Women's College Basketball: Oklahoma vs. Purdue

Correspondent Written on March 30, 2009

MEMPHIS, TN - MARCH 27: The Oklahoma Sooners mascot performs during a break in the game against the Syracuse Orange during the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regionals at the FedExForum on March 27, 2009 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images)

(Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images)

This game features one of the most decorated players in Women's College Basketball history who made a ground breaking promise and a Big 10 team that always came up short.

These teams are similar in that they both rely on a Big - Little combinations to create their offense.

Oklahoma has the Paris sisters (Courtney and Ashley) to Danielle Robinson and Whitney Hand. Purdue has Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton and Lakisha Freeman to Brittany Rayburn and FahKara Malone.

This game will come down to which set of guards is able to find their stroke early in the game.

Center/Forwards:

Advantage: Oklahoma

Oklahoma has one of the best Center/Power Forward combinations in Courtney and Ashley Paris. Ashley, especially, has stepped her game this year and is projected to be first round pick in this year's WNBA draft. These two players are number 1 and 3 (Courtney and Ashley, respectively) on the team's scoring chart, and they are almost guaranteed to get their points, and rebounds.

Guards:

Advantage: Push

Oklahoma's guards have been streaky, at best, this season. If Whitney Hand and Daniel Robinson can play like they did against Pitt, Oklahoma shouldn't have trouble against Purdue. Purdue's guards have had a solid tournament, but will they struggle against Oklahoma's length?

Coaching:

Advantage: Oklahoma

Sherri Coale is the only coach in this game to have National Championship experience. She took her 2002 Oklahoma team to the Championship against UCONN. They were over-matched against UCONN (deja vu?) but they did make it to the game. This is Purdue coach, Sharon Versyp's, third season as head coach and this is Purdue's deepest run in the tournament in her tenure. I give the advantage to Oklahoma simply because of experience.

Prediction:

Oklahoma by 6.

This game will be close. Purdue was able to outlast a very defensively minded Rutgers in the Sweet Sixteen and will keep this game close throughout. A combination of a strong home court advantage and better play in the paint puts Oklahoma in the Final Four.

Stats from Purduesports.com and Soonersports.com

(0)

3 Comments

There are no comments yet. Get the conversation started by leaving the first comment

Loading more comments...

posted just now

Loading...
Nobody has liked this comment yet

Cancel

This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete

<form action="/accounts/create_from_facebook_comment" class="new_facebook_user" id="new_facebook_user" method="post">	<input id="facebook_user_facebook_id" name="facebook_user[facebook_id]" type="hidden" />
	<input id="facebook_user_proxied_email" name="facebook_user[proxied_email]" type="hidden" />
	<input id="facebook_user_profile_pic" name="facebook_user[profile_pic]" type="hidden" />
	<input id="facebook_user_profile_url" name="facebook_user[profile_url]" type="hidden" />
	<ul>
		<div id="facebook_questions">
			<li class="fb-question" id="facebook_full_name_container">
				<p class="question">
					<label for="facebook_user_use_full_name">Use your full name <strong class="full_name"></strong> on Bleacher Report?</label>
					<br />
				</p>
				<p class="options">
					<input name="facebook_user[use_full_name]" type="hidden" value="0" /><input checked="checked" id="facebook_user_use_full_name" name="facebook_user[use_full_name]" type="checkbox" value="1" />
					<label for="facebook_user_use_full_name">Yes</label>
				</p>
				<div class="input full-name-edit" style="display:none">
					<p>Edit your name for Bleacher Report:</p>
					<div class="fb-first-name">
						<label for="facebook_user_first_name">First Name <em>(required)</em></label>
						<input class="signup_text_input" id="facebook_user_first_name" name="facebook_user[first_name]" size="30" type="text" />
						
					</div>
	
					<div class="fb-last-name">
						<label for="facebook_user_last_name">Last Name <em>(required)</em></label>
						<input class="signup_text_input" id="facebook_user_last_name" name="facebook_user[last_name]" size="30" type="text" />
						
					</div>
				</div>
			</li>
			<li class="fb-question">
				<p class="question">
					<img src="/images/default-user-icon-medium.png" class="profile_pic" />
					<label for="facebook_user_use_profile_pic">Do you want to use your Facebook profile picture on Bleacher Report?</label>
				</p>
				<p class="options">
					<input name="facebook_user[use_profile_pic]" type="hidden" value="0" /><input checked="checked" id="facebook_user_use_profile_pic" name="facebook_user[use_profile_pic]" type="checkbox" value="1" />
					<label for="facebook_user_use_profile_pic">Yes</label>
					
				</p>
			</li>
			<li>
				<a id="facebook_connect_submit"><img src="/images/shared/submit.png" /></a>
			</li>
		</div>
	</ul>
</form>

261
reads

3
comments

0
likes

written on March 30, 2009 Preview/Prediction