• OU just

one of several very good

Big 12 teams

These are the numbers: 117-28.

But what do they represent and why are they important to note on this Saturday, the day the fourth-ranked Oklahoma women begin Big 12 Conference play at 7 tonight at Nebraska?

The Sooners role in the numbers is their 11-2 season mark. Nebraska’s role is its 9-4 mark. Add up all the wins and losses of every conference team and you get 117-28.

“This might border on ridiculous, to tell you the truth,” OU coach Sherri Coale said as a way to describe the depth and strength of the league. “I mean, I’ve heard about various (conference) games being televised nationally … like there are two top 10 teams from the SEC, the Big East has three or something.

“Hey, there are four from the Big 12 South. Not just the Big 12 Conference but the Big 12 South.”

As strong as the conference has been for years and years and years, this may be unprecedented.

Though Texas A&M lost its first game, at Florida State, Monday, and Texas has lost its only two games recently, to San Diego and Purdue, Big 12 teams still dominated the top 10.

Entering today, Texas A&M is No. 3 at 12-1, OU is No. 4 at 11-2, Baylor is No. 7 at 12-1, Texas is No. 8 at 12-2, Kansas State is No. 20 at a still-perfect 13-0 and Oklahoma State is No. 21 at 11-2.

Also, Iowa State is unranked at 11-2, Kansas is unranked at 10-2, just as Missouri, Nebraska and Texas Tech are at 9-4 and Colorado is at 8-4. But the depth is still deeper than the polls.

“Nebraska just knocked off Arizona State. Iowa State just knocked off Vanderbilt,” Coale said. “So even those teams that aren’t ranked are knocking people off in the top 20.”

In the coaches poll, which came out Tuesday, with a chance to digest the losses not yet accounted for in the Associated Press Top 25, OU is No. 3, Baylor is No. 5, Texas A&M is No. 6, Texas is No. 12, Kansas State is No. 18, OSU is No. 21 and Iowa State is No. 25.

Ever since crushing North Carolina Central by 64 points, and very likely since before, the Sooners have been eyeing tonight’s conference opener on the Huskers’ home court. But it’s not like they’re not aware what’s been going on in the conference from top to bottom.