Almost every time Sooner Nation has had a reason to celebrate during March, one of the most loaded months on the sports calendar, it's been because of women's sports.
Fourteen different sports at Oklahoma saw action during the month of March: baseball, basketball, golf, gymnastics, tennis, track & field, wrestling, rowing and softball. That splits evenly with seven men's sports and seven women's.
Of the five women's sports with released rankings during the month, four cracked at least the top 10 in their respective sport. Softball and gymnastics reached the top, while basketball and tennis both got to No. 10 at some point.
Softball has become a staple at OU after winning the last four national titles under Patty Gasso. Last year, only football and men's basketball, with their regular appearances on national television, generated more revenue for the university than the softball program with a reported $4.1 million.
This season, in its first go in the SEC, the softball team started 28-0 and was the only unbeaten team left in Division-I softball for weeks before finally losing a game to Missouri on Saturday. That loss snapped a 31-game winning streak for the Sooners that went back to last year.
On the day the softball team finally lost one, Jennie Baranczyk's basketball team beat Florida Gulf Coast 81-58 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Sooners got to host the first two rounds of the tournament after earning a 3-seed.
On Monday, OU hammered reigning national runner-up Iowa 96-62 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013. Then, less than 24 hours later, the No. 1 recruit in the country, Aaliyah Chavez, announced live on SportsCenter her commitment to OU.
For those garnering less headlines, the gymnastics team is heading into the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championship with the second overall seed. The Sooners won back-to-back national titles in 2022 and 2023 with a real shot at another this season.
The tennis team is 12-5 and ranked 10th in the country. The track & field team placed fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships in early March.
A men's sports at OU hasn't won a national championship since gymnastics did in 2018. During those seven years, women's sports have accumulated seven national titles for the Sooners.
It's now apparent where OU is getting its success from, and it seems the gap is only growing, especially with football and men's basketball's recent struggles. The only real problem with this situation is that football and men's basketball should be OU's money-makers to keep those other sports afloat.
However, in the world of fandom, Sooner Nation has a lot to be proud of because of the women at OU.