While two of the most storied programs in women's basketball will duke it out in one Final Four matchup, the other game Friday night in San Antonio will feature two of the sport's fastest rising teams, Oklahoma and Duke.
The Blue Devils will be making their second Final Four appearance in what is only their ninth trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile, coach Sherri Coale and the Sooners, winners of nine games in a row, continue an amazing uphill battle, resurrecting a program that suffered a well-publicized 5-22 season just five years ago. Although this will be its first Final Four, Oklahoma has been knocking on the door in recent years, winning three straight conference tournaments and making it to the Sweet 16 each of the past two years before finally breaking through.
"Coach Coale is a great coach, she has a great vision for their program," said Iciss Tillis, a native of Oklahoma who was recruited by Coale during the Sooners' rebuilding phase. "You knew by the way she talked about her dreams and aspirations... she'd build a program, that
What makes the matchup even more interesting are the similarities between the two No. 1 seeds. Both teams stand at 31-3, and statistically play a similar type of high-scoring, high-defense style. Duke has the slight edge in scoring, but both teams hold opponents to under 40 percent shooting.
Oklahoma starts three seniors, including guards Stacey Dales and LaNeishea Caulfield. The two players lead the Sooners in scoring and will require plenty of defensive attention from the Blue Devils.
"Alana'a going to guard Stacey, not all the time, but probably initially," coach Gail Goestenkors said. "They are so similar to us, it's really going to be an interesting game. They use Stacey at the point, but she'll also play the wing. And they post her up quite a bit, whenever they get a mismatch, similar to what we do with Alana."
While Duke hopes to neutralize Dales, Caufield may be the player that could hurt the Blue Devils the most. In Oklahoma's last three tournament games, Caufield has averaged 24.3 points, nailed eight three-pointers, and took 33 trips to the free throw line.
Like the Blue Devils, Oklahoma has had a fairly uncontested road to the Final Four, with its lowest margin of victory being 10 points. The Sooners should be riding a strong wave a confidence, given their 34-point thrashing of Colorado in the Elite Eight.
And while Duke, winners of 22 straight contests, should be carrying plenty of momentum as well, the Blue Devils will be making their first trip outside the state of North Carolina in 52 days.
Since the Sooners only have the short trip to San Antonio, it may be safe to say that they will be better rested, while Duke should have the experience edge given that Goestenkors and senior Krista Gingrich have been to the Final Four. But sophomore Vicki Kraphol thinks that is just talk.
"Right now it's not really about who has the edge anymore," Kraphol said. "Everybody's going their to win and everybody knows two more games and you're national champions. We're really looking forward to it and are ready to play."
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