Baylor's Brittney Griner is the best player in the history of her sport

 Harry: Yeah I called her up. She gave me a bunch of crap about me not listening to her, or something. I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention. 

For those fans who enjoyed Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in the immortal "Dumb and Dumber" good news - a real sequel starring these two is scheduled to begin filming this year.

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Women's hoops doesn't generate a lot of headline-worthy material, but there is exception because one particular player is just so exceptional.

The NCAA women's tournament ends tonight with top-seeded Baylor going 40-0 by defeating Notre Dame in the title game in Denver. A sincere congrats to an incredible athletic year by Baylor:

* Heisman winner in RGIII and an Alamo Bowl win for the football team, plus wins against Oklahoma, Texas and TCU.
* Men's basketball team that finished in the Elite 8 where it joined the ranks of getting spanked by Kentucky.
* The women's team will win it all, and features the best player in the nation.

Baylor people, enjoy this. This doesn't happen very often.

Baylor has the best women's basketball player to come around since, since ever.
Brittney Griner is better than:

1. Sheryl Swoopes
2. Diana Taurasi
3. Lisa Leslie
4. Rebecca Lobo
5. Ann Meyers
6. Swin Cash
7. Katrina McClain (played like a really mean dude)

Forget Griner's dunks, no woman's player has ever affected an entire game the way she does, defensively or offensively. She embarrasses people.

About the only one I can think of who could compare is Cheryl Miller, but the competition she faced at USC in the '80s is not an apples-apples comparison.

Griner is so good because:
a.) She is 6-foot-8.
b.) Griner moves like she is 5-foot-8. Historically taller women who play basketball tend to be play stationary, and normally aren't blessed with the greatest eye-hand coordination. Griner is not some gangly, awkward young woman.

There is nothing another team can do to stop this Griner from doing whatever she wants. It speaks to her ability, and the giant gaps that exists in this game from one player to the next. 

Women's basketball doesn't generate a lot of pop these days, but Griner is truly the exceptional exception that makes tonight's particular game worth a look.

 

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Solid spellieng at the NCAA Final Four

The NCAA repeatedly tells us that nearly all of its student athletes turn pro in something else (unless you are the Kentucky Wildcats, in which case you are going to the NBA tomorrow morning).

Apparently the very few NCAA student athletes who did not graduate are in charge of all NCAA signage.

In case you can't see the gaffe immediately, here is a hint: look at the green banner ad just atop the court. It reads, "2013 MEN'S FINAL FOUR - ALANTA" Probably failed auto correct.

 This photo was one of the very few items that could draw my attention away from Anthony Davis' unibrow during the NCAA title game. That thing is hypnotic. Sorry, hypnotick.

BTW - A serious thanks to Big Mac Blog reader Emily Allen; I stole this from her Facebook page. It's not stealing if it's research.

 

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Fort Worth's Kansas Jayhawks tie to the NCAA title game

The obvious Fort Worth tie to tonight's NCAA title game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Kentucky Wildcats is the award-winning, championship Big Mac Blog. Did you hear The Big Mac Blog was named the Best Blog in Texas? It's very similar to the Nobel Prize, only slightly more important.

As a Kansas grad, I have dutifully picked against my Jayhawks since the Elite Eight. It's my duty to be down on my team right up until the time I think they can win.

I digress; there is a tie between Fort Worth and the Jayhawks.

No. 1, my all-time favorite Fort Worth high school player, Keith Langford, is a KU alum and his little brother Justin Wesley is a sophomore on the team; Wesley transferred from Lamar to Kansas. Both attended North Crowley High School.

Langford was a member of the last Roy Williams' KU team to reach the title game, in 2003, where it lost thanks for 932 missed free throws (no, not bitter). Where is Langford? According to www.Euroleague.net, Langford is ballin' it in these days in Isreal, which explains why his ringtone sounds so weird when I tried to call.

Unless center Jeff Withey gets into serious foul trouble, which against UK's Anthony Davis that's a good possibility, don't expect to see Wesley tonight. KU coach Bill Self is down to using about two players off the bench.

Wesley averaged a little under 9 minutes in 37 games this season, and appears as if he will develop into a nice college player.

"We have been lucky enough to do this a couple of times," North Crowley coach Tommy Brakel said; his team has produced Final Four participants Willie Warren (Oklahoma), Langford and now Wesley. "(Wesley) is in good situation. He was in a good one at Lamar, but he wasn't incredibly happy and he had the chance to follow his brother's footsteps at Kansas. He defends a little bit and he rebounds and he should develop nicely up there."

Lot of solid hoops in the Langford family tree. Keith played four years at Kansas; Kevin Langford began his career at Cal before he finished at TCU.

Would be really nice to see Wesley get a title, which would allow me the chance to buy more Kansas junk I simply do not need.

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TCU's Jim Christian tells staffers he's leaving; time to start the Jamie Dixon talk

UPDATE 3:55 p.m. CT: TCU men's basketball coach Jim Christian has told athletic department staffers he is leaving to accept the same position at Ohio University.

Why would a man coaching a very soon-to-be Big 12 men's basketball program leave for a MAC school?

1. TCU is not a legit Big 12 men's basketball program yet. As presently constructed this job is a quick ticket to get fired. From the coaching salaries to the facilities, everything needs a major upgrade to get close to the other Big 12 members.

2. From his coaching days at Kent State, Christian has countless ties to the MAC. He also has a daughter who lives in Evansville, Indiana. He knows this conference, and he can return to what is a good men's basketball coaching job. Potentially, he could coach here for a long time with a good salary and have  some security in a field that usually offers very little.

3. Christian very likely realized TCU was not going to make a giant committment to the men's basketball program until he showed more improvement, which going into the Big 12 is going to be a very difficult proposition.

Now what? 

1. TCU is saying that improvements are coming to Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, etc., and given the facility updates elsewhere at the school there is no reason not to believe the powers that be. Fast renovations to on-campus buildings such as the home arena tend to be difficult because they are used so frequently.

2. Expect TCU to hire a CYA-firm to conduct a search and find a few candidates, all of whom will be current head coaches elsewhere. Because TCU does not have the facities and toys to compete yet, it has to make up some of the ground with a splashy coach.

3. Do not be surprised if the new coach tries to keep assistants Reggie Brown and Rob Evans, both of whom have been instrumental in helping Christian put together what is a decent recruiting class.

4. Finally, here comes the Jamie Dixon talk.

If TCU is looking to make a splash with this hire and "win" the press conference, the Pitt head coach would do it. But this is not going to be easy, even if the timing may never be better. It will also not be cheap.

According to this story, Dixon makes about $1.7 million. That salary is aligned with most big-time men's basketball coaches in the country. Christian's salary is around $600K.

Dixon has won at least 20 games in all nine of his seasons at Pitt, which is scheduled to join the ACC. But despite all of this regular season success, it has not translated to the NCAA tournament where the Panthers have yet to reach the Final Four. 

Last season, the top-seeded Panthers were upset at the buzzer by Butler in the second round, which really irritated the Pitt masses. Dixon is getting the great-regular season, bad-postseason coach rap.

This season was his worst yet; the Panthers were 22-17 and 5-13 in the Big East. From Dec. 23 to Jan. 21, the Panthers lost eight straight. From Feb. 8 to Feb. 19, they lost another five in a row.

Only a late surge of winning four of five games in the CBI Tournament, which included the title game, made the overall record semi-respectable.

Dixon is obviously a quality coach who has won a lot of games in college basketball's hardest league. Pitt would be stupid to just let him walk because of one bad season, but given how rapidly the temperatures change at these jobs, TCU would not stupid not to make the phone call.

 

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Re-visiting the Big Mac Blog NCAA bracket: Almost perfect

The NCAA tournament is down to one more game, and once again I have just about completely nailed this thing. Again. Click on this to get a better look at my NCAA bracket.

As you can see, I am really kicking myself for only half picking No. 15 Lehigh to beat No. 2 Duke before I changed my mind. Everything else? Pretty much nailed.

BTW - I have KU as my winner. Maybe it's UK. 

 

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Vote now: A TCU girl is a finalist for Miss College Football

I have no idea what this is, but ... who cares? Go with it.  Something called MissCollegeFootball.com is down to its Final Four, and among this quartet is a TCU girl.

Ms. Katarina "Kat" Royder of the TCU Showgirls is up against a girl from UCLA, as well as Michigan State and Florida State. Kat is a sophomore, and a psychology and pre-med student. Her mother is a TCU alum.

Rumor has it Kat is not too fond of the picture the website selected for this competition so here is another one.

Right now the returns aren't great for Kat, but it's early. Girlfriend needs some voting love so do the right thing and vote for Kat. 

 

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RANT - NCAA women's basketball, you aren't men's basketball

FULL DISCLOSURE: I served as the TCU women's basketball media relations director in the mid '90s for two seasons, and I've covered a number of women's basketball games as a sports journalist. Therefore, I have no problem in saying ...

There are not enough good women's basketball players to field a legit Top 25 let alone a 64-team post season NCAA tournament, and an additional WNIT field. Thanks to Title IX, however, the enormous waste of money that is the NCAA women's basketball tournament exists.

This is not some standard "Nobody cares" diatribe against women's basketball. People care, but the number just isn't very big. This is not some scream-fest against Title IX; a lot of good has been generated via this piece of legislation, namely a lot of young women play sports.

This is, however, a shot at those involved in women's basketball who feel their game measures with the men's. It does not. It's a different game, a different world, and the achievements should be evaluated accordingly.

The expectations and needs of a men's basketball coach at a Division I athletic department dwarf that of the women's coach. A men's team often needs to win in order for the entire athletic department to be successful. No women's program has such pressures. 

Now take parity. Ten years ago coaches were thrilled with all of the parity in the women's game. It's a mirage. There is fraction of a decimal point of parity in the women's game, which is better than it has been.

Baylor is going to finish 40-0 this season. This will be the ninth time since 1976 that a women's program has finished the season undefeated, and the third time in the last four years. No men's team has gone undefeated since Indiana in 1975.

In what seems like it happens all the time, the eight finalists in the NCAA women's tournament are all one or two seeds.

In the women's game, Cinderalla is dressed as a three-seed. Pick your reason, but there simply aren't enough great players for true parity to exist yet. 

This is why the achievements of Pat Summitt at Tennessee and the UConn winning streak need to be contained to just their sport. Summitt's career win total is laudatory, but it does not compare to that of Duke men's coach Mike Krzyzewski; not enough quality teams have existed in her tenure for her to lose. UConn's 90-game winning streak does not compare to UCLA's 88-game winning streak beyond the actual number.

Achievement is achievement, and nothing should diminish what Baylor does this season. But to say Baylor's undefeated season compares with Indiana's 32-0 more than three decades ago is ignorant.

 

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Baylor's NCAA game against Xavier will swing on a pair of injured Musketeers

After what feels like a three-year layoff, the AMC TV series Mad Men starring Jon Hamm and Christina Hendricks returns on Sunday night. I had been watching it, but I have completely forgotten the story lines.

I am pretty sure ad execs drink during the work day, chase women, and ... something something something.

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The Baylor men's basketball team plays its Sweet 16 game tonight against Xavier at 6:15 p.m. Baylor is a six-point favorite. If I were so inclined, I would really, really, really like Xavier.

Buuuuuut .... there is a chance that freshman Dez Wells (toe) and grad student Andre Walker (migraines) may not be available. Wells averages 10 points and 4.9 rebounds and Walker averages 5.4 points and 5.8 rebounds.

If those guys aren't playing, forget it. Baylor goes to the Elite 8 where it will lose to Kentucky.

Click here for the story about the injured Musketeers.

If they are, I like Xavier straight up. Guard Tu Holloway may be one of the nastier guards left in this tournament. His involvement in the brawl between Cincinnati and Xavier on Dec. 10 is unfortunate, not to mention stupid, because it overshadows what is a brilliant college player.

Tu is a 6-0, 190 pound guard who relentlessly attacks the basket. He plays with no fear, but he can also play with a heavy case of stupid at time as well.

There is no way Baylor can use Brady Heslip to chase him, meaning it's on Pierre Jackson. If somehow Jackson can either get Holloway into foul trouble, or manage to not him control the game and tempo Baylor can win this.

I have liked Xavier as an Elite 8 team from the time the brackets were released. Of course, I also liked Florida State as a Final Four team, too.

 

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Video: Brittney Griner's dunk on Florida in the NCAA tournament

One of the things this blog needs is more video of dunks in the half court during women's basketball games. 

Thank you, Brittney Griner. The best woman's basketball player today threw down against Florida as Baylor improved to 36-0 to reach the Sweet 16. This is the second time a woman dunked in a tourney game.

 

 

 

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This NCAA tournament is a nice way to say that Perry Jones III should stay at Baylor

As of today this website called nbadraft.net has Baylor forward Perry Jones III going to the Boston Celtics with the 17th selection in the June NBA draft.

This site called draftexpress.net has Jones going No. 7 to the Pistons.

And this one has PJIII going No. 10 to the Bucks.

I have no idea if any of these sites is anywhere near accurate, but I do know that PJIII has been all but invisible in this NCAA tournament. He has nine points in the two games as the Bears have reached the Sweet 16 not because of their projected lottery pick power forward but rather by Brady Heslip and Quincy Acy.

A good NCAA tournament is not going to make a player, but it could raise a red flag. Guys like Iowa State's Royce White and St. Bonaventure's Andrew Nicholson looked like dominant players with serious NBA potential in their tourney games whereas Jones didn't.

This makes no sense. Jones was coming off a Big 12 tournament where he went for 31 & 11, 18 & 7, 16 & 11 (pts rebounds) in the Bears' three games. Jones III looked like a guy who finally got it, and wanted it.

Perhaps this weekend will change things. A good game in the Elite Eight against Kentucky could change some minds, and perception.

No one can dispute if he has an NBA frame (he does), or NBA talent (he does), but watching him float in and out of games it's easy to ask whether he wants it. 

He is such a nice guy, which looks like it may be his undoing. 

 

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