Bracket Set For Big 12 Championship

Bracket Set For Big 12 Championship

March 03, 2015 | Women's Basketball

March Madness is upon us. With the regular season in the books, the Oklahoma women's basketball team turns its attention to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. Let's take an indepth look the upcoming tournament and OU's history with the Big 12 Championship.

1.  Hello, No. 2 Seed.

The Oklahoma women's basketball team secured the No. 2 seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship with its 13-5 mark in league. The Sooners finished conference play with a four-game lead on Iowa State, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas.

This is the third time since 1999 that Oklahoma has earned the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Championship. The Sooners were also the No. 2 seed in the 2012 Big 12 Championship and the 2007 tournament.

As the No. 2 seed in 2007, the Sooners earned their fourth Big 12 Championship in school history. They opened that year's championship defeating the No. 7 seed Texas, 67-58, in the second round. Oklahoma went on to defeat third-seed Baylor 78-64 in the semifinals and claimed the championship with a 67-60 victory over No. 5 seed Iowa State.

In 2012, the Sooners made their way to the semifinals before bowing out of the championship. OU defeated 10th-seed Missouri 70-59 in the second round and was then upended by No. 3 seed Texas A&M in the semifinals, 79-66. 


2.  Opponent: No. 7 West Virginia or No. 10 Texas Tech.

As the No. 2 seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, the Oklahoma Sooners will play the winner of the No. 7 West Virginia and No. 10 Texas Tech contest. The Mountaineers and Lady Raiders will play each other Friday, March 6 at 8:30 p.m.

Oklahoma's second round game against either WVU or TTU will be played Saturday, March 7 at 6 p.m. at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The contest will be televised on FSN.

West Virginia finished the regular season with a 17-13 overall mark and a 7-11 record in the Big 12 standings. In their Big 12 finale, the Mountaineers dropped a 59-55 decision at Kansas State.

Oklahoma split its season series with West Virginia. The Sooners defeated the Mountaineers in Norman 71-60 to open the 2014-15 Big 12 season but fell in Morgantown, W. Va., 78-67.

Texas Tech ended the regular season at 15-15 overall and 5-13 in Big 12 Conference.

The Sooners swept their season series with Texas Tech. OU went on the road and defeated the Lady Raiders in Lubbock, Texas 75-58 and gritted-out a 70-64 victory in Norman.


3.  History With Dallas.

The Big 12 Championship will be held at the America Airlines Center in Dallas. The Big 12 Championship has been held in Dallas four times since 1999. The championship was held at Reunion Arena in 2003, 2004 and 2006 and held at American Airlines Center in 2013. The Sooners are 9-2 when playing in Dallas.

Two of the three times the championship was played at Reunion Arena the Sooners won the tournament title. As the top seed in the 2006 championship, Oklahoma defeated No. 9 Iowa State, 78-74, No. 4 Missouri, 75-54, and earned the championship win over No. 2 Baylor by the score of 72-61.

The Sooners hold the distinction of being the lowest seed in tournament history to win the championship crown and it happened at the 2004 Big 12 Championship in Reunion Arena. OU was the No. 6 seed in 2004 and rattled off wins over No. 11 Texas A&M (60-47), No. 3 Colorado (63-56), No. 2 Kansas State (78-66) and No. 1 seed Texas (66-47) in the championship game.    

Oklahoma was the No. 3 seed the last time it played in Dallas at the American Airlines Center. After an exciting 65-64 victory over sixth-seed West Virginia in the second round, the Sooners fell in the semifinals to No. 2 Iowa State 79-60.  

The 2013 Big 12 Championship at American Airlines Center was the second-best attended tournament in league history with an average attendance of 7,037.


4.  Using 2014 As Motivation For 2015.

The Oklahoma women's basketball team was predicted to win the 2014 Big 12 regular season title but finished tied for fifth at 9-9 and earned the No. 6 seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. Despite playing close to home at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, the Sooners were unable to pull the upset of third-seed Texas in the second round, dropping the 82-72 decision to the Longhorns.


5.  Most Outstanding Player.

Three Oklahoma women's basketball players have earned Most Outstanding Player of the Big 12 Championship.

Stacey Dales was the first Sooner to earn the honor. Dales claimed the award at the 2002 Big 12 Championship after leading OU to their inaugural Big 12 title. Over the three games, Dales averaged 22.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.3 steals per contest, while shooting an impressive 62.8 percent (27-of-43) from the field, including 52.9 percent on 3-pointers (9-of-17).

Dionnah Jackson was tabbed the Most Outstanding Player two years later at 2004 Big 12 Championship. Jackson led the No. 6 seed Sooners to the tournament crown by averaging 17.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Jackson's most explosive game can in the championship contest. She poured in 21 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists.

Courtney Paris was the third and most recent OU star to grab Most Outstanding Player. She garnered the accolade in both 2006 and 2007. In 2006, Paris averaged a double-double of 25.7 points and 17.3 boards a contest. A year later, Paris led Oklahoma to its second-straight Big 12 Championship by averaging 20.0 points and 17.7 rebounds. In the championship game, Paris scored 23 points and grabbed 21 rebounds. 


6. Sooners With Big 12 Championship Experience.

Six current Oklahoma women's basketball players have experience playing in the Big 12 Championship, with three having extensive playing time.

Senior Sharane Campbell-Olds has played in all five Big 12 Championship games since her freshman campaign and got the starting nod in three. In tournament play, she has averaged 13.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest. In those five games, Campbell-Olds also went to the charity stripe 41 times and sank 33.

Junior Nicole Kornet has played in all three Big 12 Championship contests since her freshman season with one start, while redshirt junior Kaylon Williams has also played in three Big 12 Championship games with two starts. Kornet scored 11 points in the Sooner's setback in the second round of the 2014 championship. Williams started both Big 12 Championship games as a freshman before an injury sidelined her for her sophomore season. As a freshman, Williams averaged 10.0 points and 6.5 rebounds, while shooting a solid 62.9 percent from the floor.   

Current sophomores Gioya Carter, T'ona Edwards and Derica Wyatt each saw action in OU's lone Big 12 Championship game of 2014. Carter played 14 minutes, Edwards played five minutes and Wyatt six minutes.  


7. The Bracket.