SEasON PHREVIEWEADER BOOMER SOONER 2007-08 SEA S ON THE SOONER S THE S T AFF SEA S ON R EVIEW H I st ORY 53 2006 | BACK-TO-BACK BIG 12 SEASON AND TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS | 2007 S MERICAN A LL- A IGHT E | S LE T I T T 12 TOURNAMEN G BI FOUR | S HIP S ON CHAMPION S EA S 12 G BI 3-PEAT? E Courtney Paris and the Oklahoma women’s basketball team seek an unprecedented FIV third consecutive sweep of the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles. | S At Oklahoma, the goal for the team is always the same: win the Big 12 and be in returns three juniors -- Ashley Paris, Courtney Paris and Carolyn Winchester -- who contention for a national title. are the models for the ideal student-athlete and three -- Courtney Paris, Jenna Plumley and Amanda Thompson -- with starting experience, albeit limited to 10 of No seniors, limited starting experience and the toughest schedule in the country -- the final 11 games for the two sophomores. APPEARANCE no excuse. The expectation is that when the Sooners leave the court after 40 minutes, they will be victorious. The remaining seven Sooners have a combined zero starts in 58 total games. Still, NCAA the mood in the locker room is not nervousness, it is exuberance. Oklahoma wants to Entering her 12th season as head coach, Sherri Coale has developed that attitude in play right now. They have a desire to show what they can do. They will not wait. One IVE T her teams, and they have delivered time and time again. Oklahoma has won nine should expect that from youth. The young Sooners believe they can win a national of the last 14 Big 12 regular season and tournament championships and made eight title and they will begin the season in a national championship-game environment. ECU S consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. The OU schedule begins with three teams that finished the 2006-07 season in the top CON Though proud of its Sweet 16 appearance last season, a bitter memory of what was eight of the polls. First on the slate is 2006 national champion Maryland. an early exit from the NCAA Championship remains. The returning players did not EIGHT wait to start off-season strength and conditioning workouts and the newcomers Women’s basketball fans did not get their long-awaited matchup between Oklahoma arrived in June to get a head start on their first collegiate season. The result was a and Tennessee, Courtney Paris and Candace Parker. Fortunately, the wait is not much well-conditioned, hungry team that has been battle tested against the best post longer as the two teams and players meet in the second game for both. players and quickest guards in the country. And that was just mid-September. Despite losing six seniors, who combined to play 708 games with 406 starts, OU 54 2007 | OKLAHOMA SOONERS BASKETBALL GUIDE | 2008 COURTNE Y PARIS BOOMER SOONER 2007-08 SEA S ON IN THE PAINT When Courtney Paris is on the bench, opponents still wear a frown because a replica THE SOONER Most coaches would drool over having the post presence that sits on Oklahoma’s then takes charge. bench, let alone the starting center who has dominated the world of college basketball during her two years in the fold. Ashley Paris enters 2007-08 after a sophomore campaign that saw her improve in every offensive statistical category. Ashley Paris’ increased range allows her to S With a player who has 66 career double-doubles in 69 games, including an active contend for a starting forward spot in most lineups and she will still see time in the streak of 61, most opposing coaches adopt the concept that the best defense against backup center role. Ashley is the best conditioned of OU’s “bigs” and is capable of Courtney Paris is a better offense. Unfortunately, they quickly come to find out about maintaining her poise through a season’s worth of 30-plus-minute games. her 3.3 blocks per game and active pursuit of rebounds -- qualities that earned her the Associated Press’ National Player of the Year Award in 2007. Paris was the first When a Paris isn’t on the court, a more famous name is…Olajuwon. Coaches refer to sophomore to earn the honor in its 13-year history. Abi Olajuwon as a sponge for her ability to soak up information and translate it into THE S accurate and decisive play on the hardwood. Olajuwon began pre-season practices in the best shape of her career, allowing her to perform more on-court activity that There are a number of things you can say about Courtney’s impact on Oklahoma T and college basketball, but the best characteristic she brings to the team is attitude. should translate into better numbers in the box score. AFF She plays hard, leaves every ounce of energy on the court and battles until the last second has ticked off the clock. That approach has been inspiring to her teammates Another player in the paint for OU is Carolyn Winchester, the strongest of all the and coaches alike. It has embedded a “never say die” doggedness among the entire Sooners. Winchester saw her role expand from the outside toward the middle with team. her increased size and strength. While she will still play in the reserve forward role, do not be surprised if she sees an equal amount of minutes under the basket. SEA S ON R EVIEW H I st ORY AsHLE Y PARIS 55 2006 | BACK-TO-BACK BIG 12 SEASON AND TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS | 2007 NYESHIA STEVENSON S MERICAN A LL- A IGHT E | S LE T I T T 12 TOURNAMEN G Stevenson’s 32-inch vertical leap leads the team and had OU’s track and field coaches BI ON THE EDGE Superior athleticism reigns around the court with three of the most talented women asking her for time with them outdoors. She declined, citing the need to focus her student-athletes on campus, regardless of sport, playing basketball for the Oklahoma energies on books and basketball. FOUR Sooners. | S Carlee Roethlisberger is known for her Super Bowl Champion-quarterbacking Amanda Thompson returns to fill the starting small forward position after agonizing older brother Ben, but she may be the best pound-for-pound athlete in the family. HIP S through the final third of last season with a torn labrum in her shooting shoulder. Roethlisberger arrived on campus, drawing awe with her muscular frame. The 6-1 Despite wearing a harness and playing in intense pain, Thompson averaged six points multi-sport star was recruited by 2006 NCAA volleyball national champion Nebraska and five rebounds per game, never giving up an inch or a step to the competition. before choosing the OU family. Her rehabilitation over the summer produced a completely healed body that produces a sweeter-looking shot than she had previously displayed in a Sooner Together, this trio represents OU’s gamebreakers and slashers -- players who will be ON CHAMPION uniform. counted on to get the ball inside, kick it out or take it all the way, whatever the case S may be in Coale’s motion offense. EA S Nyeshia Stevenson, the team’s most athletically skilled player, will contend for a starting role either at guard or small forward depending on the lineup. Stevenson 12 G surprised the coaches with her ability as a freshman, leading to appearances in 24 BI games. However, a lack of endurance kept her minutes down to 8.5 per game. A E complete year in the Sooners’ system will boost both as Stevenson should blossom FIV into one of the Big 12’s most improved players. | S APPEARANCE NCAA IVE T ECU S CON EIGHT 56 AMANDA THOMPSON 2007 | OKLAHOMA SOONERS BASKETBALL GUIDE | 2008 JENNA PLUMLEY BOOMER SOONER 2007-08 SEA S ON BEYOND THE ARC Robinson wowed teammates in workouts with her quickness off the dribble. The San THE SOONER The most inexperienced group of Sooners are those who play the perimeter. Jose, Calif., native was unstoppable one-on-one, even against male counterparts. All of that came as no surprise to OU’s coaches, who believe the 5-foot, 9-inch Robinson Jenna Plumley, a sophomore, leads the way at point guard. The Red Rock, Okla., would have earned a spot on the 2007 USA Under 19 World Championship team had native started 10 of OU’s final 11 games with her only loss being the Sooners’ Sweet she not broken her right hand in tryouts. S 16 matchup. She ran the offense en route to Oklahoma’s Big 12 Championship title defense, scoring 15 points per game, including a single-game season best of 24 With only 22 percent of Oklahoma’s 3-point field-goal shooting returning, coaches against nationally-ranked Baylor, as she was named to the all-tournament team. knew they needed a sure-fire threat from beyond the arc. That came in Arkansas high school star Jenny Vining. Vining made over 100 3-pointers per season at Hometown fans will be pleased to know Rose Hammond, that is the 2006 Oklahoma Marshall High School while taking them to a state title as a senior with a 24-point high school player of the year and state tournament MVP Rose Hammond, is back scoring average. THE S to form. After a freshman year that in her words was, “shockingly unimpressive,” OU was blessed with one of the best walk-ons in the country when Kansas all-stater Hammond’s confidence has been restored.