkey was aguard on a Connecticut-liketeam that went 130-6 and wontwo national titles over fourseasons.

“We understand thechallenge. We understandthat we’re not supposed towin,” Mulkey said. “Weunderstand 37 other teamshaven’t won. We understandthe win streak. But we stillhave to play.”

Connecticut coach GenoAuriemma said he doesn’tsee the Huskies crushing thetournament field so far as asign of weak competition, butrather his team playing well.

Even more so than usual.“We’re celebrating

everything every day,”Auriemma said. “And maybethat’s why we are able to keepdoing it, because we’re notobsessed with what’s next. Iwant them to celebrate,because it’s going to end. It’sgoing to end Sunday or it’sgoing to end Tuesday. It’sgoing to end.”

Stanford was the last teamto beat Connecticut, ousting

the Huskies in the 2008national semifinals.

“There’s no substitute forbeing on the floor with yourfoe,” Coale said. “There’smaybe a mystique that can bedismantled.” If it’s a mystiquewith Connecticut, Auriemmawill be careful this weekabout describing it.

Auriemma said WestVirginia coach Bob Huggins— whose Mountaineers arein the men’s Final Four — lefta nasty voice mail earlier thisseason when Hugginsthought Auriemma told thepress that Connecticut wasthe best team in collegebasketball.

Huggins challenged himto a game before Auriemmatold him he never said that.

“I guess he was tired offighting with his team. Hewants to fight with me now,”Auriemma said. “So we had abig laugh about that.”

• Continued from Page Bx


Stanfordthrilling 55-53 victory overXavier in the SacramentoRegional final Mondaynight. That after Dee DeeJernigan missed two wide-open layins in the closing12 seconds for Xavier.

VanDerveer was hardlyhappy with how her teamplayed. She watched videoin the front of the busduring a two-hour drivehome while her playerssang and danced incelebration in the back.

“I watched Jeanette’splay and Jernigan’s miss amillion times in my head,”she said. “I just feel likewe’ve been given a secondbasketball life and I knowour team will make themost of it. We saw ourseason pass before oureyes. It was over. We arejust so thankful to beplaying.”

Stanford, the top seedout West, will face third-seeded Oklahoma (27-10)on Sunday in the Alamod-ome. The last time theseteams met was also in SanAntonio, an 88-74 victoryby the Cardinal in theNCAA tournament’sregional semifinals in2006.

Star Sooners guardDanielle Robinson — aBay Area product fromSan Jose’s ArchbishopMitty High — beatPohlen’s SouthernCalifornia power BreaOlinda in the CaliforniaDivision II state highschool finals in 2007.

Stanford center JayneAppel played againstRobinson way back in 10-and-under and 11-and-under ball.

“She was just as quickthen. She’s a lightningbolt,” Appel said.

Both teams will look topush the tempo and run.Both run the triangleoffense.

“There are probablymore similarities thandifferences,” VanDerveersaid. “It should be a greatmatchup.”

Stanford is riding a 26-game winning streak andhoping to make it 27 andset up a rematch withUConn. The Huskies, whoface surprising Baylor inthe other semifinalSunday, handed theCardinal their lone lossback on Dec. 23 andhaven’t lost since Stanfordbeat them in the ’08national semifinals whenWiggins was leading theway.

VanDerveer knows thatWiggins, now with theWNBA’s Minnesota Lynx,fueled the program’s latestrise with that run. Wigginsendured losing theregional final as a fresh-man and sophomore and asecond-round shocker toFlorida State at home inMaples Pavilion as a juniorbefore taking the team toTampa for the Final Fouras a senior.

“There’s a TV thing onwhat kind of broughtStanford back to the elitelevel. It was Candice,”VanDerveer said. “AndCandice experiencedgoing to the Final Four asan All-American and everyyear I was there with her Iwas like, ’This is boring,we want our team here.’ Ithink she really dedicatedherself and she bought

into this is what weneeded to do. Jayne and allthe kids watched Candice.They all admired howhard she played andlearned from her. Jaynehas kind of picked up thebaton so to speak and isteaching Nneka (Ogwu-mike) and teaching Kayla(Pedersen) and the rest ofthem.”

Appel and fifth-yearsenior Rosalyn Gold-Onwude — part of that lastgame against Oklahoma— hope they are leaving alegacy in which reachingthe Final Four becomes anannual thing for Stanford.

“You could call it a

standard right now,especially for our teambecause there are so manyveterans coming back whohave been there for thethree,” Gold-Onwude said.“There are players on ourteam who haven’t played aseason without a FinalFour. But to say a stan-dard, though, you don’twant to take away any-thing from how hard it isto get to a Final Four. Asyour personnel changes itwill present new chal-lenges. I’m sure Jayne andI both hope there’s a nicepathway and legacy forthose players coming in.”

• Continued from Page Bx


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Moments to rememberTHE JOURNEY: SNAPSHOTS ON THE ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR

Then there was theplayers’ clear joy, perhapsin juxtaposition to lastseason, which alsoincluded a strong dose ofrelief, what with finallygetting to the Final Four inthe era of the Paris twinsand still having a shot tofulfill Courtney Paris’promise of a nationalchampionship or scholar-ship reimbursement.

That was one moment.There were others.

Good, bad, uglyBad: Whitney Hand

tore her ACL during thefirst half of OU’s 87-48victory over San Diego

State. Clearly, it didn’tcome with the season-longconsequences manythought it might — justlook where the Sooners arenow — but it was no fun forHand, who continues torehab and wear a brace.

Oddly, it remains OU’slargest margin of victorythis season, and not againsta bad team. San DiegoState was ranked No. 23 atthe time and reached theSweet 16.

Ugly: The ugliestgame of the season was theSooners’ 75-57 Lloyd NobleCenter loss to Texas thathad Sherri Coale question-ing her team in directtones. The worst home-

court defeat since 2003, it isthe season’s low point. Still,for other reasons, it is afond memory.

Good: But for one tripto Texas A&M, every-thing’s been better for OUsince that Texas loss. Itbegan in the locker room,when the players conduct-ed a long-needed heart toheart that put everybody onthe same page.

Immediately, dividendswere paid. The very nextgame, even in Stillwater,the Sooners took care ofthe then No. 10 Cowgirls.Danielle Robinson playedlike champ, lighting OSUup for a career-high 36points.

Emerging AmandaLong a primary contribu-

tor and long a big-gameplayer, Amanda Thompsontook it to another level latein the season, inspiring herteammates along the way.

Her propensity for hugegames began when Baylorvisited Feb. 10 andThompson went for 19points and 19 rebounds.Two games later, she wentfor 16 and 13 againstConnecticut, then 29 and11 against Oklahoma State,then 17 and 18 against theCowgirls at the Big 12tourney, then 20 and 19 thenext day against TexasA&M.

Quiet against thebackdrop of NyeshiaStevenson’s 31 points,Thompson went for 17 and14 rebounds againstKentucky.

Last LNC practiceThe Sooners left for San

Antonio Thursday,finishing their last LloydNoble Center practice ofthe season at 12:30 p.m.Once again, like theyhadn’t come down fromKansas City, it was smilesall around.

Nice and easy, it’s ahappy bunch of Soonerswaiting to play Stanford atthe Alamodome.

• Sooners’ path to AlamoCity involvedseveral twistsand turns

OUtravelswellMany Soonerfans made thetrip to KansasCity to watchOU advnace tothe Final Four.Many more aresure to be onhand Sundaynight at theAlamodome.

AP Photo

By Clay HorningTranscript Sports Editor

SAN ANTONIO — It’snot like Oklahoma’s run tothe Final Four caughteverybody by surprise, but… all right, it’s just like that.

That doesn’t mean folksdidn’t think they’d get pastKentucky. Not having toplay Nebraska againstlooked like a break thatwent the Sooners’ way. Still,in the big picture, who sawit coming?

Perhaps that’s why thescene on the court followingthe Kansas City Regionalfinal was so unique.

Stacey Dales, there doingradio work for WestwoodOne, no longer on the air,just stood there, her chairbehind her, taking it all inand smiling as OU enjoyedthe postgame spoils ofvictory.

Media, the greatunwashed forbidden tohave a rooting interest,nonetheless absorbed themoment, too, kind ofstunned. In the business ofreporting what happens onthe fields of play, it’s alwaysmore captivating to watchsomething unique and whatthe Sooners pulled off wasclearly that.

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