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Oklahoma women’s basketball in strong position heading into new

After an illustrious career at Oklahoma that included nine Sweet 16 appearances, legendary head coach Sherri Kole retired from her former position after the 2020-2021 season.

Although Coale had a lot of success during her career at OU, her time at Norman did not end as she had hoped. The Sooners were 32-52 in Coale’s final three seasons at the helm, resulting in a coaching change that saw former Drake head coach Jennie Baranczyk to Oklahoma.

Immediately after her arrival, Barnaczyk was able to return OU to its winning ways, going 25-9 and making the NCAA tournament in her first year as head coach of the Sooners. In her second season at Oklahoma, Baranczyk’s team went 26-7 and earned a share of the Big 12 regular season championship, making the NCAA tournament again.

Though tumultuous at times, Baranczyk’s coaching performance in 2023-2024 may be her best yet. After a lackluster start to the year that saw the Sooners lose to Princeton, Tennessee, UNLV, North Carolina and Southern in a six-game stretch, OU completely changed the course of the season once conference play began.

Oklahoma won 12 of the first 13 Big 12 matchups and went 15-3 overall in Big 12 play to win the regular season conference title for the second straight year. After losing in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament, Baranczyk’s team earned the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, defeating Middle Tennessee State before falling to Indiana in the round of 32.

Despite losing in the second round of the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive season, the Sooners return nearly their entire roster from last season.

Skylar Vann, fresh off an impressive redshirt junior season that earned the Edmond native Big 12 Co-Player of the Year and All-American honors, returns for her senior season in Norman. In addition to Vann, fellow All-American Payton Verhulst also returns for her second year at OU.

After averaging 12.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.2 steals and one block per game in 2023-24, Verhulst was a First Team All-Big 12 selection and earned Big honors 12 Newcomer of the Year after transferring from Louisville.

In addition to Oklahoma’s two returning stars, Baranczyk and his team added one of the top players to the transfer portal this offseason. After two years at Oregon State, All-American forward Raegan beers decided to leave Corvallis, choosing the Sooners over the Connecticut Huskies and the legendary coach Gen. Auriemma.

As a sophomore with the Beavers, Beers averaged 17.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 66.4% from the field, earning the honor from Third-Team Associate Press All-American for her efforts.

With the addition of Beers, OU now has three All-Americans in the starting lineup heading into the 2024-2025 season. While the Sooners have plenty of star power, the team also returns several key players from last year’s roster.

Sharpshooter and former Oklahoma State transfer Lexy KeysAll-Big 12 honorable mention Sahara Williamsstarting point guard Nevaeh Tot and a number of other key bench pieces will all return for Baranczyk as Oklahoma transitions to the SEC.

The team also adds two true freshmen to the roster in Bethany (OK) products Zya Vann and former Putnam City West (OK) standout. Caya Smith.

While OU should have plenty of talent on the roster next season, they will also take a step up in the league as they enter their new conference. An SEC team has won the NCAA tournament the last three seasons.

Of Dawn Staley in South Carolina and Kim Mulkey at LSU, Texas still has a solid program, but the Sooners regular season schedule could be a gauntlet of quality opponents.

Still, Baranczyk has built a good roster and put her team in a good position to take the next step and advance past the Round of 32 for the first time since taking over from Norman.

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