Perhaps we should all give more credence to the adage “beware of wounded bears.” Without their best player, Danielle Wilson, the remaining healthy Lady Bears pulled together and found ways to win three closely contested games in Oklahoma City.
The two most determined teams, willing to be hit and hit back, met for the Big 12 title. Going in, I gave the edge (due to depth) to the Aggies, who had lost two close meetings with the Lady Bears. Both teams defend physically. Both use undersized interior players to score. Baylor does not start their best five, preferring to bring in some extra punch off the bench.
In the hotly fought battle that ensued, I soon learned that I had counted the Bears out too quickly. The game started as expected with both teams in pressure half-court man defenses and both struggling to score against an opponent that knows them inside out. Four minutes in, at the first break, the score stood tied at a modest 5-5.
Among my initial observations: Aggie Danielle Gant looked uncomfortable facing the basket in the upper key, rather trying to post up down low. Does this bode well for WNBA possibilities for this undersized Aggie forward?
At the 15-minute mark, Coach Gary Blair put freshman Kelsey Assarian (6-1) in for the taller but less skilled La Toya Micheaux, sensing he could go afford to go small against the undersized Lady Bears. The Aggies started hitting as several players scored. Meanwhile, Baylor continued to miss the mark, as well as committing several turnovers, resulting in a 15-7 Aggie lead over the next three minutes.
The Lady Bears shifted to a 2-3 zone, throwing the Aggies off a bit. Gant picked up her second personal and came out at 10:10. Just prior to this, Morghan Medlock checked in for Baylor and took quick advantage (eight points) of the inexperienced Assarian, forcing Coach Blair to put Micheaux back into the game.
With seven minutes left in the half, Baylor had knotted the score at 19 apiece. Now, it was the Aggies who were struggling to make jumpers with Gant out. A Melissa Jones trey forced Coach Blair to call his first timeout at 5:19, searching for a way to slow down the Lady Bears who had mounted a 6-0 run to establish a lead of 25-19.
But the Bears continued to roll. At the 3:12 media break two minutes later, Baylor, which had continued to ride Medlock (who by now had 11 points under her belt), to stretch the lead to 27-21. The zone was keeping the Aggies shooting (and, more often than not, missing) from the perimeter. Gant was back in the game but covered up by the zone.
At intermission, the Baylor edge stood at 33-25, with the Bears shooting 48% for the half to A&M’s 30.5%. Baylor was led by Medlock with 13 points on 6/6 shooting from the field. Tanisha Smith led the Aggies with 11 first-half points on 4/8 from the field.
Fouls were also costing the Aggies, as the Lady Bears got to the foul line 11 times, making 7, while Texas A&M visited the charity stripe just four times, making three of their attempts. The difference was a reflection of how much more aggressive Baylor had been in its play as they repeatedly drove the lane.
For the Aggies to come back, I suspected Takia Starks (2/8 in the first half) would have to start hitting and Danielle Gant would need more touches in the lower paint. Plus they would have to find a way to slow Morghan Medlock down without letting Jessica Morrow (only three points in half one) get going. What I didn’t envision was that Jhasmin Player was about to come active for the Lady Bears.
So what did happen in half two? Baylor opened in straight man and Texas A&M in a 2-3 match. It didn't last long. Just shy of five minutes in, the Aggies went back into pressure man and forced a turnover, converting at the other end. The Baylor lead now stood at 40-36.
Baylor was scoring off repeated Jhasmin Player penetrations in this portion of the game. As play continued, so did Player's penetrating drives, resulting in six points in the early minutes of the second stanza. A Rachel Allison three widened Baylor's margin to 45-36 less than six minutes into the half.
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| Baylor guard Jhasmin Player, left, shoots over Texas A&M center La Toya Micheaux, right, in the second half of the NCAA college basketball Big 12 championship game at the Big 12 Conference women's tournament in Oklahoma City, Sunday, March 15, 2009. Player made the difference for Baylor, spearheading the Bears' 72-63 win with 25 points. |
The Aggies battled back with baskets by Starks and Smith reducing the lead to 45-41 over the next minute.
But Player continued attacking the rim, restoring Baylor’s lead to 50-43 by the 11:00 mark. Just before that, the Lady Bears had gone back to a 2-3 zone. As in the first half, it bothered Aggie shooters.
Baylor continued to get better quality shots closer to the rim. At the 7:54 media break, nothing much had changed, with the Aggies shooting from farther out. The continued to look to get the ball down low, and when they succeeded it paid dividends, as when Danielle Gant converted a three-point play after being fouled on her way to the hoop (reducing the lead to 55-50).
Neither side was giving nor making up much ground. Jessica Morrow hit a clutch three and two foul shots, which were countered baskets by Smith and Starks, and the Bears lead was 62-58 with just under four minutes left on the clock.
Jhasmin Player made back to back three-point plays (old fashioned and bomb), to which the Aggies were able to reply only with two foul shots by Gant. That pushed the Baylor lead to 68-60 with 2:43 to go and effectively locked up Baylor's second Big-12 Championship (the first having come in 2005).
In the end, the Aggie defense, known for holding opponents under 60, gave up too many points for their jump shooters to match. In addition, the Bears' aggressiveness in driving to the basket was amply rewarded at the charity stripe. Key stat: Baylor 21/31 from the foul line to 8/14 for Texas A&M.
Baylor was led by Jhasmin Player with 25 points on 9/15 shooting from the field plus 6/8 from the foul line. Medlock finished with 15 points on 7/9 field-goal shooting.
Takia Starks, who got hot in the second half, led Texas A&M with 22 points on 9/19 from the field, including 3 triples. Tanisha Smith scored 18 points on 7/11 field-goal shooting, including two treys.
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| Texas A&M guard Takia Starks, center, shoots between Baylor forward Morghan Medlock, left, and guard Kelli Griffin, right, in the first half of an NCAA college basketball Big 12 championship game at the Big 12 Conference women's tournament in Oklahoma City, Sunday, March 15, 2009. Starks had 22 points for the Aggies, but Baylor won the game, 72-63. |
The crowd for the final was announced at 4,340, lower than expected as nearby Sooner faithful mostly stayed away.
In the post-game press conference Aggie Coach Gary Blair referred to the two teams as carbon copies of each other. He credited Baylor with outplaying his squad in this game more so than in their two regular season meetings.
Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey jokingly half denied playing a zone for much of the game, saying that it was not planned but something she saw as necessary to stop Aggie penetrations.
In response to the loss of Danielle Wilson, Mulkey stated ”Danielle Wilson is good, a big loss for us, but our scoring, our rebounding, it is distributed throughout the lineup. We had Morghan (Medlock), McDonald’s All-American, coming in off the bench. You have Melissa Jones, sixth player in the league that started some games for us.”
Big 12 2009 All-Tournament Team
The following players, all but one of whom were drawn from the two finalists, were selected to the 2009 Big 12 All-Tournament Team:
Danielle Gant, Texas A&M
Morghan Medlock, Baylor
Courtney Paris, Oklahoma
Jhasmin Player, Baylor
Tanisha Smith, Texas A&M
Jessica Morrow of Baylor was voted the Big-12 Tournament's (Most Valuable Player).
Full Court Press Big 12 “Golden Lunch Bucket” Team:
To that list of deserving players we would add Full Court's "Golden Lunch Bucket" honorees--players whose contribution to their teams often does not show up in the final box score. These are players who are often the glue of their teams, doing the dirty work but often not getting much of the glory.
The goal here is to recognize one player on each team who does the little things to help her team win. In some cases it was a player who just battles and rebounds. In others, it was the one who takes the toughest perimeter defensive assignment game after game. In a number of cases, she was a player who comes off the bench to give her team a lift by getting after some opponent, making a big steal, diving for a loose ball or getting a big rebound. Honorees are listed in alphabetical order by last name:
RaeShara Brown, 5-8, SO, G, Missouri
Melissa Jones, 5-10, SO, G/F, Baylor
La Toya Micheaux, 6-3, SR, C, Texas A&M
Sade Morris, 5-11, JR, G/F, Kansas
Ashlee Roberson, 5-11, JR, 3F, Texas Tech
Hannah Skildum, 6-0, SR, 3F, Colorado
Shyvon Spears, 6-1, SR, 4F, Oklahoma State
Denae Stuckey, 5-8, JR, G, Iowa State
Amanda Thompson, 6-0, JR, 3F, Oklahoma
Yvonne Turner, 5-8, JR, G, Nebraska
Earnesia Williams, 6-1, SR, F, Texas
Danielle Zanotti, 6-2, SR, 3F, Kansas State
Big 12 Post-Season Notes
Big 12 2009 NCAA Post Season: As predicted the top six teams in the conference made the Big Dance. The line between Texas at number 6 and Texas Tech at number 7 was pretty wide.
Oklahoma got a Number One seed in spite of their semifinal loss to Texas A&M on Saturday, and based on their body of work over the season, they deserved it. An appropriate punishment might have been to put them in the half with Connecticut as a Number One, but the Sooners were spared that as well--they're in the half of the bracket facing Maryland as the opposing Number One seed.
The Sooners need to get refocused and rediscover some outside shooting, a problem that dogged them in the Big 12 Tournament semifinal game. If successful, they will have a good shot at making the trip to St. Louis. Anything less than that will leave Sooner Nation with a feeling of failure from the 2008-2009 season.
Despite Kim Mulkey's campaign to have two Number One seeds (Oklahoma and her Baylor Bears) advance out of the Big 12, the conference instead produced two Number Two seeds in Baylor and Texas A&M. Perhaps worse, Baylor and Oklahoma are on the same side of the bracket. With Danielle Wilson out, and despite the impressive performance in the Big 12 final, Baylor will need the right match-up to get to the Sweet 16 as they are undersized. Assuming an easy advance over University of Texas-San Antonio in Round One, and that South Dakota State advances over TCU, a Baylor-South Dakota State match-up could prove interesting.
Given that all eight Big 12 teams advanced to the round of 32 last year, it is likely that four will make the Sweet 16 this year due to seeding and strength of conference. Match-ups are always critical. Kansas State must also get the right match-up as they are not deep. They face a gutsy Colonial Conference champion in Drexel in the opening round, but could have a tough time against Vanderbilt in Round 2.
Ditto for Iowa State in spite of the teams being very different in style! They face a relatively easy opening round against East Tennessee State, but then will most likely have to overtake Tennessee, which has been playing better as the season moves on, to advance to the Sweet 16.
Texas has been an enigma with lots of talent but short on quality wins given their deep bench. The bracket gods were not kind, since in all likelihood they will have to dispatch a Stanford team that is both deep and firing on all cylinders in order to see the Sweet 16.
With their strong defense and improving offense, Texas A&M, besides Oklahoma, has the best shot in theory to go beyond the Sweet 16. But not very far beyond--the Aggies had the misfortune of being placed in the Trenton Regional where they would have to perform the miracle of beating top-seeded Connecticut to move beyond the Elite Eight. The Aggies might not even get that far. Florida State, Notre Dame, and Arizona State all have the talent to knock Texas A&M out of the picture before that point. Baylor beat them three times and likely, their opponents will try to learn from Lady Bears' success.
Next Season in the Big 12
Until recruiting is over this spring, it will be very hard to say too much as teams will to a great extent be on the drawing board. Texas looks like a good bet to be pre-season Number One in the conference. If they land Kelsey Bone, a highly touted 6-5 post, they will move to elite status (if not still quite good as they might have been had they added an interior scorer in the post, such as 6-5 Cokie Reed). If Bone lands at Texas A&M (also in the running), that would spread the talent around and give them an inside offensive presence with size. If not, they may be down a slot.
Baylor gets super recruit Brittney Griner but she is further along defensively than offensively. Figure Baylor will somehow stay in the top four. Kansas and Nebraska should be up from their eight and nine slots of this year. Both teams have a lot of players back and are due to get help off the injured list as well.
Kansas State should be down with the loss of Lehning, Gibson and Zanotti. Iowa State may be down a little as well from their three-hole finish. The rest still look likely to be in the lower half of the conference when the dust settles a year from now.
WNBA Prospects from the Big 12
2009
Danielle Gant, 5-11, F, Texas A&M: She plays bigger than her height but struggles to shoot beyond the key, thus is an undersized power player, which usually fails in the WNBA. Possible late-first to second-round (where I would have her) pick.
Marlies Gipson, 6-0, 4F, Kansas State: She has a WNBA build but is undersized and range is a question. Low- second to third round possible.
Shalee Lehning, 5-9, PG, Kansas State: I only wish she could defend or shoot the three. Quite the college point guard, but more is likely needed at the WNBA level. At the Big 12 Tournament, I added the question of acceleration speed on the break, which I did not see. Fun to watch, I hope she proves me wrong but I doubt she will go before number 20.
Jessica Morrow, 6-0, 3F, Baylor: She had a strong Big 12 Tournament after a nice regular season. Long in build, she is a strong perimeter defender and can shoot threes (33.1%). Her shooting percentage from two-point range is a bit low (36.3%), however. Latter-second to third round possible.
Ashley Paris, 6-3, C/F, Oklahoma: She needs to show more consistent range but WNBA coaches will appreciate how she has dropped weight. She is likely a first-round pick, probably in the latter half.
Courtney Paris, 6-4, C, Oklahoma: I like her but don’t love her. She needs more range and to play better defense, perhaps toning up like sister Ashley. Regardless, a top-six pick.
Jhasmin Player, 5-10, G, Baylor: A solid college player, does she have enough game for success at the next level? Possible third-round pick.
Dominic Seals, 6-2, 4F, Texas Tech: Long in build, she is more of a finesse player. Third round possible.
Takia Starks, 5-8, G, Texas A&M: When on, she has a beautiful pull-up jumper, but she is erratic. Likely second- round pick.
2010
Kelsey Griffin, 6-2, C/F, Nebraska: She took her senior year off with injury. When last seen, I thought she needed more range, her and foot speed would be a question. Late- second to third round possible with some improvement.
Jessra Johnson, 6-1 F Missouri: The WNBA scouts should like her build and inside/outside game. A good player on a bad team, second to third round for starters.
Danielle McCray, 5-11, JR, G/F, Kansas: She is well built and can come at you from beyond the arc to mid-range as well as drive to the hole. First-round selection possible with continued maturation.
Morghan Medlock, 6-1, JR, F, Baylor: She has a strong body and is willing to endure physical play. She needs to show more consistent range to go before the latter second round.
Brittainey Raven, 6-0, G/F, Texas: A few years ago, I thought she was a sure first rounder with size, speed, the ability to drive and to shoot from the perimeter. Erratic results this year make me more conservative, but my guess is latter-first to upper-second round with a chance to move up with a strong senior year.
Andrea Riley, 5-5, PG, Oklahoma State: She is one of the fastest players in the game, but is a streaky shooter and an erratic decision maker. She must get things under control to merit a first-round pick.
Tanisha Smith, 6-0, 3F, Texas A&M: She has good range and athleticism. Her senior year will be critical to see how she steps up. Second-round with upside for now.
Ashley Sweat, 6-2, F, Kansas State: She needs to recapture her three-ball to have a chance as her body is not made for physical WNBA inside play. Third rounder as of now.
Amanda Thompson, 6-0, 3F, Oklahoma: She is a gritty player who does the little things. She needs to score more consistently with range. Guess: Second round as of now!
Danielle Wilson, 6-3, C, Baylor: We will need to see how she comes back from her season-ending knee injury. She improved her offense this year and is one of the nation’s best shot blockers. Possible first-round pick if healthy.
2011
Kathleen Nash, 6-2, 3F, Texas: She still needs to get better on the glass and more consistent shooting the ball, but she has high basketball IQ. The basics of size and stroke are there plus she runs well enough.
Danielle Robinson, 5-9, PG, Oklahoma: Range and careless errors are still questions about this speedy lead guard.
Brittany Spears, 6-1, G/F, Colorado: A good player on a bad team. She needs to become more consistent from behind the arc and work on defense but she has size and versatile skills.
2012
Kierra Mallard, 6-3, C, Texas Tech: Strongly built but mobile, she has some range beyond mid-key.