Paris: We Win Or I Pay

[sue71, esq]

From ESPN:

Oklahoma's Courtney Paris has not only guaranteed that the Sooners will win the NCAA women's basketball title, she's willing to put up her scholarship to back it up.

Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=3964512)

[rthomas]

UConn beat them by 28 in November. Hopefully (for Paris) they have gotten better.

[geraldsneighbor]

A. This will never happen. She is not going to pay 64 grand to the university when she will never even make that back in the WNBA.
B. This is so dumb. It's like talking junk on Tiger Woods. I respect her confidence and everything but this is just not smart.

Best of luck though.

[BlueintheFace]

Wow, ummm bad bet.

[KenTankerous]

Sure, bad bet and possible bulletin board fodder but you have to respect this:

"So when you're good enough and don't do something, then you have to take accountability for that and that's your own fault. We can win a national championship. If we don't, I'll feel like I didn't earn my scholarship."

[Sixthman]

Wow, ummm bad bet.


More likely that OU misses Elite 8 than wins Championship. That's not a knock on OU as much as a simple understanding of the odds. That having been said, I have seen the ners play several times this year and don't see them as a top five team.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Courtney Paris has stated that if OU does not win it all this year, she will pay back her scholarship. At first read that sounds great, she feels that if the university trusted her to win, she should win.
Maybe...but Courtney, it's a team sport, and you are sending the wrong message. You are saying that you solely are responsible for a national championship.
"So when you're good enough and don't do something, then you have to take accountability for that and that's your own fault. We can win a national championship. If we don't, I'll feel like I didn't earn my scholarship."

Can you imagine if countless Duke players had the same attitude, men or women?!
She is dissing the rest of her team while trying to look admirable. It is a TEAM sport! Sigh. Let's see who owes us money....
Mike Gminski
Gene Banks
Amanda Beard
Tate Armstrong
Johnny Dawkins
Lindsay Harding
Danny Ferry

[BlueintheFace]

Nah, Dawkins has paid back with interest.

Lindsay, I want double and I don't want any complaints! jk

[brevity]

Sigh. Let's see who owes us money....
Amanda Beard

Bikinis (http://www.amandabeard.net/) on the brain? I think you mean Alana Beard.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Bikinis (http://www.amandabeard.net/) on the brain? I think you mean Alana Beard.
:) Thanks for the correction!

[Sixthman]

Courtney didn't miss the point. She got on ESPN, got a bunch of people who pay no attention to Women's basketball to talk about her, and her statement will be talked about -- I will predict in an positive way -- throughout the women's tournament (right up until the Sooners are sent packing). I believe it was a fellow Sooner, JC Watts, who, more than a generation ago, while playing football for the Sooners said "It's all about the pub".

[weezie]

ESPN said the scholly+board, etc, added up to 64K?! That's pretty impressive for a state school, isn't it?

[GrayHare]

Sigh. Let's see who owes us money....
Lindsay Harding

Lindsey Harding.

[CameronBornAndBred]

A. This will never happen. She is not going to pay 64 grand to the university when she will never even make that back in the WNBA.

She won't be making her money only in the NBA. Several of the players (including our WNBA Dukies) play overseas in the offseason, where they can actually make more money in a shorter season.
http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/news/story?id=2369826
and
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=rollinginrubles

[hc5duke]

This certainly doesn't look good:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-basketball/boxscore?gid=200903140444

p.s. oklahoma has olajuwon's daughter AND roethlisberger's sister. wow that's some celebrity presence for a crappy location.
p.p.s. boo abi olajuwon for not going to UH, it's not like she's playing any minutes at OU anyway.

[JG Nothing]

Courtney Paris is a class act:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-basketball/news?slug=ap-oklahoma-parispayback&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Ggallagher]

Shortly before the OU game, the athletic director (or a spokesperson for the AD, I forget now) was on NPR saying that as far as the university was concerned, Paris and OU were ALREADY good on this deal. What with recognition, prestige, increased applications and interest, and various other contributions/appearances already made and expected in the future - Paris had more than covered any possible obligation related to her promise.

So however the promise is perceived, the university is on record as saying they are more than satisfied with the contribution she's already made.

Glen