Welcome to the SEC: Jennie Baranczyk has chance to make splash in first season

OU is officially in the SEC. And now the real test begins. 

Led by Jennie Barancyzk, who is entering her third season as head coach, the women’s basketball program is hoping to have a strong first year in the toughest conference in women’s college basketball. But that won’t be an easy task, thanks to a tough schedule, including a road trip to face the defending national champions.

Here’s how OU women’s basketball stacks up in the SEC.

State of the program

Barnacyzk’s program couldn’t be in a better spot than it is right now. Her team is coming off back-to-back Big 12 regular season championships and three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, in which they reached the second round each year. 

And her team should be one of the best in the country next year. OU returns all five starters, plus key role players, and added the best player in the portal — Oregon State’s Raegan Beers. She should be a huge boost for the Sooners, which lacked size and scoring in the post at times. 

“You’re gonna love Raegan as a person,” Branaczyk said of Beers. “She’s just incredible. To be able to watch our women interact with her when she came on a visit, that was really neat. Raegan wasn’t leaving necessarily for a better opportunity, but obviously they had some different circumstances at Oregon State. So she made that decision to leave, but she also knew the kind of chemistry and culture that she was looking for.

“That’s what’s really neat. We were one of those programs that she wanted to talk to because of that. So the women on our team knew that she’s a need for us obviously with her interior play, but even more, she fits so well from a chemistry standpoint.”

State of the SEC

The SEC is certainly the toughest conference women’s college basketball. OU will have its hands full, hosting Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt at Lloyd Noble Center, and traveling to Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee.

South Carolina and LSU have been the most recent powerhouses in the conference, winning the last three national titles. But Texas, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Texas A&M have all become forces in the conference, too. 

“Every time you get your schedule, you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, look at who we have to play on the road.’ And then you look at it and you say, ‘Oh my gosh, look at who we have to play at home, too,’” Baranczyk said. “I think it just kind of starts to hit you when you realize how good this league is.”

Biggest challenge facing OU

The biggest challenge facing Baranczyk and OU is much like the football program. The competition is increasing and so resetting expectations as well as staying consistent will be tough. The Sooners have to stay hot on the recruiting, even in years that they don’t have great seasons.

And as for this year, the biggest hurdle is getting past the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Given its difficult schedule, OU should have a top seed. And that should give Baranczyk a good chance at reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time in her career. 

“You have to constantly evolve,” Barancyzk said. “There are things you just have to elevate. Everything has to get bigger. So we have to do a better job of filling the LNC. We have to do a better job of creating more excitement around everything that we’re doing. We’ve got to create a better product at a high level to compete for national championships.”