Looking ahead to 2023? The sports scene in Oklahoma promises lots of intrigue in new year
The new year is often thought of as a fresh start.
But in sports, it doesn’t work that way.
The changing of the calendar is more continuation than fresh start in the sports world. Some sport seasons actually bridge the change ― the 2022-23 season, for example ― but really, regardless of that, the storylines carry over most.
We don’t just pack away what happened in 2022 as we head into 2023.
Not that that’s a bad thing.
Frankly, things that happened in 2022 give us plenty to look forward to in 2023.
For starters, we may find out when OU and Texas will head to the SEC. All signs point to the schools not leaving the Big 12 in 2023, but in the new year, we may finally learn if they will pay tens of millions of dollars in buyouts and leave in 2024 or if they will stay for the duration of the contract and stay until 2025.
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Either way, that will be huge news.
So will the release of the Big 12 football schedule. That’s, of course, because the league is adding four new schools in 2023. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF will be part of the league, and seeing who plays where when will be fascinating.
Who will have to go to UCF in the September heat?
Who will have to go to BYU in the November cold?
Just having the new schools in the league will be interesting, too. There’ll be new coaches, new athletes, new locales, new traditions. We’ll start to figure out what the Houston fight song sounds like and where to go for lunch when in Orlando.
I’m also looking forward to seeing if OU and OSU can get back in the business of contending for conference supremacy. Seeing, too, who will be the Sooners and Cowboys at the front and center. Marvin Mims? Jovantae Barnes? Danny Stutsman? Ollie Gordon? Bryson Green? Justin Wright?
We expect likely Dillon Gabriel and Garret Rangel to return as the quarterbacks of their respective squads, but super recruit Jackson Arnold is coming to Norman and a yet-to-be-determined portal quarterback is likely coming to Stillwater. That will make things interesting.
Also interesting: will OU softball and women’s gymnastics win more national championships? Will OSU softball make the Women’s College World Series championship series and give us a Bedlam for the ages? Will OU baseball build off its Men’s College World Series appearance? Will OU women’s basketball make it further in the NCAA Tournament? Will OU and OSU men’s basketball actually make the tournament? Why not add in the OSU women, too?
There will be all sorts of intriguing individual storylines in 2023, too.
OU sharpshooter Taylor Robertson has a chance to break the NCAA record for career 3-pointers. OU slugger Tiare Jennings should push her way into the top three in the program’s career homer records, joining Jocelyn Alo and Lauren Chamberlain. Our state may have the two best pitchers in all of college softball with Jordy Bahl at OU and Kelly Maxwell at OSU.
More:Looking back on Jocelyn Alo's NCAA HR record and an amazing 2022 in Oklahoma sports
But the athlete that is most worth keeping an eye on: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Thunder guard has become a shoo-in for the All-Star Game, but he might make a run at the NBA scoring title. He entered the final week of December in third at 31.6 points per game, behind only Joel Embiid (33.1) and Luka Doncic (32.8).
And while being an All-Star seems a foregone conclusion for SGA, it would still be cool to see the first member of the rebuilding Thunder earn that honor.
In other pro sports news, Oklahoma City’s professional softball team, the Spark, plays its inaugural season in 2023. Alo is already on the roster. Ditto for Oklahoma-born and former OSU outfielder Chelsea Alexander.
The Spark should be fun.
There's other fun stuff to look forward in 2023 on the high school sports scene. Bixby football will play for its sixth consecutive state title, and Tuttle wrestling will go for its 14th consecutive one. Carl Albert tailback Xavier Robinson will try to totally rewrite the storied program’s record books while Del City big man Brandon Garrison tries to become a McDonald’s All-American.
But if you want some really fun stuff, check out the girls basketball scene. Oklahoma has some of the best players in the nation. Edmond North’s Laci Steele in the 2023 class. Putnam West’s Taliyah Parker and Caya Smith in the 2024 class. And the 2025 class? It’s seriously stacked.
Keeley Parks from Norman, Keziah Lofton from Bethany, Janiyah Williams from Edmond Memorial, Marcayla Johnson from Tulsa Booker T. Washington and Sania Richardson from Ada are among the top 25 players in the country.
You’re going to want to get out and see these girls play.
There’s so much to look forward to in the new year. People oftentimes hope for better days in a new year, but where the sports scene in Oklahoma is concerned, we don’t have to cross our fingers for such things.
We know 2023 is going to be good.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Big 12 football 2023 schedule, OU Sooners' move to SEC are storylines
