Stannford wins the edge in national semifinal matchup with Sooners

Originally Published: Apr 2, 2010 11:45 AM CDT

Heres my Crystal Ball Breakdown of OUs National Semifinal game against Stanford. The winner will no doubt get Connecticut in the final.

-Offense: Edge Stanford: When OU isnt sloppy with the ball and hits threes they are potent. Speedy guards Robinson and Stevenson must keep forcing the issue. Stanford has two All-Americans in Appel and Ogwumike, has a 12 rebound advantage per game and owns a major advantage inside. 

-Defense: Edge Stanford Stanford holds teams to 54 points per game and 34 percent shooting. They will dominate OU inside unless Olajuwon can find a way to loosen things up. OU centers must avoid foul trouble and Thompson must hit the boards one more time to avoid killer put-backs.

-Bench-Edge OU-Stanford only played eight in its Regional Final win over Xaviertwo of them playing a combined 11 minutes! OU is getting much-needed inside help from frosh center McFarland who will play a key role in taking on the inside strength of the Cardinal. 

-Coaching-Push-This time of year its hard to fairly grade one over another. Sherri Coale gets a good dose of assistance from her assistants. A premiere coach, her assets include recruiting, communicating and motivating her players, getting her players to buy in to the system and then sell out on the court. Tara VanDerveer has been a head coach 31 years and has won two national titles at Stanford and her teams have 15 Sweet 16 appearances.

-IntangiblesPush. Both teams are experienced and on fire with the Cardinal having won 26 in a row and OU gaining momentum just at the right time. OU believes it can rally after falling down 15-2 in the Regional final so quitting wont be a problem.
 
 
I certainly pick my share of losers and hope I am wrong on this one. But I dont see OU being able to handle this Cardinal team that if UConn had not been around, wed be talking about what a very special team this bunch is. Too much on the inside for the Sooners.

Thanks for checking in.db