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Jennie Baranczyk raising 'baseline standard' for OU women's basketball in March Madness
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- Jennie Baranczyk raising 'baseline standard' for OU women's basketball in March Madness
NORMAN — Seconds after the final horn sounded and smoke burst from the jumbotron, Jennie Baranczyk didn't hesitate.
She bolted for midcourt. Her eyes glistened as she blew kisses and waved to the 6,573 inside Lloyd Noble Center who had spent the previous two hours riding every make, miss and whistle.
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"Thank you, thank you," Oklahoma's fifth-year coach shouted, her voice nearly gone.
This is what she has built and this is what her program's expectations have become.
Even if Baranczyk and her players never quite said it out loud, a return to the Sweet 16 — and a push for more — has been the standard all season. After last March proved what was possible, OU returned a roster anchored by veterans like Raegan Beers and Payton Verhulst and added the nation's No. 1 recruit, Aaliyah Chavez .
So when OU held off Michigan State 77-71 in the second round of the Women's NCAA Tournament on Sunday night, the celebration was validation.
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"This was, like, the bare minimum," Verhulst said.
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That statement, more than anything, explains how far OU has come under Baranczyk.
Five years ago, the Sooners were drifting. Three straight seasons without an NCAA Tournament team. No Sweet 16 since 2013. Sparse crowds inside an often lifeless Lloyd Noble Center. Early exits had become routine.
Now? OU is 5-0 in first-round games under Baranczyk, fresh off a program-record 16 home wins and heading to its second straight Sweet 16 with hopes for more.
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"You can tell in the five years that Jennie has been here she has created not just a winning culture, but a culture that wants to work and that wants to have fun while winning," Beers said.
That balance — joy and edge, looseness and discipline — is the throughline of Baranczyk's program and the theme of this season.
Verhulst saw it before she ever stepped on campus. She committed to OU as a Louisville transfer in the middle of the 2022-23 season without even visiting, drawn in by Baranczyk's vision during conversations. Back then, the foundation was still being poured by players like Ana Llanusa, Taylor Robertson, Skylar Vann and Madi Williams.
Now, Verhulst is one of the pillars holding it up.
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"You can appreciate things like looking at the crowd and how different it's been from her first year to now and what we have today," Verhulst told The Oklahoman . "When you speak about culture, you talk about those things."
More: OU women's basketball vs Michigan State score, recap as Sooners return to Sweet 16
Oklahoma head women's coach Jennie Baranczyk waves to the crowd following a second-round game in the NCAA women's basketball tournament between the Oklahoma Sooners and Michigan State Spartans at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Sunday March 22, 2026.
Beatrice Culliton has seen it all alongside Baranczyk. A senior in her fourth season, she says this season has been the most enjoyable of her career.
"Jennie's really personable. She does a really good job of treating us like people too, we're not just basketball players," Culliton said. "That's part of her madness. She's so intense, you know that she's going to bring the intensity every time, anywhere. We feel like she's right there with us, not just coaching us through it, it feels like she's on our team and she's going through it with us."
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That connection shows up everywhere — in film sessions, on road trips and in the middle of high-pressure tournament moments. These Sooners play with a visible joy, the kind Baranczyk encourages.
"Fun and joy is part of who you are, and it's part of the DNA," Baranczyk said. "When they have that much fun, God, we're good. When we don't, we really aren't."
On Sunday, the Lloyd Noble Center, so often quiet in years past, fed off OU's infectious energy. When Chavez and Verhulst each hit 3-pointers late, the building roared. For a moment, Baranczyk caught herself taking it in.
"This is the baseline standard," she thought.
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"That's what you want," she said later, "you want that lower bowl full to a point that some day you can't get a ticket here. That's the dream."
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It doesn't feel that far off anymore. And the party isn't over yet.
OU is set to face either No. 1 seed South Carolina or No. 9 seed USC in the Sweet 16 in Sacramento, carrying the profile of one of the hottest and most battle-tested teams: nine wins in its last 10 games, six victories over top-25 opponents and seven Quad 1 wins.
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OU was one of only two teams to dethrone likely opponent South Carolina during the regular season. Last year, the Sooners led eventual national champion UConn at halftime, but were outscored 50-23 in the second half.
"Experience can't hurt you, right? It can only help you," Baranczyk said. "It wasn't too long ago we also got beat by 40 against South Carolina and then we got beat by 30, and then obviously you know what happened here this year. So for us, you've got to play every minute. If you go against a team like a South Carolina or anybody from here on out, you've got to play every single possession.
"It's not like we played this perfect game when we played South Carolina and it's not like they played a perfect game and we just got them. That game was a long time ago. We're both different. We've both grown a lot at this point."
Verhulst glowed talking about Baranczyk and the trajectory of the program inside the locker room postgame, but she wasn't reminiscing.
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She knows the job isn't finished and feels like this team is built for more.
"That is something that is really special for us this year, that we're really able to enjoy what we have, enjoy the moment, and not look too far ahead," Verhulst said.
She paused, then smiled.
"And now, we get to the Sweet 16 and we know that we're not done yet."
And for Baranczyk's program, that might be the biggest accomplishment of all.
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Baranczyk raising 'baseline standard' for Sooners in March Madness
