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NORMAN — OU women’s basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk said she didn’t know the outcome when she sat down March 25 to watch Aaliyah Chavez’s commitment ceremony.
“You don’t get to usually watch it on ESPN live and not have any idea,” Baranczyk said Monday. “We had no idea. … We were hopeful, but it was pretty cool.”
Chavez, the top-ranked player nationally in the 2025 class, officially signed with the Sooners last week.
It was just another indication of how far the program has come under Baranczyk.
When Chavez committed, the Sooners were about to play in the Sweet 16 for the first time in Baranczyk’s tenure.
The Sooners ultimately fell in that round to eventual national champion UConn, but the momentum has continued into the offseason.
More: OU softball sweeps Mississippi State as Sam Landry shows off competitive fire for Sooners
Baranczyk started recruiting Chavez not long after arriving in Norman.
“It’s been a really long process,” Baranczyk said. “But it also feels like yesterday watching her before she was in high school. It gives you a lot of faith in — they’re people of their word. And we’ve talked a ton and everybody makes so many assumptions. … At the end of the day, she picked our program because of the relationships she has with our coaches, our players. She really liked our team, and just a style of play that really fit.”
Baranczyk pushed back against some of the speculation around Chavez’s recruitment.
“There were so many rumors that we were paying her millions of dollars, and it’s just simply not true,” Baranczyk said. “That was something that was hard to navigate even in your own locker room because there are so many different things that people just say to say. … People are gonna believe what they want to believe.
"So that has been a lot more interesting because there’s so much attention on her because she’s a highly ranked player, she’s the national player of the year and there was so much that went into that. So that was just an interesting process trying to navigate from our seat because we’ve never had to navigate (that).”
The Sooners roster for next season isn’t quite set yet, as OU will look to add some depth in the transfer portal — especially on the interior, where they still need depth to pair with star Raegan Beers and Beatrice Culliton.
The addition of Chavez has certainly opened some doors with both portal players and high school recruits that weren’t open before.
More: How did OU women's gymnastics capture seventh NCAA title? Sooners 'left it on empty'
Chavez, a 5-foot-11 point guard from Monterey High in Lubbock, Texas, fits into Baranczyk’s up-and-down style of play.
“Of course it’s about the pace of play and the style of play, but it’s also about making those reads,” Baranczyk said. “And they’re people that do their homework, and they’re looking at, ‘OK, where’s a place that she can get better?’ And so she wants to get better. She’s not a player that’s coming in with a lot of ego. She’s confident, but she also knows she has a lot of work to do.”
Chavez averaged 34.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.7 steals per game as a senior and hit 636 3-pointers during her high school career.
“Aaliyah loves playing basketball, so she can shut everything out and she just wants to go out and play,” Baranczyk said. “That’s my favorite thing about her. My favorite thing about her is she wants to play with a team, she likes to set people up, she can shoot the ball. … She just loves it. That’s what you want to keep.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How OU women's basketball landed 2025 top recruit Aaliyah Chavez
Continue reading...
“You don’t get to usually watch it on ESPN live and not have any idea,” Baranczyk said Monday. “We had no idea. … We were hopeful, but it was pretty cool.”
Chavez, the top-ranked player nationally in the 2025 class, officially signed with the Sooners last week.
It was just another indication of how far the program has come under Baranczyk.
When Chavez committed, the Sooners were about to play in the Sweet 16 for the first time in Baranczyk’s tenure.
The Sooners ultimately fell in that round to eventual national champion UConn, but the momentum has continued into the offseason.
More: OU softball sweeps Mississippi State as Sam Landry shows off competitive fire for Sooners
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Baranczyk started recruiting Chavez not long after arriving in Norman.
“It’s been a really long process,” Baranczyk said. “But it also feels like yesterday watching her before she was in high school. It gives you a lot of faith in — they’re people of their word. And we’ve talked a ton and everybody makes so many assumptions. … At the end of the day, she picked our program because of the relationships she has with our coaches, our players. She really liked our team, and just a style of play that really fit.”
Baranczyk pushed back against some of the speculation around Chavez’s recruitment.
“There were so many rumors that we were paying her millions of dollars, and it’s just simply not true,” Baranczyk said. “That was something that was hard to navigate even in your own locker room because there are so many different things that people just say to say. … People are gonna believe what they want to believe.
"So that has been a lot more interesting because there’s so much attention on her because she’s a highly ranked player, she’s the national player of the year and there was so much that went into that. So that was just an interesting process trying to navigate from our seat because we’ve never had to navigate (that).”
The Sooners roster for next season isn’t quite set yet, as OU will look to add some depth in the transfer portal — especially on the interior, where they still need depth to pair with star Raegan Beers and Beatrice Culliton.
The addition of Chavez has certainly opened some doors with both portal players and high school recruits that weren’t open before.
More: How did OU women's gymnastics capture seventh NCAA title? Sooners 'left it on empty'
Chavez, a 5-foot-11 point guard from Monterey High in Lubbock, Texas, fits into Baranczyk’s up-and-down style of play.
“Of course it’s about the pace of play and the style of play, but it’s also about making those reads,” Baranczyk said. “And they’re people that do their homework, and they’re looking at, ‘OK, where’s a place that she can get better?’ And so she wants to get better. She’s not a player that’s coming in with a lot of ego. She’s confident, but she also knows she has a lot of work to do.”
Chavez averaged 34.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.7 steals per game as a senior and hit 636 3-pointers during her high school career.
“Aaliyah loves playing basketball, so she can shut everything out and she just wants to go out and play,” Baranczyk said. “That’s my favorite thing about her. My favorite thing about her is she wants to play with a team, she likes to set people up, she can shoot the ball. … She just loves it. That’s what you want to keep.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How OU women's basketball landed 2025 top recruit Aaliyah Chavez
Continue reading...
