At first glance, it might be easy to misread Aaliyah Chavez. 

The flashy point guard out of Lubbock has given the internet more than enough material for discourse that include multiple viral clips of her trash talking.

As Oklahoma’s highest ever recruit, she is known for her bucket getting; scoring a total 4,796 points over her high school career, which is good enough for 14th on ESPN’s all-time scoring list. And as a result, she’s never stepped on a court that she didn’t believe she was the best player lacing them up. And I mean, fair enough right? The game backs it up.

Maybe you were introduced to Chavez in one of those aforementioned viral clips. Maybe it was on TV in her Nike commercial for the Kobe Proto 3 with New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson and Natalia Bryant. Ya know, just another one of the cool perks of being a high school superstar in the NIL era.

No matter where you saw her first, you can now see Aaliyah Chavez bringing a braggadocious style of play OU Women’s Basketball hasn't seen, so it would make sense her social media presence had a little spice to it and Oklahoma women’s head coach Jennie Baranczyk said it’s been taken the wrong way. 

“They want to create a villain.” is how Baranczyk described some of the online characterization of her star freshman during OU’s preseason media day.

There seems to be a simple question to ask about one of the rising stars in women’s basketball that nobody has really answered yet. 

Who is Aaliyah Chavez?

Let’s go back to the day Chavez committed to Oklahoma. A lot of the initial reactions were a mixture of:

Why Oklahoma? OU really?

Frankly, it makes perfect sense as a choice for Chavez.

Certainly the offensive freedom Oklahoma gives is enticing for a player with the offensive talent of Chavez. But the opportunity to do something at Oklahoma that was unique to most of the other potential destinations for Chavez was something she couldn’t pass up.

She could help build the program.

In high school, when prep schools came calling, it wasn’t even a thought for Aaliyah. She was staying home and playing with her teammates that she had grown with. With those very teammates, she wanted to accomplish something bigger than herself which she eventually did.

“I just wanted to win a state championship at my school.” said Aaliyah Chavez in an NCS exclusive on Friday. “Even outside of basketball that school changed me. Going to my principals, my counselors, the teachers, it just made me who I am today.”

That idea of sticking around is a trait that has rang through this Oklahoma program. When Baranczyk took over, players like Madi Williams and Taylor Robertson stayed and laid the foundation for the Baranczyk era. While so many programs have seen top talent leave, Oklahoma has only welcomed transfers such as Raegan Beers and Payton Verhulst.

With family and loyalty as a core piece of Chavez as a person she has found her perfect match with the Oklahoma program. An Oklahoma program that she is looking to lead to a first national championship alongside several talented young players in Zya Vann, Keziah Lofton, and Brooklyn Stewart ready to chase that with her longterm. 

“I didn’t want to go to a program where I’m just helping them win. I wanted to build it at the same time, change the culture.” said Chavez.

This is seen in her now infamous “City of Norman” clip that she’s loyal to the soil and means what she says. Bringing OU that elusive championship was in the forefront of her mind during her commitment and now during her freshman season. 

Fast forward to our first time as media seeing the 2025-2026 roster together at the local media day in October. After spending an afternoon with the OU team, the supreme on court talent that Chavez possesses was the last thing on my mind.

It was who she was described to be off the court in her short time in Norman so far. It can be hard to separate the player you see on social media and the person that the Sooners are bringing into their program, even for then future teammates.

“In the nicest way possible, social media can portray people as someone they are not.” said junior Sahara Williams. “Aaliyah is an awesome person, she is an awesome teammate, she has the biggest heart… I could talk about all the basketball things but everyone sees how great of a player she is but nobody can see how great of a person she is.”

A lot of people have opinions on Aaliyah Chavez, but the same sentiments held by her teammate Williams are shared by her head coach.

“She’s won over her team, and it is because she’s an incredible person, and she loves to play the game. She works really hard.” said Baranczyk

So with all this chatter, all these opinions and people telling Aaliyah who she is, how does Chavez handle the social media stardom she has garnered?

“You know social media, it’s a good thing and a bad thing, but for me, I stay away from the bad part. I don’t worry about what’s going on in the social media world.” Chavez said that day in October. “I’m focused on the 11 we have here.”

The heavy majority of people that know the name Aaliyah Chavez were introduced to her through social media, and as we heard from her then new teammate Sahara Williams, it is easy to make assumptions about who Chavez is based on what is seen on the timeline.

But as we chatted here, one on one, months after the answer from her teammates in the preseason, I wanted to know, what is the difference between Chavez online and offline?

“I feel obviously a lot of my social media is on the court but it’s on the court. It’s strictly business,” said Chavez. “But after that we can be friends and that’s how I grew up.”

Off the court it is a much different vibe for the high energy and must-see Chavez.

“Outside of basketball I’m really quiet. I’m not one to just start a conversation with somebody. And if I do know you like that then I’m goofy around you.”

And it isn’t lost on Aaliyah that this is the perception around her. 

“A lot of people actually said they thought I was going to be like ‘I own this’. Like this is my team and then they see me play now it’s like ‘no she just wants to play basketball’. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I asked them (her teammates), what did you expect out of me? And they’re like ‘I expected you to be a horrible person. Like you acting like you didn’t care, you were cocky’. I was like no that’s not me at all.”

Being self-aware of how people perceive you can be a burden so it raises the question: does that bother Aaliyah at all?

“I just think that’s how I play. It’s not cocky on the court, it is more of, I’m confident in myself,” she said. “When I go on the court, if I miss two shots in a row, I’m going to pull up for the next one because I know the hours I put into the gym. So it doesn’t really bother me because that’s what I wanted my social media to show, my emotion on the court. And it’s got me this far.”

Going into the local media day, it was my personal expectation to go and meet this cocky player I had seen on social media. One who had earned that right on the high school scene and led with it. But making the conscious decision to stay open minded, I left with a completely different impression.

After those couple preseason hours where we got a glance into the player who Chavez was and the team as a whole, I couldn’t stop thinking about the relationships she had already built.

To me it was clear that her teammates were quickly ten toes down behind her. They were bought into the “performance” of Chavez’s game, as was then described by Baranzyck. But with this much hype also comes pressure to perform in one of the most important seasons in program history, her team is behind her and now it was time to see if Chavez was ready to deliver.

The very first game of the season was at home against Belmont, a historically very formidable mid-major program. Chavez struggled with shooting some but you could see the flashes of what makes her such an electric player. Deep attempts from three, playmaking setting her teammates up, the star potential was clear.

However, it was the second game of the season that would provide an early roadblock in the season for Chavez and the Sooners. In just the second game of her career, Chavez would be facing then #3 ranked UCLA.

A team full of experienced players that are certainly willing to play defense up and down the court would hand Chavez her first loss as a collegiate athlete and a game where she felt she struggled across the board.

When I asked her if she felt she had experienced a “Welcome to the NCAA Moment”, she named the game against UCLA as the closest to one she has faced. 

“I was very upset after that game because I know if I played a little bit better we could have won that game,” said Chavez as she recounted what went wrong. “If I hit a little more shots, we could have won that game. If I didn’t get in foul trouble early we could have won that game. There’s so many things that could have, would have, should have.”

Just two games into her NCAA career, Chavez was forced to process a loss. She would decide her own fate as to how she reacted to a frustrating game on a big stage.

“I got in the gym as soon as we got home the next day. We had practice and then me and my dad shot after that,” said Chavez. “So it was like, no this next game, I don’t want that feeling again. I’m big on, I don’t want to lose.”

The next game would come just two days after the loss to UCLA, a game back at home against Kansas City. Being there in person on the outside looking in, I was incredibly intrigued to see how Chavez would respond.

Both teams lined up for tip-off. Raegan Beers won the tip and the ball fell directly into the hands of Aaliyah Chavez. Two dribbles, six seconds off the clock, directly to the left wing. Pull up for three.

Bang.

“I came in confident into the game and I pulled it and it went in and then you can see everybody’s reaction. And then my confidence went up. As soon as I see my first shot go in then it’s going to be a good day,” said Chavez.

And a good day it was for Aaliyah as she dropped 29 points on Kansas City. During this game, and the string of games that followed in quick succession, you could truly begin to see the on-court relationship between Chavez and Oklahoma Coach Jennie Baranczyk.

“What I was really impressed with after we played UCLA, she didn’t feel good.” said Baranczyk following Oklahoma’s win vs North Alabama. “She was emotional about it and you know competitors, when things don’t go well you can fail but you’re not a failure. So you can grind and she will grind. And that is what she has done.”

The response following the loss to UCLA paid off for Chavez as the breakout continued, highlighted by a 29 point performance vs Florida State that led into the true breakout game for Chavez. 

The ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge has often provided great benchmark games for teams from either conference in years past to show what they are made of against a fellow Power 4 team. For Oklahoma, it was NC State coming into Norman with an underperforming but still talented roster.

Oklahoma entered the fourth quarter down by five. Over the course of the quarter Chavez would hit multiple jumpers both from deep and in the midrange, assist her teammate Zya Vann, and come up with a steal that would, along with some massive defensive plays down the stretch by Sahara Williams, send the game to overtime.

Overtime would open with Chavez sinking a layup to put the Sooners up two and Oklahoma was rolling for the five minutes of extra time.

Aaliyah would end the game with 33 points on 13-26 shooting from the field. She had announced herself on the big stage and she could truly feel the program build for the first time since her debut.

“The first game that I had where I could hear the fans was the NC State game. And they came out ready and were locked in with us. It was big,” said Chavez.

By the time non-conference play ended Oklahoma would enter conference play on an 11 game win streak since the early season loss to UCLA and it was clear that the on-court relationship between Baranczyk and Chavez was strengthening by the game.

“I mean you could see in the games she’s yelling, we even had a conversation where she's telling me to put it in the hoop,” Chavez laughed as she described her relationship with her coach. “I’ll miss one and then as soon as she tells me that I’ll make the next one and she’s like ‘why do I have to yell at you?’I was like it’s not the yelling part, it’s me trying to prove that I can do it.”

That style of direct coaching is what Aaliyah is accustomed to and appreciates after growing up with her dad as her coach.

“I could score 47 that night and I would still get the face,” Chavez said with a chuckle recalling her high school games.“I remember there was one game that I played and I had 32 points at halftime and I finished with 47. He was like ‘how do you have 32 at halftime and then only get 47. If you’re gonna have 32 at halftime you should have 32 in the other half too.’”

It was so far so good for the coaching style as Oklahoma rattled off two wins to start SEC play. But once you reach SEC play, you are bound to find other ranked teams on your schedule. First up for the then #5 Sooners was #18 Ole Miss who was hungry coming off a close loss to then #2 Texas on the road.

Chavez would perform decently in this one dropping 26 points but also accounting for seven turnovers. This was a game that Oklahoma immediately found themselves on the back foot. 

Ole Miss came out ready to play and quickly jumped out to a double digit lead. While Oklahoma would make their way back into the game, they never gained real control, Ole Miss would win 74-69.

Another road block.

No rest for the wicked in the SEC as next up was a matchup on the road with #6 Kentucky who was also coming off a loss.

In this game it was a bit of a reverse of the Ole Miss loss, Oklahoma started off well but Kentucky battled their way back into it by the end. Chavez would lead the team in scoring again but Oklahoma would lose back-to-back.

Not just a road block, potentially a full stoppage.

That brings us to the present day.

Now ranked #13 in the nation, Oklahoma has had a bye week to recoup before welcoming in #6 LSU on Sunday and #2 South Carolina on Thursday.

When asked how the team was responding in preparation for these big matchups, Chavez noted the shift she had felt.

“I think coming into practice after our off day when we lost to Kentucky you could see a change of attitude in everybody. We came in ready to work. These last three days have been our best practices so far you can see we’re hungry.” said Chavez on Friday afternoon.

The best days will be needed when you have two of the top programs in the country coming in, but for Chavez, it is just another game.

“I don’t look at it as like we’re playing a big team. It’s another team and they’re stepping on our court. We’ve got to protect our home court, that’s what I’m looking at.”

She did acknowledge how the fans are showing up and the ever important aspect of helping build the program up.

“We have a sold out crowd but I want to see a sold out crowd when we play the worst team in the SEC too. I want to see a sold out crowd when we play anybody. I don’t want a sold out crowd just when we play one of the best teams. It’s good for them to come but at the same time I want y’all here every game.” 

To answer the most important question here, Aaliyah Chavez is a mix of everything you know about her and more so the things you don’t.

Is she cocky? She would deem it as confident. Is she a good teammate? I have only seen and heard glowing things.

But most importantly, this is someone who genuinely loves basketball.

“My routine is, I go for practice here, back home, go eat, then come back here and shoot with my dad, and then go back home. Ball is really life for me and that’s how I grew up.”

So while Aaliyah isn’t going to shy away from putting on a show and won’t hesitate to hype the crowd she is also equally the quiet person off the court that takes time to warm up to people. 

But the aspect of Aaliyah Chavez that is abundantly clear, the core of everything she does is a foundational deep love for basketball. And that, now maybe more than ever heading into the two biggest games of her young career, is who Aaliyah Chavez is.

A hooper at heart.