OKLAHOMA CITY – After the ISU women’s basketball team’s quarterfinal win over Nebraska, coach Bill Fennelly bragged about a hug he received from Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale.

After the Cyclones beat top-seeded Texas A&M in the semifinals, he got another one.

Will he get another one after Saturday’s Big 12 Championship game?

“I have a season pass from his wife, Deb,” Coale said in Friday’s press conference. “She said I could. He’s the best.”

And while the bond the two coaches share will go out the window for 40 minutes Saturday, the two coaching legends-in-progress will certainly have nothing but good things to say about each other.

The fifth-seeded Cyclones have opened the eyes throughout the nation this week, but Fennelly’s team hasn’t surprised Coale at all.

“He competes about as hard as anybody I’ve ever met in my life for 40 minutes, but when that game is over, he’s the same as he is if you saw him on the golf course or at a football game,” Coale said. “I appreciate that so much, that he is who he is all the time. It’s an honor to compete against somebody like that.”

And Fennelly has mutual respect for Coale.

“I think we both try to run the programs the same way, with classy individuals,” Fennelly said. “I think both of us have tried our best to build programs, not just with the players but with the fan base, and what you’re going to see tomorrow night is a tribute to coach Coale and everything she’s done.”

Even Baylor coach Kim Mulkey chimed in on Fennelly after the Bears fell to the Sooners Thursday night.

“Bill Fennelly is one of my all-time favorite coaches,” Mulkey said. “I think he’s one of the coaches, when you look at the game, that can take talent and exceed beyond what you think they’re capable of doing.”

Coale hopes that’s not the case, as her Sooners face off against the Cyclones with a Championship on the line.

And she knows Fennelly will have his troops ready for battle.

“It’s like they willed themselves to win games,” Coale said. “You admire the way they’re playing together and the things they’ve been able to accomplish.”

Still, Coale’s team is the obvious favorite as the second seeded team in the tourney.

And Fennelly certainly knows what the Cyclones are up against.

“I don’t think [Coale] gets enough credit for the way she coaches,” Fennelly said. “She’s a great person . and a great example of what a women’s basketball coach should be.”

And, to top it all off, Fennelly has been on the receiving end of two good hugs in two straight nights.

One can only wonder how much o