Sooners fair well on Selection Monday

Thoughts after Oklahoma landed the No. 1 seed in the Oklahoma City Regional in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

(By the way, that’s every bit as good as it sounds for the Sooners.)

* OU is headed to Iowa City, which is a bit of a surprise.

“We weren’t thinking that,” Sooner coach Sherri Coale said after her team watched the selection show at her Norman home. “We were thinking somewhere south, maybe Albuquerque or Lubbock, but it doesn’t matter.”

That’s true. But with temperatures expected in the 70s and 80s in this part of the world, it would’ve been nice to stay south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Temperatures in Iowa City are expected to be in the 50s and 60s over the weekend, with lows in the 30s.

Got to pull those sweaters out one last time.

* The Sooners need to put the woes from their Big 12 Tournament loss to Texas A&M behind them, and it sounds as though they’re working on it.

“We tried to exercise some demons these last couple of days,” Coale said. “Contrary to popular belief, Connecticut wasn’t the only team that practiced today.”

That was a total dig at the Huskies, and Coale knew it. She and UConn coach Geno Auriemma are long time buddies, so her comment was meant in fun.

Still, the national love for the Huskies is too sugary sweet. In its selection show, ESPN fawned over the fact that everybody’s No. 1 was practicing right before the selection show. The network had a live look-in at the practice, and the announcers sounded in awe over what they were seeing.

It’s almost too much to stomach.

Speaking of that …

* Auriemma said during the selection show that hearing all the praise for his team was almost enough to make him sick.

We know the feeling.

“Geno hit it on the head — anybody who’s watching anywhere in America is so sick of Connecticut they could throw up,” Coale said. “He said it himself; he’s almost sick enough to vomit.”