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OU Basketball: Under Jennie Barancyk, Oklahoma's Consistency Overcomes Change

The Sooners have seen significant changes in their coach's four seasons at OU, but one thing has remained the same: winning basketball.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk and forward Skylar Vann
Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk and forward Skylar Vann / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK
In this story:

Jennie Baranczyk’s culture of consistent winning continues at Oklahoma — despite a steady stream of changes.

In Year 1, she was the new coach in town, but quickly endeared herself to a veteran team and a passionate fan base. The result: a 25-9 record and a trip to the NCAA second round.

Baranczyk’s second season in Norman saw the least amount of change and very little roster turnover as the Sooners leaned on foundational seniors like Madi Williams, Taylor Robertson and Ana Llanusa. The result: a 26-7 record and a trip to the NCAA second round.

In Year 3, Baranczyk (and graduation) took the team in a new direction, but the Sooners still roared through the Big 12 with a 15-3 record — their best in 15 years. The result: a 23-10 record and a trip to the NCAA second round.

Year 4 meant a move to the Southeastern Conference — a pretty big step up from the Big 12 — and while there was minimal roster movement, there was a major philosophy change. The result: a 25-7 record and a trip to the NCAA — their final destination yet to be determined, because the Sooners will play Florida Gulf Coast (30-3) in the first round Saturday afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center.

“I think there's just so much more attention on this program, and I think that is because, obviously you want to win — and you have to win for people to follow — but also, our fans have also willed us to win,” Baranczyk said Sunday night after the bracket reveal. “So I would say I'm proud of the foundation of the culture and the chemistry of the women in the locker room that I think that great class before passed on, and I think our seniors this year, they believe in something more than themselves. And when you do that, great things happen.” 

Senior forward Skylar Vann is the case study for how the program has evolved in four years under Baranczyk, and she has some thoughts about why it works — no matter who’s on the floor.

“Yeah, I mean something special about Jennie’s system is that everybody has the green light,” Vann said. “And I think that's really important. So you're not, I guess, dependent on (specific) people, and that's a really special thing. And I think that's why we've been able to maintain our consistency, is that everybody has a green light to score, create, make reads. And I think that just grows their game.”

Vann was a freshman on Sherri Coale’s final roster as a promising young forward who averaged 8.0 points and 4.7 rebounds and played 20.0 minutes per game.

Then in Baranczyk’s first and second seasons, the Sooners leaned on the leadership and playmaking of super seniors Williams and Robertson and Llanusa, among others.

How to Watch Oklahoma vs. FGCU NCAA Tournament Game

When: Saturday, March 22
Where: Norman
Time: Approximately 1:30 p.m.
Channel: ESPNU

With a senior-heavy roster, the 6-foot Vann was the Big 12 Sixth Person of the Year in 2022 and 2023 under Baranczyk, averaging 21.0 minutes and 20.4 minutes, respectively, scoring 11.8 and 11.5 points and grabbing 5.8 and 6.8 rebounds.

Then last year, Vann evolved her game into Big 12 Player of the Year accolades, rising to 26.5 minutes per game and averaging 15.1 points and 7.0 rebounds.

This year, however, Vann’s numbers dipped to 9.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 22.8 minutes, and she didn’t get any All-SEC postseason recognition.

And that was fine with her — and her coaches and teammates — because of the arrival of All-America center Raegan Beers. Beers nearly averaged a points-rebounds double-double this season after transferring from Oregon State, and the Sooners are better than ever.

OU’s 3-seed this year is its best NCAA seed since 2010, when Coale took the Sooners to their most recent Final Four. Their No. 8 ranking in November was the program’s highest since 2008-09,  when they climbed as high as No. 2. And their final regular-season ranking of No. 10 is the best since ’09, when they finished No. 4.

With Beers holding down the post duties for Oklahoma, Vann found herself on the perimeter more frequently, guarding more of the SEC’s 6-foot guards.

“It’s a huge adjustment,” Vann said. “It's extremely different from being in the paint. You're staying with people, trying to keep them out of the paint, versus now you're like, on the perimeter, guarding people that are probably faster than you, more athletic. … It's definitely been a huge adjustment for me. But I do love that my game has grown in that, because that has been a struggle of mine since I've been in college.”

Credit Baranczyk with getting an established senior to readily embrace a significant role change.

And credit Baranczyk with redirecting a program that just two years ago was built on Robertson’s record-setting 3-point proficiency and an up-tempo offensive pace, to one that still scores a ton of points but now runs its best sets through Beers in the low post. 

Last year, Barancyk worked Vann regularly in the low post  but also had Vann stretch her game while surrounding her with athletic transfers Payton Verhulst and Lexy Keys and other shooters, as well as freshman forward Sahara Williams.

Beers has been the ace this season, but Verhulst has been spectacular at times and Williams averaged 11 points per game while Baranczyk has gotten at least 4.8 points per game from eight different players. Ten different players have reached double-figure scoring in a game this year.

Whether it’s the integration of a game-changing transfer like Beers, or an established senior accepting a new role (Vann, Keys, Nevaeh Tot and Aubrey Joens all saw reduced minutes this season), or the addition of a freshman like Zya Vann (Skylar’s little sister, who scored in double figures 11 times this year) — the more things change under Baranczyk, the more they stay the same.

“We know we're really good when we know the person to our right and our left is really good,” Baranczyk said. “But that's why people stay here. That's why people like each other in the locker room. That's why they can hang out outside (the team setting). They don't have to hang out all the time, but they have this deep, deep love and respect for each other when they step across the lines.”

Baranczyk acknowledged the program’s recent ups as well as downs — such as getting blown out twice by South Carolina this year, or getting crushed in an NCAA Tournament second-round game by Notre Dame two years ago.

“We’ve fallen on our face a lot,” she said. “ … And we don't fold. We just get up, we roll up our sleeves, and we go. And I think, you know, we’ve built a lot of resiliency skills in doing that. And I just, really, I can't sing praises enough about the senior class that we have that has really kept everything together.”

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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