Isn’t it just a little ironic that Oklahoma men’s and women’s basketball teams have the same type of problem.

     As the NCAA tournament play is about to get underway, both Jeff Capel and Sherri Coale have to be wondering what is going to happen with their teams. It isn’t easy trying to figure which club will come out and play.

     Early in the year just about everyone thought that Coale’s team could get to the Final Four this year. On paper they appeared to be loaded. And early in the year they played like a Final Four team. They played a tough schedule and performed well.

     But then teams started to figure them out. Just gang up on Courtney Paris inside. See if the other four players could beat you. Well, lately the other four aren’t doing very much.

     Now the Sooners have to just be hoping to get to the Sweet 16. A second round game against Notre Dame is looming. That won’t be easy. Then if you win that encounter OU will most likely face Tennessee in Oklahoma City. The Sooners would be a huge underdog in that game.

     The problem that both the OU men and women suffer from is they don’t know how their guards are going to shoot the ball. The women have been terrible from the perimeter lately. The men have been streaky.

     Not only has the outside shooting woes hinder the men, the health of Longar Longar hasn’t helped the team.

     “We knew when he suffered that stress fracture a couple of months ago that he wouldn’t be 100 percent for the remainder of the season,” said Capel. “We were watching some film of Longar earlier in the season and we can see he’s not the same player because of the injury. He just doesn’t explode like he did when he was healthy.”

     The Sooners have had a good week of practice. But does that mean anything. St. Joseph’s will not be an easy game. Hey the bookmakers have the Sooners as a slim two and a half point favorite.

     It’s just the same old story for this Oklahoma team. If the guards shoot the ball well you can expect an OU victory. If they shoot it like they did in the Big 12 tournament then you can expect the Sooners to be one and done in Birmingham.