Tramel's ScissorTales: Madi Williams, Ana Llanusa & Taylor Robertson are OU teammates for the ages
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On November 10, 2017, Ana Llanusa checked in to the OU-Belmont basketball game. It was Llanusa’s Sooner debut.
The next day, Baker Mayfield would throw three touchdown passes in OU’s 38-20 win over Texas Christian. The day after that, Trae Young would score 15 points and dish 10 assists in his OU debut. Jocelyn Alo was 90 days away from her first Sooner home run.
On November 9, 2018, Madi Williams started the OU-Western Kentucky basketball game and Taylor Robertson came off the bench. That night in Edinburg, Texas, Jamuni McNeace, who signed a letter of intent with OU in November 2013, had 12 rebounds as the Sooner men opened the hoops season with a victory. The next day, Kyler Murray threw for 349 yards in the Sooners’ rousing, 48-47 Bedlam victory. Sydney Romero was the reigning OU softball star.
Two dates that seem long ago and far away.
Yet Wednesday night at Lloyd Noble Center, Llanusa, Williams and Robertson again will take the court. In uniform. And probably for the final time in Norman.
They’re playing still.
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The Tuesday ScissorTales explain why OSU's NCAA Tournament hopes are so frayed, lament the loss of Ahearn Fieldhouse and look at seemingly-unbreakable record that soon could fall. But we start with OU women's basketball players Ana Llanusa, Madi Williams and Taylor Robertson.
Three remarkable careers – fortified by veterans just behind them – should be celebrated as the Sooners host Kansas State in OU’s home finale.
The NCAA’s pandemic rule of an extra year of eligibility, and remarkable commitment in this age of transfer madness, has made Llanusa, Williams and Robertson three teammates extraordinaire.
We are not likely to see this again. Five-year teammates, so instrumental to a college squad.
Williams: 141 games, 2,278 points.
Robertson: 145 games, 2,275 points.
Llanusa: 110 games, 1,610 points (injuries limited Llanusa to just 10 games the previous two seasons).
“It’s really crazy, you never see that,” Robertson said. “Even in pro sports. It shows the program means and what we mean to each other. Five years is a long time, but it’s flown by.”
The Sooners could catch fire and still earn a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament, which would mean at least one more home appearance. Heck, OU remains in the running for the Big 12 championship, after Baylor beat Texas on Monday night.
But Wednesday night probably is the Lloyd Noble Center finale for the trio.
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“It is bittersweet,” Llanusa said. “Shows the love we have for the university.”
We won’t see this kind of longevity going forward. Too much fluidity on college campuses. Too many options to go elsewhere. Too many cultural pulls for one player, let alone three, to stick around a half decade or more.
Only on this 2022-23 Sooner squad could the likes of Liz Scott (fourth OU season, 82 games), Nevaeh Tot (third OU season, 84 games) and Skylar Vann (third OU season, 83 games) be considered young’ns.
Llanusa, Williams and Robertson have stuck it out through tough seasons (Williams and Robertson’s first three OU teams went 32-52), and the pandemic, and a coaching change (Sherri Coale to Jennie Baranczyk).
“They’re incredible,” Baranczyk said. “From a personal standpoint, it’s incredible. They really understand what wearing an Oklahoma jersey means. They understand what it means.”
And now the program seems solidified, the future appears bright, and it’s no small contribution by these three players,.
Have any athletes ever played a bigger percentage of an OU team’s games over so long a period? I don’t see how. Robertson has played in every Sooner game for five straight years, and the only game she didn’t start was that debut against Belmont.
Llanusa, granted a sixth year of eligibility due to multiple injuries, and Williams, the heart and soul of this program for years, are no less impactful.
Enjoy them while you can. Appreciate them even after their playing days. We are not likely to see this kind of collegiate longevity pass this way again.
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OSU hoops can blame non-conference
OSU’s 74-68 home loss to Baylor on Monday night dropped the Cowboys to 16-14 overall, 7-10 in the Big 12, and on the outside looking in when it comes to the NCAA Tournament bracketology.
But the Cowboys aren’t that far from being back in contention – ESPN's Joe Lunardi has OSU as the second-team out of his 68-team field, which means winning Saturday at Texas Tech might get the Cowboys back on the bracket.
And the real question about OSU hoops is not how do the Cowboys play their way in, but this: How is that the Cowboys still have a chance to make the field?.
I mean, OSU played really well for a month. The Cowboys won seven of eight games between January 14 and February 14. They swept OU and Iowa State, and they won home games against Texas Tech, Ole Miss and Texas Christian. Very nice stretch.
But the Cowboys are 0-8 against the Big 12’s four best teams: Kansas, Texas, Baylor and Kansas State.
And OSU before New Year’s did not play like an NCAA Tournament caliber team.
The Cowboys lost at home to Southern Illinois 61-60, to Central Florida 60-56 in overtime in the Bahamas, at Connecticut 74-64 and to Virginia Tech 70-65 in Brooklyn.
UConn is a big-time opponent this season. UCF is 71st in the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings. Virginia Tech is 74th. Southern Illinois is 118th. Not good losses, but not necessarily terrible.
So who did OSU beat in the non-conference? Its best wins are over Sam Houston State (No. 62 in the NET), Wichita State (No. 116) and Ole Miss (No. 130). The former and latter were OSU home games.
The Cowboys’ other victims were No. 166 DePaul, No. 195 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, No. 244 Texas-Arlington, No. 272 Oakland, No. 279 Prairie View and No. 323 Tulsa.
So OSU’s résumé touts two wins over Iowa State and single wins over TCU, West Virginia and Sam Houston.
Barring a deep run in the Big 12 Tournament, if the Cowboys sneak into the NCAA Tournament, it will be with hat in hand.
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Farewell to Ahearn Fieldhouse
I’ve had a lot better career than I deserved. Seen so many cool places, so many cool venues.
The Roman Colosseum. The Rose Bowl. Allen Fieldhouse. Wrigley Field. Notre Dame Stadium.
There’s a few places I’d still like to get to. Lambeau Field. Pebble Beach. Fenway Park. The Palestra.
And there are the places that are gone, too late to experience. Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds. Boston Garden. Candlestick Park.
Near the top of that list is Ahearn Fieldhouse. I missed my last chance 11 days ago.
Kansas State’s venerable gymnasium has hosted its final event, an indoor track meet on February 17, after 72 years as home of some kind of Wildcat team.
Ahearn hasn’t hosted Kansas State basketball since 1988. For many years, Ahearn was the equal of Allen Fieldhouse; not until the 1980s did the mystique of the Phog start to bubble, and K-State surrendered and built Bramlage Coliseum north of the main campus.
But for 38 years years, Kansas State basketball roared under the likes of Tex Winter and Cotton Fitzsimmons, Jack Hartman and Lon Kruger.
OU went three decades without winning in Ahearn; not until 1979 did the Sooners win there, despite annual basketball trips.
Ahearn seated 14,000, remarkable size for 1950, and included batting cages that lowered from the ceiling, and a 220-yard track. The K-State football team often practiced indoors at Ahearn in the 1950s and 1960s.
It was old school, like Allen Fieldhouse and Gallagher Hall.
And I never got there. Didn’t cover much Big Eight basketball in the 1980s, and when I finally did, it was too late.
Ahearn remained the home of KSU volleyball and indoor track, but now the university has other uses. The track team will work out in the KSU indoor football facility. The Ahearn gym and natatorium, which are connected to the fieldhouse, will be torn down, according to the Manhattan Mercury.
The fieldhouse itself will be renovated for an unspecified use, and you probably won’t be able to recognize the place inside.
It’s my own fault. I should have stopped by on one my many trips to Manhattan. Should have walked around, even on a weekday, and felt the ghosts of Rolando Blackman and Mike Evans, Bob Boozer and Chuckie Williams, Ed Nealy and Willie Murrell.
“In basketball, you are right there, you are close to the court,” former KSU athletic director Steve Miller told the Mercury. “You can just reach out and touch somebody, it was just a fabulous facility. Granted, it was old, but that was part of the charm.”
So long, Ahearn. You sound like someone I should have known.
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The List: Chasing Pete Maravich
A huge game in the history of college basketball game arrives Tuesday night. Detroit Mercy hosts Purdue-Fort Wayne in an Horizon League Tournament first-round game.
Neither team figures to do much this season. They tied for eighth in the 11-team Horizon, with 9-11 records.
But if Detroit Mercy wins, one of the most seemingly-unbreakable records in sport will be in grave danger.
Pete Maravich’s 3,667 points scored in three Louisiana State seasons, 1967-70, has been unassailable for more than half a century. Unbroken and unapproached.
Maravich’s points per game in the era of no shot clock and no 3-point line – 43.8, 44.2, 44.5 -- long ago entered the sphere of myth. Too high to be fathomed.
Even when freshmen eligibility in the third season after Maravich went to the NBA, no player mounted a charge at the record.
No one came close to averaging 40 points a game, much less the 44.2 Maravich averaged over 83 NCAA games.
Even getting four years of eligibility didn’t matter. Four-year scoring machines didn’t get close to Maravich. The math just didn’t work.
Before the explosion of conference tournaments and the expanded NCAA Tournament field, few players surpassed 120 games. To catch Maravich playing 120 games, you’d need to average 30.6 points a game over four years.
And with early-entry to the NBA, that narrow window was reduced even more. Four-year star. Prolific scorer. Not a top-shelf draft prospect. That’s a narrow description.
Look at OU’s Wayman Tisdale, who in 1985 turned pro after three seasons, with 2,661 career points. If Tisdale had returned for his senior season, he would have needed 1,006 points – a 28.7 average over 35 games – to catch Maravich. Tisdale’s single-season best was 27.0.
So Maravich’s record seemed untouchable.
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But Antoine Davis has cracked the code. The Detroit Mercy star is in his fifth season with the Titans; he has played 142 games – 59 more than Maravich – and averaged 26.1, 24.3, 24.0, 23.9 and 28.1 points per game, respectively.
Davis’ fifth season comes courtesy of the NCAA’s pandemic ruling that the 2019-20 season didn’t count against eligibility. That opened the door for a five-year player, and Davis has taken advantage.
Davis, the son of Detroit Mercy coach (and former Indiana coach) Mike Davis, has climbed all the way to 3,604 points. He’s 63 points behind Maravich.
Which brings us to Tuesday night against Purdue-Fort Wayne. Davis’ career ends with the Titans’ next defeat. Detroit Mercy is 13-18, so no invitation to an auxiliary post-season is coming. It’s NCAA Tournament or bust.
If Davis gets two more games, 63 points seems not only possible, but likely. He’s averaged 34 points over the last eight games.
But Davis isn’t scoring 63 points against Purdue-Fort Wayne – he's not Pistol Pete Maravich. So Detroit Mercy must win to give Davis a chance to take down one of greatest records in American sports.
Here are the top 10 scorers in NCAA Division I history, with school, point total and seasons:
1. Pete Maravich, Louisiana State, 3,667, 1967-70.
2. Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy, 3,604, 2018-23.
3. Freeman Williams, Portland State, 3,249: 1974-78.
4. Chris Clemons, Campbell, 2015-19, 3,225.
5. Lionel Simmons, LaSalle, 1986-90, 3,217.
6. Alphonso Ford, Mississippi Valley State, 1989-93, 3,165.
7. Doug McDermott, Creighton, 3,150, 2010-14.
8. Mike Daum, South Dakota State, 3,067, 2015-19.
9. Harry Kelly, Texas Southern, 3,066, 1979-83.
10. Keydren Clark, Saint Peter’s, 3,058, 2002-06.
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Mailbag: OU athletic slump
Things are not going swell for OU football and men’s basketball.
Brad: “OU football finished seventh in the Big 12, while the Sooners men’s basketball team will finish ninth or 10th. When was the last time the OU football and men’s basketball teams both finished in the bottom half of the conference during the same academic year? Fifty-six years ago! The 1966 football team went 4-3 and finished fifth in the Big 12 under Jim McKenzie, while Bob “Go-Go” Stevens' 1966-67 squad finished sixth in the Big Eight.”
Tramel: Ouch. But that got me to thinking. Not every OU football coach prospered in his first season.
Many did. Lincoln Riley had a great team and won the Big 12 in 2017. Barry Switzer’s 1973 Sooners went 7-0 and won the Big Eight. Chuck Fairbanks went 7-0 and won the Big Eight in 1967. Bud Wilkinson’s 1947 Sooners and Jim Tatum’s 1946 Sooners each went 4-0-1 in the Big Six and tied Kansas for the title.
But Howard Schnellenberger’s 1995 Sooners went 2-5 and tied for fifth in the Big Eight. John Blake’s 1996 Sooners went 3-5 and finished fourth in the six-team Big 12 South.
Somewhere in the middle were Bob Stoops’ 1999 team (5-3, in a three-way tie for second in the Big 12 South) and Gary Gibbs’ 1989 Sooners (5-2, third in the Big Eight).
Mackenzie already was mentioned.
The harrowing thought for Brent Venables: only Stoops had a first season that was radically different than his eventual level of success.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU's Madi Williams, Taylor Robertson, Ana Llanusa set for senior night
