Oklahoma Will Host NCAA Tournament Game, Draws 4-Seed vs. IUPUI

Oklahoma is back in the NCAA Tournament, and they're playing at home.

In her first year on the job replacing Hall of Fame coach Sherri Coale, OU coach Jennie Baranczyk guided the Sooners back into the Big Dance for the first time since 2018.

The Sooners’ path was revealed Sunday night on ESPN as the NCAA Selection Committee unveiled its tournament field of 68.

The Sooners (24-8) drew a 4-seed and will host Horizon League champion IUPUI (24-4) on Saturday in the first round of the Bridgeport Region. The other teams in Norman are 5-seed Notre Dame (22-8) and 12-seed Massachusetts (26-6). If Oklahoma beats IUPUI, the Sooners would face the Notre Dame-UMass winner Monday at a time TBD.

It's the Jaguars' first NCAA Tournament appearance, while it's OU's 22nd — and first in a while.

Coale’s last three seasons ended short of the postseason as OU went 8-22, 12-18 and 12-12.

But Baranczyk has authored one of the great turnarounds in the sport this year and in program history, guiding the Sooners to a fourth-place finish in the Big 12 Conference. Her team’s 12-game improvement is the best in school history for a first-year coach, and her 24 wins is the most ever at OU by a first-year coach.

Now the Sooners are looking for more. OU hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2017, and hasn’t made it out of the first weekend since a Sweet Sixteen run in 2012-13.

Baranczyk said on a Zoom call Sunday night that forward Skylar Vann, who was injured in the Big 12 Tournament, could be in for some good news before Saturday.

"We got some good news that there is some potential that she couldn't be able to play next weekend from that standpoint," Baranczyk said, "but we have to wait a couple days just to see how she responds to some things, but we remain very hopeful."

The NCAA Tournament can loom over a season like a barrier — a goal to which teams should aspire, but also one that’s hard to get over. Barancyzk said there was something of a mental reset that needs to take place now throughout the roster.

“No, you're exactly right,” she said. “And it's that's the best part about the NCAA Tournament is you play teams that you don't know, and they don't know you. And I think from that standpoint, it almost refreshes you.”

So much importance has been placed on the tournament that navigating the non-conference season, then Big 12 play, then the tournament can all feel like a means to an end. The trick now is to not let next weekend feel like the end, but rather a new beginning. Making the NCAA Tournament can’t be seen as crossing any kind of finish line.

“I think those all prepare you for this Phase Four, right? For this final season that you get to continue to just play. And so that part's really fun. But I think it's still about us and you still have to focus on who you are more than you have to focus on your opponent.”

Baranczyk, who led Drake to new heights with a 192-96 record and six consecutive 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournament berths, has breathed new life into the OU program.

Baranczyk was one of the most decorated players in program history when she played at Iowa from 2000-04, helping lead the Hawkeyes to four straight postseason trips, including three NCAA Tournaments. She’s the only player in Iowa history to rank among the program’s top 10 in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.

She also knows a thing or two about coaching.

Among her accomplishments at Drake, Baranczyk’s teams won 43 consecutive conference games.

She drills her teams over and over in practice with the idea that repetition empowers the players to run their own sets and make their own calls. With the investment, they play harder and they play smarter.

The Sooners also continued winning after the loss of popular senior guard Ana Llanusa, who missed all of last year with an injury, came back this year, was playing great at 17.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game — and then got injured again after just 10 games.

“I've played with some of these girls for four years now, and I've seen more confidence in them now than I've ever seen before,” Llanusa said before her injury. “It makes us want to play for her, and I think that's really important to have a coach and a coaching staff that the players also want to play for.”

As Baranczyk was named a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award, the Sooners have relied on efficient, up-tempo offense and an undersized defense.

Senior Madi Williams leads the Sooners at 18.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, while Taylor Robertson is third at 17.0 points per game. Robertson this season set school and Big 12 records for career 3-point shots. Williams and Robertson were both unanimous first-team All-Big 12 this season.

OU leads the nation with 611 assists and ranks fourth nationally at 19.1 assists per game. Baranczyk’s Sooners also rank third nationally in scoring at 83.3 points per game and are seventh in the country with 862 3-point attempts, fourth with 302 3-pointers made, and 35th in 3-point percentage (.3503).

Oklahoma achieved a number of milestones this season, including the end of a 13-game losing streak to Baylor, their first since 2015, and then had a flight to cancelled, took a bus to Waco, arrived at the arena late and swept the Bears for the first time since 2009.

The Sooners have been in the AP Top 25 since Week 8, reaching a high of No. 12 in Week 13.

OU was the No. 16 overall seed in the NCAA's bracket reveal last week — the top 16 seeds host first- and second-round games — then the Sooners proceeded to lose two of their next three games.

Those losses, however, didn't drop them out of hosting.

"Our resume is pretty good, and I think the strength of this conference is really good," Baranczyk said after dropping a semifinal game to Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament. "Obviously this is my first year being in this conference, but there have been some great battles, some great games.

"... I think we have earned it. I think our non-conference strength of schedule was really good, and I think the Big 12's non-conference strength of schedules were really good."