Possible danger for OKC
The NCAA women’s basketball committee seeded OU fourth and OSU third, and it’s the Cowgirls who got shafted. In women’s hoops, it’s not where you’re seeded that’s nearly as important as who might play and where.
OSU Kurt Budke said it best Saturday night when he told me he would rather be a six-seed, with a chance to make it to the Ford Center regional, than be a three-seed and go elsewhere. Like to New Orleans and face LSU.
That’s the Cowgirls’ reward if they beat East Tennessee State and probably Ohio State in the Des Moines, Iowa, sub regional. A game against a school with four straight Final Four trips, getting to play 70 miles from home.
Meanwhile, a team that seems in free fall, the Sooners, get a chance to play in the Ford Center, albeit against Tennessee, which seemed a dubious task for OU even when it was playing well. Which the Sooners now aren’t.
All of which means the NCAA might have shafted OKC as much as OSU. OU against Notre Dame, the likely second-round matchup in West Lafayette, Ind., is a tossup, the way the Sooners have been playing. Don’t believe it? In the RPI, the mystical rankings that at least provide a decent gauge of a team’s stoutness, OU is 13th. Notre Dame is 14th.
The Irish have a coach, Muffet McGraw, who has won a national championship. They come from a league, the Big East, that has Connecticut and Rutgers, so they’ve been around big bullies. And the Irish will be playing 151 miles from home, within their state.
So it’s no given that OU will make it to Oklahoma City. No given at all. Most everyone was hoping that both the Sooners and Cowgirls were placed in the OKC Regional, but the truth is, OSU provides the better chance of making the Sweet 16.
The OKC Regional will not be a dud even if the Sooners lose in West Lafayette. Advance ticket sales are strong, and there are enough women’s basketball fans to get fired up about Tennessee, although truthfully Texas A&M and Duke don’t excite anyone. You want a 2-seed that will sell tickets, how about Rutgers? You want a 3-seed that gets people talking, how about Kim Mulkey’s Baylor Bears?
Now, if OU can survive Notre Dame, then an Oklahoma-Tennessee game would sell out the Ford Center, no doubt about it. But I would say an OSU-Tennessee game would have sold out, too. And Budke would admit he’d rather play Tennessee in OKC than LSU in New Orleans.
And OSU has a better chance of making the Sweet 16 than does OU, simply based on how the teams played down the stretch.
Why did the committee keep OU home and ship out the Cowgirls? I would say it has to do with establishment. The Sooners have become one of the main-line women’s basketball schools. OSU is an upstart. That’s sort of the way this sport is run. Just look at the site advantages almost always afforded the traditional powers. That’s unfortunate for OSU. It might be unfortunate for Oklahoma City.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
Listened a few minutes to greg swaim show. WAHHH! That b’!/h Sherri Coale! O.U. men in. peter pistols out! again…! Eating his whole a-s! Wahhhhh!!! snicker…….
Win the Big 12 tournament & I’m sure the Cowgirls would be in the OKC bracket. Judy Southard & crew did Coal & OU a favor. Coach Budke & staff will make the most out of their 3 seed. In the future the higher seed will consistantly be from Stillwater. Good luck to all the State teams.
Greg Swaim is an absolute TOOL just as Robert Allen is! Just ignore them…even most OSU fans don’t give them any credit.
The fact that the OU women did get assigned to the Oklahoma City regional in place of OSU is puzzling, and I’m an OU fan. Given their 3 game swoon and other troubling perfomances at other times of the year, I do suspect the OU team WILL make it to the Ford Center, just not as participants but as spectators eating popcorn in the stands with the rest of the fans….