NORMAN — OU softball coach Patty Gasso was among the crowd of 8,000-plus in attendance at Lloyd Noble Center on Monday afternoon to watch the OU women’s basketball team take on Iowa.
“It was kind of cool to see,” Gasso said Tuesday afternoon. “We never get a chance, so I was really excited to see. They’re so good, and they play as a team. They’ve got everything. It looks like they have just about everything covered, so I’m really excited for them. … I believe they’re going to go to UConn and beat them. I do. After watching what I saw, they’re pretty dominant.”
The third-seeded Sooners will take on second-seeded UConn at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in Spokane, Washington.
Gasso said the basketball team’s run can help her team.
“Jennie (Baranczyk) and I have had this conversation, just how we all really, truly root for each other,” Gasso said. “When they do well and everyone’s talking about OU basketball, they’re talking about OU. And it’s in the ears of recruits and it’s in the ear of whoever. So when they fall in love with different programs, it gives us a better opportunity in recruiting as well.
“We’re all helping each other that way.”
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Plenty of coaches and athletes from other sports were in attendance Monday for the Sooners’ 96-62 win over the Hawkeyes that sent OU to the Sweet 16.
The Sooners’ football team was among the crowd.
“I really want to give a shoutout to the coaches at OU, because we had so many student-athletes come. They canceled some of their practices. They moved their times. They moved meetings,” Baranczyk said. “I don’t know how many other places the entire football team would be at a game or softball when they’re in season or baseball or go down the line.
“It actually got me really emotional learning that before the game because I keep saying, ‘This isn’t just for us. This is for everybody,’ but it is, and we can feel it and I think that’s what makes Oklahoma different than most places is that we really are this extended family and we really do want each other to do really well.”
