Why is OU basketball's offense so fast? Jennie Baranczyk isn't looking for a 'chess match'

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NORMAN — Control is sometimes hard to give up for college basketball coaches.

There are plenty who love to micro-manage the game, calling timeouts in bunches and making sure to leave their stamp on each game.

But OU coach Jennie Baranczyk is the antithesis to that.

For the second consecutive season under Baranczyk, the Sooners are playing a free-flowing style that seldom gives Baranczyk much of a chance to set much up.

OU’s offense runs at break-neck speed, relying on players to make quick decisions and find open teammates and open areas of the floor.

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OU coach Jennie Baranczyk shouts at an official during a Bedlam win on Jan. 21 in Norman.
OU coach Jennie Baranczyk shouts at an official during a Bedlam win on Jan. 21 in Norman.

“I want them to make reads. I want them to learn the game,” Baranczyk said. “I don’t want it to be about me. I don’t want it to be a chess match. There’s a time and place that we’re going to call a set, there’s a time and place that we’re going to figure that out, but they’re always going to make better reads than I can coach.”

The Sooners (16-4, 6-3 Big 12) enter Tuesday night’s home game against TCU (6 p.m., ESPN+) third nationally in scoring at 85.4 points per game, No. 3 in assists per game at 20.4, No. 10 in 3-pointers per game at 8.9 and No. 13 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.27.

“When they can play intuitively, when they can play their authentic selves and their game, I don’t think there’s anything better,” Baranczyk said. “And for them to be able to make reads and get up and down and play the game — sometimes it’s head-scratching, it’s ‘Why are we doing this, why are we doing that,’ … but it’s fun.”

That last word is one that comes up repeatedly when players talk about Baranczyk’s style.

“It’s fun,” Madi Williams said. “I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to play that way where everybody has the green light and we’re making reads and we’re not having to look at Jennie like, ‘What are we running?’ We know, so we’re able to play and just keep playing.”

It’s certainly making an impression.

In the Sooners’ last home game, a Bedlam victory on Jan. 21, a crowd of more than 9,500 watched the teams combine for 190 points in OU’s 97-93 victory.

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OU's Madi Williams (25) goes to the basket past OSU's Kassidy De Lapp (1) during the Sooners' 97-93 win on Jan. 21 at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.
OU's Madi Williams (25) goes to the basket past OSU's Kassidy De Lapp (1) during the Sooners' 97-93 win on Jan. 21 at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

“Did anybody come here tonight saying, ‘Man, they were terrible, that was a terrible game — I’m never coming back'? Not one person,” Baranczyk said.

Baranczyk isn’t the only one in the state running an up-and-down style.

Oklahoma State is No. 27 in scoring offense (77.6), one spot behind Oral Roberts (77.8). The state’s other Division I program, Tulsa, is tied for 54th at 73.3 points per game.

The styles aren’t the same, but the goals are similar.

“Theirs is a lot more off the bounce, ours is a little bit more off the pass,” Baranczyk said, comparing her offense to Jacie Hoyt’s at OSU. “I do think the game is trending that way.”

It’s also making an impression on the recruiting trail.

The Sooners added Louisville transfer guard Payton Verhulst, a former five-star prospect, recently. They also signed Sahara Williams, a five-star wing from Iowa who was recently named a McDonald’s All-American.

Baranczyk doesn’t figure to slow things down anytime soon.

“I find the more they get to do that, the more they play to each other’s strengths, they figure out their own strengths and they figure out each other’s,” Baranczyk said. “To me, that’s going to apply to life, no matter what you do, because it’s problem-solving. It’s decision-making.”

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No. 20 OU vs. TCU

TIPOFF: 6 p.m. Tuesday at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman (ESPN+)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU basketball: Jennie Baranczyk's up-tempo offense turning heads