KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Kim Mulkey says she has the most talented and deepest roster in her 11 years as Baylor’s coach.
That’s a scary prospect for the rest of the Big 12.
The Bears, after all, went to the Final Four last season with five freshmen, including 6-foot-8 dunking sensation Brittney Griner.
“Last year was about learning each other and how to play with each other, getting the right combinations,” Griner said Wednesday at Big 12 media day. “We feel like we’ve got it down.”
Baylor didn’t have a winning Big 12 record until the last week of February but got hot at the end, winning 10 of 12 games before losing to Connecticut in the national semifinals.
The Bears swept the Big 12’s preseason individual awards. Griner is player of the year, transfer Brooklyn Pope was voted top newcomer and Odyssey Sims was tabbed freshman of the year.
“On a 1 to 10 scale,” senior guard Melissa Jones said, “the talent is 11 on this team.”
Not surprisingly, Baylor was the coaches’ overwhelming choice to win the league.
“It puts a little added pressure on you because we only lost one senior, but at the same time we’re young,” Mulkey said. “We’ll have great expectations, but at the same time we’re realists in that our schedule, both nonconference and in the league, will make it very difficult. Someone has to be picked No. 1, so we’ll take it.”
The Bears get to measure themselves early with a Nov. 16 rematch with Connecticut in Hartford.
“We definitely have the game highlighted on the calendar,” Griner said. “Everybody’s talking about it. I’m looking forward to getting there and getting another shot at them. It definitely would be a good feeling to win.”
UConn, the two-time defending national champion and winner of 78 games in a row, beat the Bears 70-50 in the Final Four in a game billed as a matchup between Griner and Tina Charles. Charles, the WNBA’s No. 1 draft pick, held Griner to 13 points and six rebounds.
“She was a senior, I was a freshman. It was kind of a learning experience,” Griner said. “It definitely helped me out in my game.”
Griner, who averaged 18.4 points and 8.5 rebounds with an NCAA single-season record 223 blocked shots, has added strength and weight in the offseason. She said she needs to do a better job holding her ground in the lane, fighting double- and triple-teams and finishing shots at the rim.
“Brittney is not on a basketball team where she has to do it by herself,” Mulkey said.
Jones and Kelli Griffin are the team’s senior leaders. Jones, a preseason All-Big 12 pick, is full strength after missing 11 games a year ago with a leg injury. She’s joined in the backcourt by Griffin, who has started 50 straight games and is closing in on the school record for career assists.
Pope, from Rutgers, and Destiny Williams, from Illinois, lead a talented cast of newcomers. Pope is eligible immediately and Williams on Dec. 20. Both are former McDonald’s All-Americans.
The left-handed Sims is considered the nation’s No. 1 incoming freshman point guard after averaging 22.5 points, 4.6 assists and 4.4 rebounds for MacArthur High in Irving, Texas.
Texas A&M returns three starters from the 26-8 team that won the Big 12 tournament title and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Aggies also have back 2010 conference newcomer of the year Danielle Adams (16.3 ppg), and 6-foot-4 freshman Karla Gilbert is one of the highest rated recruits to sign with A&M.
Aggies coach Gary Blair said Gilbert must play significant minutes right away.
“Everybody has sort of changed their recruiting because of Griner coming in,” he said. “Colorado has got a 6-7, Oklahoma has got a 6-5 again, Oklahoma State has got a 6-6, Iowa State, they are all large. But the game has changed, and we are trying to change with it to be able to do something with the Griner factor that everybody has to face.”
Oklahoma lost three double-figure scorers from the team that reached the Final Four for the second straight year. The Sooners continue to be without point guard Whitney Hand, who averaged 13.4 points before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in November. She required a second surgery in August and will be out until the second half of the season.
Sooners coach Sherri Coale said the Final Four experience has made her team confident.
“For our young guys—Whitney Hand, Jasmine Hartman—they think that’s all you do, go to the Final Four,” Coale said. “The greatest thing that comes from it is knowing anything is possible. We can make something really good happen, and they’re still really hungry.”
Defending regular-season champion Nebraska went through Big 12 play unbeaten and finished 32-2, reaching the NCAA Sweet 16, but the Cornhuskers are picked seventh after losing three of their top four scorers.
The league has two new head coaches, Linda Lappe at Colorado and Robin Pingeton at Missouri.
