2 years after hitting rock bottom, Oklahoma State in round of 16

3/26/2008 5:20 PM

By MURRAY EVANS
Associated Press Writer

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -Oklahoma State guard Taylor Hardeman has tried to forget about her freshman season. Shaunte Smith isn't much for recalling specifics from that time, either.

It's easy to understand why. Just two years removed from going winless in the Big 12, the Cowgirls are in the NCAA tournament's round of 16 for the first time in 17 seasons.

Hardeman, a junior, does acknowledge Oklahoma State's rise from the depths has made her appreciate this season's success even more.

``It's a blessing to see where it's come from and where it could even go,'' Hardeman said. ``...Some people don't understand how hard it really is to come from that to this.''

Oklahoma State (27-7) faces LSU (29-5) on Saturday in the New Orleans regional semifinals. It's a long way from going 6-22 and 0-16 in the league in 2005-06.

Even the record doesn't adequately depict how overmatched Oklahoma State was. The Cowgirls closed with 17 straight losses, all but three coming by 10 or more points.

The constant drubbings were enough to test the perpetually positive attitude of Kurt Budke, the coach Oklahoma State hired to return the program to respectability.

``That first year was tough,'' Budke said Wednesday. ``We were going into games with no chance to win. You hoped your young kids played hard and that they didn't get beat by 40.''

Smith started 22 games that season for the Cowgirls and now tries to look back for positive lessons to glean from that difficult time.

``There were some bumps in the road, but you don't have any success without struggle,'' she said. ``When you win, you get a lot more respect and you get recognized. As a freshman, it was like we didn't even exist. No one really came to our games and no one really acknowledged us. But now that we're winning and doing great things for the university, it's totally changed.''

Oklahoma State has some tradition of success in women's basketball. In 19 seasons under coach Dick Halterman, the Cowgirls made seven trips to the NCAA tournament. During the 1990-91 season, Oklahoma State went 27-6 and reached regional semifinals.

But following the 1995-96 season, after the last of four straight trips to the NCAA tournament, the program's fortunes waned at about the same time as in-state rival Oklahoma, under coach Sherri Coale, began to rise.

Halterman exited in 2002 after consecutive 16-15 seasons. His replacement, Julie Goodenough, went 23-61 in three seasons before Budke's arrival in March 2005.

Budke won four junior-college national titles in seven seasons at Trinity Valley (Texas) before five seasons at perennial power Louisiana Tech, the final three as the Lady Techsters' head coach, during which they went 80-16.

Of the five recruits Goodenough signed for the 2005-06 season, only two stayed - Hardeman and Smith, both of whom had been high school starts in Oklahoma.

After his first season, Budke used his junior-college connections to quickly retool the roster, adding a pair of seniors who now start, center Maria Cordero and guard Danielle Green, from the same Central Arizona program.

From the high school ranks, Budke signed a point guard he has more than once referred to as a program-changing player. Andrea Riley became last season's Big 12 freshman of the year and the program's first All-Big 12 first-team selection this season.

The 5-foot-5 dynamo leads the Cowgirls in scoring (23 points per game), assists (4.2) and steals (2.9).

Her free throw with 0.7 remaining lifted Oklahoma State past Florida State 73-72 in overtime on Monday night in a second-round tournament game in Des Moines, Iowa.

On the recruiting trail, Budke sold the program's potential. Riley bought in.

``The coaching staff really had faith in me to say, 'When you get here, we're going to win.' ... They believed they could turn this program around,'' Riley said.

Oklahoma State's improvement, coming in one of the nation's best conference, has been dramatic. Last season, the Cowgirls went 20-11, were .500 in the league play and made the NCAA tournament for the first time in 11 seasons.

This season, Oklahoma State has won at Texas A&M and Baylor - both top-three seeds in the NCAA field - and reached the Big 12 tournament final.

``Two years ago, nobody would have ever thought it was possible,'' Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis said. ``The whole thing has just been a delight to watch, and it's really excited our family here.''