OU women's basketball: Experience, depth provide high expectations in Barancyzk's second year
Nov. 3—It's been nearly a decade since an Oklahoma women's basketball team has entered a season with expectations as high as this year's Sooners.
Not only is head coach Jennie Barancyzk entering her second season with the program, she leads an experienced squad headlined by a trio of star players. The Sooners came in at No. 15 in the Associated Press' preseason poll, their highest ranking since the 2013-14 season.
Over four seasons, senior Taylor Robertson has progressed from a lethal outside threat to one of the greatest 3-point shooters in college basketball history. With players afforded an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19, Robertson joined Madi Williams and Ana Llanusa in returning to the program for one final season.
With Llanusa, Robertson and Williams each averaging over 17 points per game last season, they will be the highest-scoring returning trio in women's college basketball.
"We're definitely a force and we're going to a force to be reckoned with all season," Williams said at Big 12 media days in Kansas City, Missouri. "But we've been working hard to mesh and gel with each other even more than we already have in the past few years with Ana and T-Rob and then to bring in the freshman this year, they're coming in and catching on pretty fast. We're excited what the season's gonna be able to bring."
With 446 career 3-pointers made, Robertson needs 52 more to break the NCAA record set by Ohio State's Kelsey Mitchell.
Last season Robertson reached 52 3-pointers during the 14th game of the season against Iowa State. At a similar pace, the shooting guard could be expected to take the record early in Big 12 play.
Robertson has averaged 3.8 3-pointers made per game over her career and has only had less than 100 3-pointers in one season — during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season (86).
"It"s been amazing to watch," said Llanusa, who will be entering her fifth season as Robertson's teammate. "T-Rob's the best shooter that I've ever played with and ever witnessed playing as well. Her being able to possibly break a record is gonna be so awesome for our team and for her.
"She's put in so much work, the time that you see her either before practice or after practice for hours. She's very deserving of it and I really do hope she breaks that record. I have so much belief in her."
Llanusa is expected to bring a spark to the Sooners' backcourt that was missed for most of last season. The Choctaw native was averaging 17.3 points per game before going down with a leg injury in early December.
Despite the setback, the Sooners continued to climb through the polls early in the season, making it as high as No.12 in the AP Poll before finishing the season ranked 22nd.
Oklahoma has experience up-and-down its roster, with over 90 percent of its scoring, rebounding and assists production returning this season.
The Sooners were picked third in the Big 12 preseason poll by league coaches, and one spot ahead of Baylor, who finished first in the regular season standings last year.
That was a new experience for Llanusa, who has never been on a team picked to finish that high during her five seasons at OU.
"Coming into practice on my drive here I was just thinking about how hungry we should be," she said last month. "How awesome it is that we got put in that position, but also we should have a chip on our shoulders that we have to hold it down as well.
"Being ranked third, it can be a really good thing and it can keep us more hungry to keep moving up and I think we will."
Oklahoma will be back in the Lloyd Noble Center for an exhibition game against Emporia State at 6 p.m tonight, with their season opener scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday against Oral Roberts University.
Tarik Masri is a sports reporter for The Transcript covering OU athletics and area sports. You can reach him by emailing tarik@normantranscript.com
