NCAA Tournament 2000 - Sooners than later, OU returns to Dance

Sooners than later, OU returns to Dance
Associated Press

NORMAN, Okla. -- Sherri Coale and her Oklahoma basketball players were so excited about seeing their name pop up on the television screen that they forgot to find out when they play in the NCAA tournament.

"Our administrators are in the process of finding that out now," Coale said, laughing, from her home shortly after the Sooners were made the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Midwest Regional.

Oklahoma (23-7) will play Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind., against 12th-seeded Brigham Young (22-8), which advanced to the finals of the Mountain West tournament before losing to Utah. If the Sooners win, they will meet the winner of the game between fourth-seeded Purdue, the host team, and No. 13 seed Dartmouth.

Oklahoma expected to do well in the Big 12 tournament after finishing in a three-way tie for first during the regular season. But the Sooners got knocked off by Texas in their opening game, which left Coale certain that her team would not be given the luxury of beginning the NCAA tournament at home.

The sting of that disappointment had eased a bit by Sunday afternoon.

"We were completely prepared," she said. "We knew when we lost that game that that's what would happen.

"It would have been wonderful to have a first-round home game, but we talked about that among ourselves -- that that would have been almost too good to be true. We've never been in this tournament before. Now you get in and your first spot in the tournament is a five seed? That's pretty good."

Oklahoma will be making just its third NCAA appearance. The Sooners also went to the tournament in 1986 and 1995.

Coale is in her fourth year as the Sooners' coach. In her first season, Oklahoma went just 5-22. They won eight games the following year, then 15 last season.

"I've watched selection Sundays, I guess, since I was in high school," she said. "I always wondered what it would feel like."

Now she knows. And she also knows what to expect later this week, even if she isn't very familiar with Brigham Young's team.

"When you get to this point, they're all good," she said.


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