Pokes4Life
03-25-2008, 07:37 AM
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney08/notebook?page=notebook/dish080324
"Best of times? Yes, but the lows were really low
By Mechelle Voepel
ESPN.com
You've probably heard by now about the Oklahoma State journey from 0-16 to the Sweet 16. It's got such neat symmetry.
When guard Andrea Riley made the second of two free-throw attempts Monday night with seven-tenths of a second left against Florida State, Oklahoma State had a 73-72 win and was able to celebrate the program's second appearance in the Sweet 16. The other one was in 1991.
Up until last season, the Cowgirls had some lean times in the Big 12. And just looking at their record, you might think the low point was two seasons ago.
But let me tell you, the worst of it for the Cowgirls was not that winless Big 12 record in 2006. Because there really was hope that year in Stillwater, Okla. It was coach Kurt Budke's first season at Oklahoma State, and it was clear he was instituting a different mentality.
That season, Oklahoma State played well against several Big 12 teams -- it wasn't at all like the Cowgirls were getting their heads handed to them on a regular basis. I talked with Budke after a loss in January 2006, and he said, "I promise we'll be a team worth watching by next year."
Frankly, it was a team worth watching in 2006 -- in spite of that record -- because of how hard the Cowgirls played and the gumption they showed. It's very difficult for a coach to get a group of kids to keep believing when they have no wins to give them a lift. But Budke was able to do that during the 2006 Big 12 season.
So it's not "0-16" that came to mind first when Riley's second free throw swished to beat a gritty Florida State team. No, instead what I thought of was March 2004, when the Cowgirls' best player at the time, Trisha Skibbe, left the program before the end of the season because she wasn't getting along with then-coach Julie Goodenough.
Oklahoma State was going nowhere then -- the Cowgirls would finish the season 8-20 and 3-13 in the Big 12 -- but Skibbe was then the league's leading scorer. She left before Oklahoma State's last home game, and then Skibbe's mother showed up at Gallagher-Iba Arena for what would have been Senior Night. Mom was wearing a T-shirt that said on the back, "Halterman's Last Cowgirl -- She's Better Then Goodenough."
Yeah, it was that tacky -- even without the erroneous "then" instead of "than" -- and it made it seem like Oklahoma State was some kind of small-time junior high school program. Back then, I couldn't imagine things getting a lot worse at Oklahoma State.
Incidentally, the reference was to Dick Halterman, who had been Oklahoma State's coach for 19 years before being let go after the 2002 season. Back in the Big Eight days, Halterman had managed to keep the Cowgirls competitive in that league with kids mostly from Oklahoma.
He'd get these players from towns that had populations of, like, 26 people, and no other college on the planet was recruiting them (remember, they played six-on-six prep ball in Oklahoma much later than in most states). But they'd come to Oklahoma State, put on those orange-and-black Halloween uniforms, and play hard for Halterman.
He was an interesting fellow -- and bear with me for a quick Halterman story. A good friend of mine was covering the Missouri women in 1986 at a game in Stillwater. I was in Columbia, Mo., listening on the radio, and early on, Halterman went berserk over a seemingly innocuous foul call and was tossed from the game. The radio announcer couldn't figure out what had set him off. This was before cell phones and e-mail, of course, so I was dying for my friend to return to Columbia with the scoop.
"He just flipped out for a minute," my friend said. "I thought he was going to take off his shoe and start beating it on the scorers' table like Nikita Khrushchev."
After the game, he said, Halterman was pleasant as always. He just thought his players needed a spark, and he got ejected to give it to them.
When Oklahoma State replaced Halterman, the school did not pick a coach who had previous Division I experience. Goodenough was a very nice person … who seemed quite out of her league in the Big 12.
Then, when replacing her, Oklahoma State went for a proven winner in Budke, even though he did not have a lot of experience in Division I, either. He did have four national championships at the junior college level before moving to Louisiana Tech as an assistant and then head coach.
I should note here that there are Louisiana Tech fans who are still upset with Budke for not staying in Ruston, La., as Leon Barmore's successor. Budke was 80-16 in three seasons at Louisiana Tech, and fans there were counting on him keeping their tradition going.
But Budke is a native of Kansas, and the Oklahoma State job allowed him to be much closer to family. Plus, it got him in the Big 12 -- and for a guy who has really paid a lot of professional dues, that was a destination conference.
Budke brought in players like Riley and Danielle Green, who had 26 points and nine rebounds on Monday. The Cowgirls went 8-8 in the league last season, but then lost their Big 12 tournament opener and their first-round NCAA tournament game.
This year, they had several milestones -- they sold out Gallagher-Iba for their game against rival Oklahoma; they won that contest to break a 17-game losing streak to the Sooners; they got the program's best seed in the Big 12 tournament (third); they made their first Big 12 tourney title game; they won their first NCAA tournament game since 1996 … and now they are in the Sweet 16.
So, yeah, it is a long way from 0-16 two years ago. But like I said, Oklahoma State has come from even further in the dumps than that."
"Best of times? Yes, but the lows were really low
By Mechelle Voepel
ESPN.com
You've probably heard by now about the Oklahoma State journey from 0-16 to the Sweet 16. It's got such neat symmetry.
When guard Andrea Riley made the second of two free-throw attempts Monday night with seven-tenths of a second left against Florida State, Oklahoma State had a 73-72 win and was able to celebrate the program's second appearance in the Sweet 16. The other one was in 1991.
Up until last season, the Cowgirls had some lean times in the Big 12. And just looking at their record, you might think the low point was two seasons ago.
But let me tell you, the worst of it for the Cowgirls was not that winless Big 12 record in 2006. Because there really was hope that year in Stillwater, Okla. It was coach Kurt Budke's first season at Oklahoma State, and it was clear he was instituting a different mentality.
That season, Oklahoma State played well against several Big 12 teams -- it wasn't at all like the Cowgirls were getting their heads handed to them on a regular basis. I talked with Budke after a loss in January 2006, and he said, "I promise we'll be a team worth watching by next year."
Frankly, it was a team worth watching in 2006 -- in spite of that record -- because of how hard the Cowgirls played and the gumption they showed. It's very difficult for a coach to get a group of kids to keep believing when they have no wins to give them a lift. But Budke was able to do that during the 2006 Big 12 season.
So it's not "0-16" that came to mind first when Riley's second free throw swished to beat a gritty Florida State team. No, instead what I thought of was March 2004, when the Cowgirls' best player at the time, Trisha Skibbe, left the program before the end of the season because she wasn't getting along with then-coach Julie Goodenough.
Oklahoma State was going nowhere then -- the Cowgirls would finish the season 8-20 and 3-13 in the Big 12 -- but Skibbe was then the league's leading scorer. She left before Oklahoma State's last home game, and then Skibbe's mother showed up at Gallagher-Iba Arena for what would have been Senior Night. Mom was wearing a T-shirt that said on the back, "Halterman's Last Cowgirl -- She's Better Then Goodenough."
Yeah, it was that tacky -- even without the erroneous "then" instead of "than" -- and it made it seem like Oklahoma State was some kind of small-time junior high school program. Back then, I couldn't imagine things getting a lot worse at Oklahoma State.
Incidentally, the reference was to Dick Halterman, who had been Oklahoma State's coach for 19 years before being let go after the 2002 season. Back in the Big Eight days, Halterman had managed to keep the Cowgirls competitive in that league with kids mostly from Oklahoma.
He'd get these players from towns that had populations of, like, 26 people, and no other college on the planet was recruiting them (remember, they played six-on-six prep ball in Oklahoma much later than in most states). But they'd come to Oklahoma State, put on those orange-and-black Halloween uniforms, and play hard for Halterman.
He was an interesting fellow -- and bear with me for a quick Halterman story. A good friend of mine was covering the Missouri women in 1986 at a game in Stillwater. I was in Columbia, Mo., listening on the radio, and early on, Halterman went berserk over a seemingly innocuous foul call and was tossed from the game. The radio announcer couldn't figure out what had set him off. This was before cell phones and e-mail, of course, so I was dying for my friend to return to Columbia with the scoop.
"He just flipped out for a minute," my friend said. "I thought he was going to take off his shoe and start beating it on the scorers' table like Nikita Khrushchev."
After the game, he said, Halterman was pleasant as always. He just thought his players needed a spark, and he got ejected to give it to them.
When Oklahoma State replaced Halterman, the school did not pick a coach who had previous Division I experience. Goodenough was a very nice person … who seemed quite out of her league in the Big 12.
Then, when replacing her, Oklahoma State went for a proven winner in Budke, even though he did not have a lot of experience in Division I, either. He did have four national championships at the junior college level before moving to Louisiana Tech as an assistant and then head coach.
I should note here that there are Louisiana Tech fans who are still upset with Budke for not staying in Ruston, La., as Leon Barmore's successor. Budke was 80-16 in three seasons at Louisiana Tech, and fans there were counting on him keeping their tradition going.
But Budke is a native of Kansas, and the Oklahoma State job allowed him to be much closer to family. Plus, it got him in the Big 12 -- and for a guy who has really paid a lot of professional dues, that was a destination conference.
Budke brought in players like Riley and Danielle Green, who had 26 points and nine rebounds on Monday. The Cowgirls went 8-8 in the league last season, but then lost their Big 12 tournament opener and their first-round NCAA tournament game.
This year, they had several milestones -- they sold out Gallagher-Iba for their game against rival Oklahoma; they won that contest to break a 17-game losing streak to the Sooners; they got the program's best seed in the Big 12 tournament (third); they made their first Big 12 tourney title game; they won their first NCAA tournament game since 1996 … and now they are in the Sweet 16.
So, yeah, it is a long way from 0-16 two years ago. But like I said, Oklahoma State has come from even further in the dumps than that."