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Report: Oklahoma Lands Ireland Basketball Star Emma Tolan

As she continues to grow the OU program, coach Jennie Baranczyk is fortifying the Sooners' roster with international talent.
John Hoover|
Virginia College’s Emma Tolan is presented with the MVP award by Basketball Ireland President PJ Reidy.
Virginia College’s Emma Tolan is presented with the MVP award by Basketball Ireland President PJ Reidy. | The Anglo-Celt / AngloCelt.ie

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Oklahoma Sooners

Jennie Baranczyk is going overseas.

Oklahoma’s basketball coach has landed a verbal commitment from Emma Tolan, a 5-foot-11 forward from Ireland, according to a report by Irish Examiner basketball writer Conor Meany.

Tolan, a member of the 2025 recruiting class, averaged 9.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game last year for the East Cavan Eagles, according to her U18 bio on FIBA’s women’s Euro basketball website.

In 2023, she averaged 10.8, 8.7 and 3.3, and in 2022, playing for the U16 team, she averaged 5.7, 7.6 and 2.3.

"We're so excited to welcome Emma to our basketball family," Baranczyk said. "She's a tough, versatile forward who plays with great heart and makes everyone around her better. Emma brings a ton of experience and a contagious energy that fits perfectly with who we are. We can't wait to get her here."

Her team finished in the top 10 of the U18 EuroBasket Division B each of the last two years.

In 2023, she was named All-Star Starting 5 after her high school team, Virginia College, won the Four Nations Tournament and also competed in the U18s FIBA European Youth Championships in Bulgaria.

In 2024, the U19 squad repeated as Four Nations champions in Scotland. Tolan scored 16 points and was named All-Star and MVP as Ireland defeated Wales 107-25. She was captain and MVP in the final, scoring 25 points, per the Anglo-Celt. 

Tolan also was recently called up to the extended U20 team after leading her prep team to a 16-0 record and will compete this August in FIBA U20 Women’s EuroBasket in Hungary, where Ireland will compete as top seeds in Group B.

A two-sport athlete, Tolan also played for the U18 Cavan Gaelic Football team that captured its first-ever All-Ireland title. Gaelic football is a traditional Irish sport that blends elements of soccer and rugby.

She becomes the first Irish player in Oklahoma women's basketball history and the program's first international signee since Chloe Bloom (Australia) in 2020. Tolan is just the third Sooner to hail from Europe, joining Zuzana Krumlova (Czechia, 1998-99) and Jelena Cerina (Serbia, 2011-12).

Tolan joins a loaded Oklahoma roster that features four McDonald's All-Americans: All-SEC picks Raegan Beers and Payton Verhulst, former five-star Sahara Williams, and Aaliyah Chavez, the No. 1 prospect in the 2025 recruiting class per multiple outlets. The Sooners, coming off their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2013, were ranked No. 7 in ESPN's early Top 25 for the 2025-26 season.

OU Media Relations contributed to this report.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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