WATCH: Oklahoma women's basketball center Raegan Beers talks about the importance of potentially advancing to the Sweet 16:
The second round of the NCAA tournament will be a special game for Oklahoma head coach Jennie Baranczyk. On Monday, the Sooners will play in the second round against Baranczyk’s alma mater the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Baranczyk played at Iowa from 2000-04 and was a three-time captain for the team. At Iowa, she was also a three-time All-Big Ten Conference selection and earned first-team honors in 2003 and second-team recognition in 2002 and 2004.
“Once a Hawk, always a Hawk, and I believe Jennie really does feel that way,” said Iowa head coach Jan Jensen about Baranczyk. “I think she’s proud of that, but she’s also an amazing coach. Look at the success she’s had. One of the most competitive, fiery, never-going-to-back-down kids that I’ve ever coached.”
During media availability, the former forward for the Hawkeyes talked about how special the upcoming game is to her. Last year, the Hawkeyes lost a beloved former member, Jamie Cavey, to cancer. Cavey was Baranczyk’s teammate and close friend for the final three years of her career at Iowa.
“That will be somebody that we want to celebrate and honor during this game because she meant a lot to me personally, but she really meant a lot to that program,” Baranczyk said. “That’s important for me on both levels.”
To honor the late radio color analyst and Hawkeye, Oklahoma will be wearing pins with the number 52 and will also give pins to the staff members of Iowa for them to honor her as well.
Within the last year, women’s basketball has spiked the audience’s attention due to former Iowa guard, Caitlin Clark. The “Caitlin Clark Effect” refers to the surge in popularity and attention focused on women’s basketball at the professional and collegiate levels due to Clark’s impact on the sport.
During Clark’s last season at Iowa, the Hawkeyes averaged 14,914 people per game with a total of 238,620 fans who attended their games. This season, Iowa had a total of 209,972 fans, however rising to an average of 14,998 fans per game. Baranczyk believes Iowa has always been a school that focused on women’s basketball and that Oklahoma is becoming one as well.
Monday’s second-round matchup will be at 3 p.m., a difficult tipoff time for fans to make it to the game. On Saturday, fans at the Lloyd Noble Center were electric, and the Sooners are hoping for just as good of a turnout as the first round of the tournament.
“I thought our crowd was amazing,” Baranczyk said. “I love how many people came. I think we’re continuing to grow it, but we still have a long way to go. Tomorrow is going to be a great tipping point for us to really see how far we have come and how far people want us to go here.”
Through supporters of the OU women's basketball program, students will have free admission into the game with their student ID.
Former men’s basketball guard, Trae Young, bought tickets for young fans to attend the second round of the NCAA tournament. Families can go to the Young Family Athletic Center to pick up a free ticket for Monday’s game against No. 6 seed Iowa.
He did it again 🔥 @TheTraeYoung has bought tickets for the youth of Norman for tomorrow’s second round game!Stop by the Young Family Athletic Center to claim your 🆓 tickets‼️ pic.twitter.com/7DyeHkP46I
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_WBBall) March 23, 2025
Oklahoma will play Iowa (23-10) in the second round of the tournament at 3 p.m. on Monday at the Lloyd Noble Center on ESPN.
This story was edited by Hannah Bryant.
