Baylor begins NCAAs as No. 2 seed vs. Grambling (Mar 14, 2018)
Grambling State coach Freddie Murray will have a pretty good idea what kind of challenge his team is facing when it opens the NCAA Women's Tournament versus Baylor on the Lady Bears' home court Friday evening in Waco Texas.
The Tigers traveled to Waco for a nonconference game two seasons ago and Baylor proved to be a rough host. The Lady Bears rolled over Grambling State 96-42, holding the Tigers to single digits scoring in the first and second quarters.
After the bracket was revealed earlier this week, slotting Baylor at a No. 2 seed and playing No. 15 seed Grambling State, Murray recalled how the Lady Bears' size caused problems for his team.
"One thing about it, we don't make any excuses," Murray said. "I say all the time, styles make fights. Where they have an advantage, we have an advantage in the perimeter game. It has to be a chess match where you have to play the one's weaknesses. It's going to be tough. We're really going to have to put on our big girl you-know-what and get ready to do it."
Baylor is in a familiar position with a high seed, though it's puzzling how the Lady Bears were kept off the No. 1 seed line. Baylor (31-1) enters the NCAA tournament ranked No. 2 in the nation.
Perhaps the selection committee accounted for the absence of point guard Kristy Wallace, who suffered a torn ACL in Baylor's regular-season finale on Feb. 26. Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said on Monday that Wallace was traveling home to Australia to review surgery options and will not be with the team for at least the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
With Wallace out for the season, Lady Bears freshman guard Alexis Morris stepped in and averaged 18.5 points in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals and final to help Baylor cut down the nets.
"I'm not surprised Alexis does that," Mulkey said. "Alexis does that every day in practice. The mistakes she makes in games are typical freshman mistakes that you may not see. But, I have to work extremely hard myself as a coach to stay focused, because I took for granted that Kristy would do it for me. She's going to make me stay on my toes more."
Morris' best bet to keep her coach calm will likely be to consistently feed the post. Baylor will have a huge size advantage with Grambling State's tallest player, 6-foot-3 forward Kailyn Gideon, contending with Baylor 6-foot-4 forward Lauren Cox and 6-foot-7 center Kalani Brown.
For the Tigers (19-13) to challenge Baylor for long, they need their trio of capable perimeter players -- guards Jazmin Boyd, Deja McKinney and Monisha Neal -- to get hot from 3-point range.
However, no matter Grambling State's result versus Baylor, the No. 15 seed marks a move in the right direction for the SWAC Tournament champion.
"The respect is coming back to the program," Murray said. "Like I've said all along, we play a tough nonconference schedule and I think at the end of the day strength of schedule plays into these type of rankings. I was glad to see us at a 15 seed."
