We are less than 4 weeks away from the tip-off of the new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Oklahoma women’s coach Jennie Baranczyk, who talked about winning games in March and her expectations for this season.
You were born in Iowa, went to Dowling Catholic High School, then became an All-Big 10 player at Iowa for Coach Lisa Bluder: now that you are the 2nd-most famous person to take that career route, how do you feel about Caitlin Clark replicating your journey?! If you are going to have someone do it, I guess she is okay! She is incredible: I have known her family a long time and she broke many of my records.
You were a 3-time captain: what is the secret to being a good leader? You have to get a little bit lucky, but I do not know if there is a “secret”. In college the biggest thing you can do is put the people around you in positions to do better. I was competitive/driven and wanted to win each possession, which are the hard things that sometimes go unnoticed. Lisa put us all in position to have a voice, which is what I hope to do for my own players now as a coach.
In 2004 you won the Big 10 Medal of Honor for academic/athletic excellence: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? Sometimes you do not think about all the things you do at the time. I got a great education and played for my dream school with awesome teammates/coaches. Looking back at it now, it was very cool to be chosen.
You won the 2006 WNIT as an assistant at Kansas State and the 2008 WNIT as an assistant at Marquette and have made 8 NCAA tourneys as head coach in the past decade: what is the key to winning games in March? You are still learning/hungry and the end of every season marks the beginning of the next season. We want to get better and focus on the things that get you there more than the wins themselves: we love March and have some big goals.
In 2017 as head coach at Drake, you set a conference record with 22 straight wins and became the 1st team to go undefeated in MVC play: did it reach a point where you/your players/your fans expected your team to win every single time that your team stepped onto the court? I think so. Everyone as competitors wants to win every single game, but it is not the only focus you have: you must be addicted to your growth and the process. We expect more than even our fans do, but it is never a given: it was more of a situation where opponents noticed you so we had to prepare to play every day.
You have made it to the Sweet 16 during each of the past 2 years: what it is like to face a pair of legends in Geno Auriemma/Dawn Staley with a spot in the Elite 8 on the line? “Fun” is not the word that comes to mind! We have been very lucky to make it that far and do not take it for granted. You see how close/far you are: both of those kinds of moments helps you hone in on certain things. Those teams are constantly looking for their next mountain, and we try to find the different things that make them special. It is how they work and how they step onto the floor: you can watch it all you want, but you do not really get it until you are in it. South Carolina is in our conference and we have had a lot of battles with them: they are elite for a reason. We saw moments where we could compete, but you must do so for every single second of the possession.
Your season opener next month is against North Carolina in Paris: how excited are you and the team to be headed abroad? It is pretty awesome to be part of that season opener. The sport can help you see the world: we have 4 international players whose families will get to come see them play in person. To play against such a great opponent will keep that hunger and keep us practicing a little harder.
2026 national freshman of the year Aaliyah Chavez is back for Year #2: what makes her such a great player, and how much pressure is there on her this year after her All-American teammate Raegan Beers graduated last spring? Any time you lose a player like Raegan there is a lot that you have to make up for. What I love about Aaliyah is that she keeps getting better because she craves greatness. She does not just help us win games, but win possessions. I am excited to watch her growth: I believe that people grow the most between their freshman and sophomore years. We have 7 new players so she will get to learn about a lot of new people.
Your brother Brian made 2 NCAA tourneys as a PG at Albany: who is the best athlete in the family? I can say that he is taller and we got into too many fights when we were younger!
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? You want to win every single game, which is the goal/mindset/standard here at Oklahoma. We must continue to climb and inch toward those big dreams. We have a young team…but I saw a young team in the Oklahoma City Thunder grow into a champion in 2025 so we want to keep moving forward by showing up every day.
