OU women's basketball selected as five seed; to play No. 12 FGCU
Jennie Baranczyk and the OU women’s basketball team are going dancing.
The Sooners are officially in the NCAA Tournament as a five seed set to face Florida Gulf Coast (29-4) in Bloomington, Ind. It was no surprise the Oklahoma women made the tourney once again under Baranczyk.
OU (22-9) has been one of the hottest teams in the country for the past three months. After a rough non-conference schedule at 6-5, the Sooners went 15-3 in conference play, winning the Big 12 regular season championship for the second consecutive season.
The Sooners only won one game in the Big Championship Tournament, though, beating TCU and then losing to Iowa State in the semifinals. Still, OU is feeling good about its chances in the tournament.
Should the Sooners win, it could set up a showdown against host No. 4 seed Indiana. The Hoosiers take on No. 13 Fairfield. And if you can pull off the upset there? No. 1 and undefeated South Carolina would be waiting for you in Albany.
Oklahoma is led by co-Big 12 Player of the Year Skylar Vann, averaging 14.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Payton Verhulst, the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, has also been stellar this season, registering 12.9 points per game. For Baranczyk’s team, it’s been a remarkable turnaround this season. But she’s hoping the best is still yet to come.
Now in her third season at OU, Baranczyk has made the tournament all three seasons. But she’s yet to make it past the Round of 32. In 2021-22, after beating IUPUI, Notre Dame beat her Sooners at home as a four seed.
In 2022-23, after beating Portland, they lost on the road to UCLA as a five seed. Baranczyk is hopeful this is the year she finally gets to the Sweet 16.
That journey will start in Bloomington.
