In digging through some older stuff of mine, I came across the official NCAA DVD of the 2005 women's basketball tournament. It includes both semifinals and the championship game. Thus far I have re-watched BU's semifinal against LSU, which we won 68 - 57. The game was close throughout the second half until near the very end, and early in the first half BU was down by 15, but had tied things up by halftime.

Here are few miscellaneous observations after viewing the game against LSU:

1. BU played a zone defense throughout the second half until the last couple of minutes. Given how devoted Mulkey is to man defense now, it was strange to see us playing zone.
2. Overall the BU team was very athletic, but sure didn't have good shooters. The announcer mentioned that the starting point guard, Chelsea Whitaker, had not made a 3 pointer all year. I don't remember her making anything longer than a layup in the game. Emily Niemann was the only real shooter on the team. Sophia Young hit mid-range jumpers in the game, but other than that it was pretty much layups and free throws. Niemann made a 3 and several baby hooks in the lane.
3. Dee Kantner was one of the referees for the game, so she's been drawing the assignment for the critical games for a long time.
4. Kim had shorter hair 15 years ago.
5. Abiola Wabara came through big on the offensive end in the second half. She was also the one mainly responsible for guarding LSU's star, Simone Augustus.
6. Recruiting has changed big time for Baylor since the 2005 team. Two starters, Wabara and Young, were hardly recruited by anyone other than Baylor, and Wabara was taken pretty much sight unseen when it came to her basketball skills.
7. It was kind of painful to watch Chameka Scott playing and to realize she's no longer with us. She died so young.
8. One often hears about someone having a high basketball IQ. Niemann demonstrated that in this game. By far she was the slowest person on the floor (probably including the referees), but she just knew how to play basketball. She did a decent job in the middle of the zone on defense, and she somehow found ways to position herself to make layups and baby hooks on offense -- LSU was determined not to leave her open to take 3s.

Brickyard Bear said:

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I was there all weekend ... games, practice, autograph session, pep rallies. It's still my favorite in-person Baylor athletic experience (well, tied for first with the 2013 Ice Fog Bowl), and I'm older than dirt.

The rally to close out the first half was unexpected and amazing. I wish a watchable version was available online, but it isn't.

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Brickyard, myself and my wife can ditto everything you said. We were there as well. The only thing I would add as being more enjoyable was ironically, the weekend before. We went to Tempe on the Bob (?) Simpson group for the regional. There were not a lot of us, but the group spent the weekend together, stayed in the team hotel, and even attended the team's Sunday morning devotional on the off day while waiting to play Minnesota, I believe. The thing that made this so special was there were 40+ of us that enjoyed each other's company the entire weekend.

I remember after beating Minnesota, we all went out to eat together to plan the next weekend's flight to Indy.

We had never done this for a Baylor athletic event (we are 71). Heck, exactly what Baylor event up till then was there to enjoy like this? All we did for the most part was lose.......in every sport it seemed. It was so special because it was so new, there weren't many of us tagging along with the team, and most importantly we won all 4 games (Tempe and Indy). The team appreciated us and made us a part of their experience.

Beyond that year we made many bowl trips and some other WBB regionals including Des Moines (where we had lived while I was working up there one winter in the 70s). We couldn't go to Denver. We had tickets to NO, but we know how that turned out. Our health lately has prevented us from continuing to follow the Bears much in person, but we will never forget that 2005 post season.....and the ice fog game.

Baylor people have argued about this for some time, but no one can convince me that the 2005 WBB run to the championship was the most important and most impactful Baylor sport accomplishment in modern history. The football championships were great, but that 2005 team showed Baylor didn't have to reside in the cellar of any sport and that success could be had at Baylor. Without Mulkey and that team and program, I don't think football would have ever emerged as it did. Things in 2005 were so dark, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. They showed it could be done.

I hope no one ever takes for granted what we have accomplished since 2005, especially WBB. You don't know what you have till you lose it.

blackie
Baylor people have argued about this for some time, but no one can convince me that the 2005 WBB run to the championship was the most important and most impactful Baylor sport accomplishment in modern history. The football championships were great, but that 2005 team showed Baylor didn't have to reside in the cellar of any sport and that success could be had at Baylor. Without Mulkey and that team and program, I don't think football would have ever emerged as it did. Things in 2005 were so dark, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. They showed it could be done.


The years prior to the WBB NT in 2004/2005 was with out a doubt the darkest time in Baylor and Baylor athletics history ! The only exception had been the men's tennis team's. Years of double digit losses in football, other sports teams finishing in the middle of the conference standings or worse. Then there was the terrible murder of Patrick Dennehy by basketball teammate Carlton Dotson. Waco itself seemed to be dragged down by the Baylor situation......Then came along the WBB magnificent run through the NCAA Tournament. Kim handled the constant press questions about the murder perfectly and kept her team focused and the win over Minnesota started everyone thinking.....hey this can happen. I remember going to the Ferrell Center to watch the LSU game on the Jumbo Screen and the floor was packed. For the Michigan State game the crowd flowed up into the regular seating.
When the team returned to Waco and BU decided to have a welcome National Champions celebration at the
Ferrell Center and made the decision to open the celebration to the general public.....Waco citizens responded and joined with Baylor students to FILL the Farrell Center to the top....you could actually feel the positive energy and pride. Kim and told the Administration she wanted the athletes from every sport to sit on the floor and she gave what I feel was her best speech ever.... she said there was no reason why every team could not win a national title. She challenged every athlete there to excellence. The Baseball team was the only team left with games to play and they made a great run and almost beat Texas for a chance at a NT. That I believe was the end of Baylor being a token member of the conference and the start of a new sense of optimism in the athletic department that spread across all sports.
Then there was the parade !!!! The streets were packed the entire parade route....Have not seen residents turn out like that before....well,,,,it reminded me of a sign that hung over I-35 in 1974 for the Cotton Bowl "Will the last person leaving Waco please turn out the lights"

Isnt it an amazing that once again CKM and the WBB came to the rescue after yet another scandal and gave Baylor a positive image and changed the conversation.

What that 2005 WBB team did .well like the commercial says PRICELESS

I will upload the televised version to YouTube later today under "Lady Bears vs Tigers".

Whoops......the URL link for the Lady Bears vs. LSU Tigers is:

I uploaded the Baylor/N.Carolina 2005 Elite 8 game to Youtube. It will be available at 9PM Enjoy!

The URL link is:

I just remember Debbie Antonelli going on and on about "There's fast... and then there's NorthCarolinafast!" They showed the UNC team in the tunnel and compared them to thoroughbreds waiting to be let out of the start gate. I was offended on behalf of our team, like we wore cement sneakers, or something.

I thought we out "physicaled" Minnesota, out "quicked" UNC, out coached and out performed LSU, and out "athleticized" MSU. IMO, we outplayed each team in the area that SHOULD have been THEIR strengths. Well, maybe athleticism wasn't MSU's strength, but our athleticism allowed us to score and rebound easily, and MSU's size and matchup zone was supposed to make those two things hard.

Kim is a Leon Barmore disciple. The idea of playing zone is borderline anathema to both of them. Her shift to zone in the first half when we were getting killed surprised me, but it was also critical to the win. We were simply not fast enough to play with their guards man-to-man. But we played the zone well -- which means Kim must have been practicing it on a "just in case" basis.

This still stands as one of the best coaching jobs I've seen. LSU was just flat better. If you mixed those two teams, only Sophia would have started. LSU was better at the other four spots. We still beat them by 15. That's dang impressive.