Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams here at OU are embarking on their first season’s with new head coaches. As the regular season for both teams is drawing to a close and the post seasons are just around the corner, here is a quick look and update on the state of affairs with both teams.

We’ll start with the women’s team and new head coach Jennie Baranczyk. Coach Baranczyk, who previously coached at Drake University, was tasked with replacing the legendary coach Sherri Coale after Coale resigned following the 2020-21 season. And boy has she ever lived up to the challenge. Coach Baranczyk has the Sooners at a 20-5 record and currently sitting one game back out of first place in the Big 12 conference standings. For a program that has struggled in recent years, Baranczyk has provided a jolt of energy and revival and has the Sooners on the berth of their highest March Madness seed in quite some time. The Sooners have dropped their last 2 games in a row however, and they have an extremely important game coming up in Ames, Iowa to take on the Iowa State Cyclones. But nonetheless, coach Baranczyk has this years team in a great position and is building something really special for her program. Now, let’s transition to the Men.

New head coach Porter Moser hasn’t exactly had the easiest first year on the job. Replacing former head coach Lon Kruger, Moser served as a beacon of energy and drive that the program needed. However, basketball in the Big 12 is a bear and Moser is learning that the hard war. The team this year started out on a high, going 12-3 through their first 15 games and doing everything that they can to crack the top 25 polls. Since then it has been a completely different story. The Sooners have only won 3 of their last 13 games and are currently sitting in 9th place in the conference standings. I think the problem for the Sooners is that they don’t have enough consistent, high level scorers on the team this year and unfortunately, that is what is needed to be successful in the Big 12. The other teams are just too good and that is exactly what we are seeing. I think Porter Moser is a great hire and once he starts getting his recruited guys on the team other people will begin to realize that too. But this year has definitely been a struggle. Hopefully the Sooners can hang on and get a tournament berth.

I think the future of OU basketball for both the men and the women is very bright. I love both coaches and I believe that they are both slam dunk hires (basketball pun). Hopefully coach Baranczyk can take her team on deep conference and NCAA tournament runs, and hopefully coach Moser can keep his group in tact and finish this year strong and on a high note.