March 31, 2017
"Since she's the one that built the beast, Kim Mulkey gets it. No one takes losses any harder than Baylor's 17th-year head coach.
"I beat myself up for many days afterward," she said, following the Lady Bears' 94-85 overtime loss to Mississippi State in Sunday's region final in Oklahoma City.
For the fourth consecutive year, she got them a step away from the Final Four, only to come up frustratingly short.
"When we won our first national championship in 2005, I said then just as I say today, there are no guarantees that we'll ever win another one," said Mulkey, who added a second national title in 2012. "We're spoiled and sometimes unrealistic as fans when we cannot be pleased with an elite level of basketball. No one is more disappointed when we lose close games that can take us to a Final Four. When you need to become disappointed is when we're not playing for a chance to get to a Final Four, because that means your program has dropped off the map. Women's basketball at Baylor is viewed as an elite program, it's relevant and we will continue to strive to keep it an elite program."
In the loss to Mississippi State, the Lady Bears overcame 17 turnovers and a career night from 5-foot-5 junior point guard Morgan William (41 points) to have two chances to win it at the end of regulation.
"We had the ball in our hands with the game tied and (22.6) seconds to go, and we missed the shot," Mulkey said of a drive by senior guard Alexis Jones.
"We had another shot with 3.4 seconds to go on an out-of-bounds, and we turned it over. That, in itself, is miraculous."
Jones and fellow seniors Nina Davis, Alexis Prince and Khadijah Cave combined to provide 47 percent of the team's scoring this season, averaging right at 42 points per game.
Davis was a two-time All-American and four-time all-conference pick, while Jones is a two-time All-Big 12 honoree and honorable mention All-American after transferring from Duke.
"Some leave as All-Americans, some leave as Big 12 champions and some leave as national champions. Their value to our program is the same," Mulkey said of the seniors. "It is a sad time, but it is something you know you face in this business. You will miss the seniors, but you have to continue to work with the returning players and develop them."
Kalani Brown (center) with her parents Dee Brown (left) & PJ Brown (right).
Dee Brown played at Louisiana Tech after being recruited by then assistant coach Kim Mulkey. PJ Brown won a NBA championship while playing for the Boston Celtics.
Next year's team will likely be built around 6-7 sophomore post Kalani Brown, a first-team All-Big 12 and honorable mention All-American who averaged a team-best 15.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. In the region final, she had 27 points, nine boards and five blocks, hitting 11-of-13 from the floor.
"Kalani spent the summer between her freshman and sophomore year getting in better shape by losing weight," Mulkey said, "being a young lady that you had to pull along when she got here because she'd never had to do that before."
Mulkey is hoping for a similar jump from freshmen Lauren Cox, Natalie Chou and Juicy Landrum. The 6-4 Cox averaged 7.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks despite getting less than 15 minutes per game, while Chou hit 33 3-pointers and averaged 4.7 points.
"I think Juicy understands now what it takes to play at this level," Mulkey said of Landrum, the 5-9 point guard from nearby La Vega High School. "The summer is when you get better, it's not necessarily when I have them in practice. Their work with (strength coach) Jeremy Heffner in the weight room, their individual work, their playing in the summer with their teammates, and their approach to everything they do will be different and should be going into their sophomore years."
Kristy Wallace (white jersey)
Also returning are juniors Kristy Wallace, (7.6 ppg, 5.6 assists) ... and Dekeiya Cohen (3.6 ppg), who started seven of the last eight games when Jones was trying to come back from a knee injury.
Dekeiya Cohen (right)
"I would like to see Deikeiya Cohen come back and refuse to lose a job to an underclassman," Mulkey said. "I think experience is important at the collegiate level, and Dekeiya got valuable experience. I would like to see her make a statement coming into next season."
There will be competition at the perimeter spots with an all-guard recruiting class of Alex Morris from Beaumont, Trinity Oliver from Euless Trinity, Didi Richards from Cypress Ranch and Cara Ursin from Destrehan, La. Morris and Richards played in the McDonald's All-American game Wednesday in Chicago.
"Point guard and all guard positions for us have to come in and be impactful in some way," Mulkey said. "We signed four guards, and I hope that they can come in and help us. I'm also realistic to know they are freshmen. I don't care how good you are, it is an adjustment. It's our job to get them on that floor as quickly as possible and make them better as quickly as possible so they can help us."
Baylor (33-4) is 1 of just 2 programs that has made 4 straight Elite Eights, with four-time defending national champion UConn being the other. If the Lady Bears had advanced to their fourth Final Four and first since 2012, they would have played the Huskies in Friday's national semifinals.
"Had we stayed healthy, I believe we were one team that could present problems for them," said Mulkey, whose team lost at UConn, 72-61, on Nov. 17. "Our size presented problems for them in the first game. So yes, if Alexis Jones had been completely healthy, we developed players and became a better team, I think we could have taken a shot at them. Who knows if we could have defeated them, but I felt good that we could have competed with them."
With Brown, Cox and Mompremier **, Mulkey believes "we have the post players in place" for next season.
"I think guard play is the key to our season next year," she said. "We had the post players in place this year, but we have to be able to produce at the guard spot, taking care of the basketball, understanding where we need the ball to be, understanding things quickly.
"Heck yeah I'm motivated. If I lose my motivation, I need to get out."
- article Jerry Hill, Baylor WBB website
- photos gathered from the web
OP Notes
14 Apr 2017 Alyssa Dry and Alexandria Gulley will not return to the Lady Bear roster next season.
14 Apr 2017 Gulley will continue her education at Baylor on a medical scholarship.
19 Apr 2017 Beatrice Mompremier leaves Baylor; granted release. **
16 May 2017 Mompremier will play in her hometown at the University of Miami.
- OP notes compiled from information in Baylor Lariat, Miami Herald & Waco Tribune-Herald
"Since she's the one that built the beast, Kim Mulkey gets it. No one takes losses any harder than Baylor's 17th-year head coach.
"I beat myself up for many days afterward," she said, following the Lady Bears' 94-85 overtime loss to Mississippi State in Sunday's region final in Oklahoma City.
For the fourth consecutive year, she got them a step away from the Final Four, only to come up frustratingly short.
"When we won our first national championship in 2005, I said then just as I say today, there are no guarantees that we'll ever win another one," said Mulkey, who added a second national title in 2012. "We're spoiled and sometimes unrealistic as fans when we cannot be pleased with an elite level of basketball. No one is more disappointed when we lose close games that can take us to a Final Four. When you need to become disappointed is when we're not playing for a chance to get to a Final Four, because that means your program has dropped off the map. Women's basketball at Baylor is viewed as an elite program, it's relevant and we will continue to strive to keep it an elite program."
In the loss to Mississippi State, the Lady Bears overcame 17 turnovers and a career night from 5-foot-5 junior point guard Morgan William (41 points) to have two chances to win it at the end of regulation.
"We had the ball in our hands with the game tied and (22.6) seconds to go, and we missed the shot," Mulkey said of a drive by senior guard Alexis Jones.
"We had another shot with 3.4 seconds to go on an out-of-bounds, and we turned it over. That, in itself, is miraculous."
Jones and fellow seniors Nina Davis, Alexis Prince and Khadijah Cave combined to provide 47 percent of the team's scoring this season, averaging right at 42 points per game.
Davis was a two-time All-American and four-time all-conference pick, while Jones is a two-time All-Big 12 honoree and honorable mention All-American after transferring from Duke.
"Some leave as All-Americans, some leave as Big 12 champions and some leave as national champions. Their value to our program is the same," Mulkey said of the seniors. "It is a sad time, but it is something you know you face in this business. You will miss the seniors, but you have to continue to work with the returning players and develop them."
Kalani Brown (center) with her parents Dee Brown (left) & PJ Brown (right).
Dee Brown played at Louisiana Tech after being recruited by then assistant coach Kim Mulkey. PJ Brown won a NBA championship while playing for the Boston Celtics.
Next year's team will likely be built around 6-7 sophomore post Kalani Brown, a first-team All-Big 12 and honorable mention All-American who averaged a team-best 15.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. In the region final, she had 27 points, nine boards and five blocks, hitting 11-of-13 from the floor.
"Kalani spent the summer between her freshman and sophomore year getting in better shape by losing weight," Mulkey said, "being a young lady that you had to pull along when she got here because she'd never had to do that before."
Mulkey is hoping for a similar jump from freshmen Lauren Cox, Natalie Chou and Juicy Landrum. The 6-4 Cox averaged 7.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks despite getting less than 15 minutes per game, while Chou hit 33 3-pointers and averaged 4.7 points.
"I think Juicy understands now what it takes to play at this level," Mulkey said of Landrum, the 5-9 point guard from nearby La Vega High School. "The summer is when you get better, it's not necessarily when I have them in practice. Their work with (strength coach) Jeremy Heffner in the weight room, their individual work, their playing in the summer with their teammates, and their approach to everything they do will be different and should be going into their sophomore years."
Kristy Wallace (white jersey)
Also returning are juniors Kristy Wallace, (7.6 ppg, 5.6 assists) ... and Dekeiya Cohen (3.6 ppg), who started seven of the last eight games when Jones was trying to come back from a knee injury.
Dekeiya Cohen (right)
"I would like to see Deikeiya Cohen come back and refuse to lose a job to an underclassman," Mulkey said. "I think experience is important at the collegiate level, and Dekeiya got valuable experience. I would like to see her make a statement coming into next season."
There will be competition at the perimeter spots with an all-guard recruiting class of Alex Morris from Beaumont, Trinity Oliver from Euless Trinity, Didi Richards from Cypress Ranch and Cara Ursin from Destrehan, La. Morris and Richards played in the McDonald's All-American game Wednesday in Chicago.
"Point guard and all guard positions for us have to come in and be impactful in some way," Mulkey said. "We signed four guards, and I hope that they can come in and help us. I'm also realistic to know they are freshmen. I don't care how good you are, it is an adjustment. It's our job to get them on that floor as quickly as possible and make them better as quickly as possible so they can help us."
Baylor (33-4) is 1 of just 2 programs that has made 4 straight Elite Eights, with four-time defending national champion UConn being the other. If the Lady Bears had advanced to their fourth Final Four and first since 2012, they would have played the Huskies in Friday's national semifinals.
"Had we stayed healthy, I believe we were one team that could present problems for them," said Mulkey, whose team lost at UConn, 72-61, on Nov. 17. "Our size presented problems for them in the first game. So yes, if Alexis Jones had been completely healthy, we developed players and became a better team, I think we could have taken a shot at them. Who knows if we could have defeated them, but I felt good that we could have competed with them."
With Brown, Cox and Mompremier **, Mulkey believes "we have the post players in place" for next season.
"I think guard play is the key to our season next year," she said. "We had the post players in place this year, but we have to be able to produce at the guard spot, taking care of the basketball, understanding where we need the ball to be, understanding things quickly.
"Heck yeah I'm motivated. If I lose my motivation, I need to get out."
- article Jerry Hill, Baylor WBB website
- photos gathered from the web
OP Notes
14 Apr 2017 Alyssa Dry and Alexandria Gulley will not return to the Lady Bear roster next season.
14 Apr 2017 Gulley will continue her education at Baylor on a medical scholarship.
19 Apr 2017 Beatrice Mompremier leaves Baylor; granted release. **
16 May 2017 Mompremier will play in her hometown at the University of Miami.
- OP notes compiled from information in Baylor Lariat, Miami Herald & Waco Tribune-Herald
