The Oklahoma Sooners left the Big 12 after last season with a regular-season conference championship in hand, and they hope to continue that success in their new conference home, the SEC, which like their former league, is loaded down with quality women's teams.
The Sooners have rolled to nine victories in 10 games to start the season, and seven of the nine victories have been by margins of 30 or more points. The one loss was 109-99 in overtime to a Duke team that at the time was ranked No. 13 in the country (the Lady Blue Devils are now at No. 9).
Oklahoma is currently ranked No. 10, right behind Duke, and if the Sooners can continue to be successful, with a formidable SEC lineup of games straight ahead, they should surely climb higher in the rankings.
Despite the impressive start and the wide victory margins, however, the OU has not played a particularly demanding nonconference schedule, so it is difficult to get a good read at this stage on how good this Sooner team really is or can be.
The Sooners clearly have the offensive firepower, averaging over 90 points per game, and appear to have a defensive game, as well, holding opponents to 60 points and a stifling shooting percentage of 32%. Duke, however, scored 94 points against OU in regulation, which raises the valid concern of how coach Jennie Baranczyk's team will fare against higher quality competition.
The competition level for the Sooners is about to ramp up considerably, starting Tuesday night against No. 20 Michigan in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, North Carolina.
How to watch No. 10 Oklahoma vs. No. 20 Michigan women's basketball game
The Wolverines come into the contest with a matching record of 9-1 compiled against nonconference competition strikingly similar to Oklahoma's. Big Blue's only loss was by six points, 68-62, to then top-ranked South Carolina in the season opener.
Michigan will be the Sooners' third contest this season against a ranked team. Oklahoma is 1-1 in such matchups, winning78-72 at then-No. 22 Louisville earlier this month. It will be the Wolverines' second top-25 matchup, so we should learn a lot about both teams in Tuesday's showdown.
Oklahoma has two nonconference games remaining after Tuesday, against Omaha and New Mexico State on back-to-back Sundays to close out the calendar year.
Then all the fun and formidable challenges kick into high gear at the top of the new year. In the month of January alone, the Sooners will face No. 6 Texas, No. 18 Tennessee, No. 2 South Carolina and No. 5 LSU.
Texas is the only home game of the group. And then OU opens up February hosting No. 16 Kentucky.
Yes, indeed, the road is about to get a lot rougher for Oklahoma. Should the Sooners successfully weather the upcoming January storm, the back half of the schedule gets a lot more forgiving. But we're about to see exactly what this edition of Sooner basketball is made of.