Baylor W Basketball

Brittney Griner has had a complicated relationship with her alma mater, but the Phoenix Mercury star would still love to see her number hanging in the rafters of Baylor's Ferrell Center.

"I've seen that special moment with a lot of my teammates and friends at their schools where they gave their all," she said to ESPN.com's Mechelle Voepel. "I met my wife at Baylor. Baylor's in my blood. I love the school. I love Waco. And it would mean a lot to me, honestly. It's something I would definitely cherish and love."

Griner is the greatest player in program history. She was a three-time Big 12 Player of the Year and a two-time Wade Trophy recipient. The 6'9" center also played a critical role for the Bears in 2011-12, when they went unbeaten (40-0) and claimed their second national title.

Despite all she achieved in Waco, Texas, Griner hasn't received the treatment befitting a campus legend.

Shortly after being selected by the Mercury in the 2013 WNBA draft, the 31-year-old shed some light on her experiences at Baylor. She told ESPN The Magazine that members of the Bears coaching staff, including coach Kim Mulkey, instructed her to refrain from speaking publicly about her sexuality.

Griner addressed the dynamic further in her memoir, In My Skin, and wrote that Baylor's policies against homosexuality dampened her desire to promote her connection to the university.

"I've spent too much of my life being made to feel like there's something wrong with me," she wrote (via USA Today's Scott Gleeson). "And no matter how much support I felt as a basketball player at Baylor, it still doesn't erase all the pain I felt there."

To celebrate Coming Out Day in October, ESPN reached out to a number of athletes from the LGBTQ+ community. Speaking to Josh Weinfuss of ESPN, Griner said her coming out process "was probably when I went from collegiate to pro." While not tying it to her Baylor career specifically, she appeared to allude to the issues she laid out years before:

I didn't want anyone to go through what I went through. That feeling of not being true to yourself, and looking in the mirror and not liking what you see, is a horrible feeling. I didn't want anyone to feel like that. I never really had anyone to look up to that was, like, huge...Billy Jean King? But that wasn't my era, I didn't grow up as a little kid looking up to her. So I wanted to be someone to look up to, in this present time. Everybody who reaches out to me, they tell me, 'You helped me, you inspired me,' and I think that's bigger than basketball, honestly. Bigger than a gold medal, any award. Knowing that you helped someone not feel down, or have horrible thoughts, because I've been there.

Beyond what she achieved with Baylor, Griner has gone on to be a seven-time All-Star and win a title in the WNBA. In September, she was selected to the league's 25th-anniversary team.

Based purely on her resume, Griner should've had her Baylor jersey retired long ago, but that process is a two-way street.

She told Voepel she hasn't attended a game since graduating in 2013 but that she plans on watching the Bears compete sometime this month under first-year head coach Nicki Collen. Mulkey took over as LSU's women's basketball head coach in April.

The Baylor women's basketball team is no longer going by the name "Lady Bears" and will now be known simply as the "Bears" moving forward.

According to ESPN's Mechelle Voepel, Baylor announced the change Saturday with the intention of creating uniformity among all of its men's and women's athletic teams:

"Baylor women's basketball has solidified itself as one of Baylor's most remarkable and celebrated programs. While the use of Lady Bears is still very much a part of the program's decorated history, in an effort to be more consistent with the current nomenclature of the other 18 Baylor sport programs, the team will now be referred to as simply the Bears.

"This evolution is unique in that it creates consistency among Baylor teams while also highlighting the individual sport and contributions of its athletes and coaches."

Baylor boasts one of the most successful women's basketball programs of all time with four Final Four appearances and three national championships to its credit.

The Bears won it all in 2005, 2012 and 2019, and they have reached the NCAA tournament each of the past 16 years it has been held.

Baylor has reached at least the Sweet 16 in 12 straight tournaments and reached at least the Elite Eight in nine of them.

Kim Mulkey helped Baylor enjoy its greatest success during her head coaching tenure from 2000-21.

Following Baylor's loss in the Elite Eight last season, Mulkey left to become the head coach at LSU. She has since been replaced by Nicki Collen, who was the head coach of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream from 2018-20.

Voepel noted that the only women's basketball team in the Big 12 that still includes "Lady" in their nickname now that Baylor has abandoned it is the Texas Tech Lady Raiders.

Baylor hired Atlanta Dream head coach Nicki Collen to replace Kim Mulkey, who left for the LSU job following the 2020-21 season.

Mack Rhoades, Baylor vice president and athletic director, issued a statement on the move:

Today is an exciting day for Baylor University and our women's basketball program. Nicki is a passionate leader of young women and an elite basketball mind and teacher of the game. She is a great mission fit who shares in our vision of Preparing Champions for Life by commanding excellence both on and off the court. Nicki's professional experience will be invaluable to developing players for the next level. Her addition sustains our commitment to the women's basketball program at the highest level. We welcome Nicki, her husband Tom and children, Connor, Reese and Logan, to the Baylor family.

The timing of Collen's hiring was surprising as the Dream are set to tip off the 2021 WNBA regular season against the Connecticut Sun on May 14.

Dream star Chennedy Carter reacted to the news:

This continued an internal upheaval for the Dream, who fired team president and general manager Chris Sienko in late April. Kelly Loeffler and Mary Brock also sold their ownership stake in the franchise to a group that includes former Dream star Renee Montgomery.

While not one of the top title contenders, Atlanta seemingly has a bright future. The team added Cheyenne Parker and Tianna Hawkins in the offseason and has Tiffany Hayes back after she sat out last year. The Dream also selected Aari McDonald with the No. 3 pick in the draft to pair with Carter in the backcourt.

Sienko and the front office were laying the groundwork for long-term success. His and Collen's departures cast a shadow over the organization.

While the outcome was unexpected, Baylor was bound to poach a prominent college or WNBA coach to fill Mulkey's shoes. Mulkey turned the program into a powerhouse, with the Lady Bears winning three national titles under her watch.

Collen does come with some level of risk, though. The Dream finished with the Eastern Conference's best record (23-11) in 2018 before going 15-41 over the next two years. Though she worked as an assistant at multiple programs, including Louisville and Arkansas, the 45-year-old hasn't been a head coach at the college level.

Keeping Baylor in the national championship conversation in 2021-22 won't be easy. DiDi Richards and DiJonai Carrington moved on to the WNBA, while freshman center Hannah Gusters transferred to LSU.

The Lady Bears still have NaLyssa Smith, and Mulkey signed graduate transfer Jordan Lewis from Alabama before leaving.

Beyond returning to her home state, though, Mulkey might have sensed the program was approaching a downturn after it maintained such a high level for years.

It'll be up to Collen to guide Baylor on another deep run in the NCAA tournament in 2022.

Baylor Lady Bears guards DiDi Richards and DiJonai Carrington announced Thursday they decided to declare for the 2021 WNBA draft.

Richards posted a statement on Instagram saying she's ready to pursue her "lifelong dream," while Carrington explained her decision on Twitter:

Both players were seniors during the 2020-21 college basketball season, but the NCAA offered an additional year of eligibility to all student-athletes because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Baylor reached the Elite Eight of the 2021 NCAA women's tournament and pushed UConn, the top seed in the River Walk Region, to the limit before falling 69-67. Replays showed Carrington was likely fouled as she attempted to tie the game in the final seconds, but no call was made.

"Personally, don't see it as a controversial call," Carrington told reporters after the game Monday night. "I've already seen the replay. One girl fouled me in my face, and one girl fouled me on my arm. At that point, you can't do anything else."

NBA superstar LeBron James agreed:

The Lady Bears finished the season 28-3. They were the defending champions after winning the 2019 event since last year's March Madness was canceled because of the pandemic.

Carrington averaged 14.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.1 steals across 27 appearances. She also led the team with 39 made three-pointers.

Richards averaged 6.3 points, 6.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds in 30 games. Her 189 assists ranked second in the nation behind only Iowa's Caitlin Clark's 213.

ESPN's Mechelle Voepel listed both Baylor guards as second-round picks in her latest mock draft.

The draft is scheduled for April 15 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Baylor star DiJonai Carrington was critical of the officiating in the final seconds of the Lady Bears' 69-67 Elite Eight loss to Connecticut in the 2021 NCAA women's basketball tournament Monday.

Carrington had a chance to give Baylor the lead in the final seconds but was stymied on the left side of the lane by Aaliyah Edwards and Olivia Nelson-Ododa:

"Personally, don't see it as a controversial call," the senior guard told reporters. "I've already seen the replay. One girl fouled me in my face and one girl fouled me on my arm. At that point you can't do anything else."

Carrington had plenty of supporters on social media:

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma seemed to acknowledge his team benefited in the situation but added that every game is full of calls that are missed or could go either way:

The frustration from Baylor players and fans was understandable. Carrington should've gone to the line for two shots, and she was a 72.3 percent free-throw shooter. At the very least, you would've expected her to tie the game and send it into overtime.

And the score may not have even been that close were it not for an apparent hamstring injury suffered by DiDi Richards. UConn went on a 19-0 run across the third and fourth quarters, almost all of which happened after Richards exited the game.

"Obviously, you can never account for injuries happening," Carrington said of losing Richards. "That was tough for us. [Freshman guard Sarah Andrews] got thrown into the fire. We just tried to weather the storm. We never gave up. We never thought we were out of it."

Baylor showed great determination to get into a position to win, but the foul that wasn't will likely overshadow much of what happened before it.

Following Baylor's loss to Connecticut in the Elite Eight of the NCAA women's basketball tournament, Lady Bears head coach Kim Mulkey advocated for the NCAA to stop COVID-19 testing once the Final Four fields are set.

Mulkey told reporters the organization "need[s] to dump the COVID testing."

"Wouldn't it be a shame to keep COVID testing and then you got kids that end up testing positive or something, and then they don't get to play in the Final Four?" she said. "So, you need to just forget the COVID test and let the four teams that are playing in each Final Four go battle it out."

An NCAA men's tournament game between Oregon and VCU was declared a no-contest due to multiple positive COVID-19 tests within the Rams' traveling party. The Ducks automatically moved on to the second round.

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma also missed his squad's first two games after testing positive for COVID-19 prior to play beginning.

Otherwise, the tournaments have largely been insulated from the pandemic.

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines continues across the country. However, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cautioned against what she called "another avoidable surge" of positive cases.

Mulkey's comments Monday would seem to contradict the attitude she expressed after recovering from the virus midway through the season.

"The answer is this: The season will continue on. It's called the almighty dollar," she told reporters in January. "The NCAA has to have the almighty dollar from the men's tournament. The almighty dollar is more important than the health and welfare of me, the players or anybody else."

Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey isn't expecting her team's Elite Eight matchup against Connecticut to be a coaching masterpiece.

Speaking to reporters after the Lady Bears' 78-75 win over Michigan on Saturday, Mulkey explained why she's "not going to outcoach" Geno Auriemma in the next round:

"You're looking at two programs that value defense. I think Baylor and UConn are in the top three in the country in field goal percentage defense. Then you look at rebounding. That might explain to you why both programs are respected across the country.

"So, yeah, it could be an ugly game. When I say ugly, it could be low scoring, it could be some turnovers. Some people want to say boring. It may not be 80 and 90. I don't know."

Baylor and UConn were scheduled to meet in the regular season Jan. 7, but the Bears were forced to cancel because of a COVID-19 outbreak within the program.

As Mulkey noted, the Lady Bears and Huskies are two of the best defensive teams in the nation. Connecticut ranked second in the country with 50.7 points allowed per game and third in opponent field-goal percentage (32.9) during the regular season; Baylor is 12th in scoring defense at 54.2, but leads the nation with a 31.7 field-goal percentage allowed.

Both teams advanced to the Elite Eight with wins Saturday, setting up a showdown Monday with a Final Four berth on the line.

Connecticut is the No. 1 overall seed in the women's tournament this year and is seeking its first national title since winning four straight from 2012-16. Baylor won the last NCAA women's tournament during the 2018-19 season.