Baylor courts perfection in women’s NCAA final

DENVER -- All season long, Baylor has been the best team led by the best player.

And that just makes the stakes a little higher in tonight's women's NCAA final.

Anything short of a national title would be deemed a failure for 6-foot-8-inch center Brittney Griner and the Lady Bears.

That might explain why Baylor hasn't focused on an undefeated season, nor on becoming the first team in NCAA history to win 40 games. Griner and her teammates just want to win the school's second title.

Standing in the way is Notre Dame, a team on a mission ever since losing in last year's championship to Texas A&M and sparked by maybe the nation's second-most dynamic player, All-American Skylar Diggins.

The tournament's top seed against No. 2. Just the way the selection committee drew it up.

"Forty-and-0 was never really the goal," Griner said Monday. "We have team goals each year, and our goal was to win a national championship.

"If you lose, you can't win a national championship. You've got to go 40-0 now."

Griner knows that despite the Lady Bears' incredible season, how it's judged will depend on tonight's outcome.

"We don't have that ring yet," the junior phenom said. "That's the main goal. Until we get that, we're going to feel like we haven't really done anything."

The Irish know the feeling, having fallen just short last season. Notre Dame (35-3) focused on getting back to this game all season. Soon after Diggins and her Notre Dame teammates arrived back in South Bend after last year's final, the junior guard went to the locker room. She put up on the chalkboard in the locker room, "Unfinished Business: 76-70, 15:52," the time referring to the game's turning point.

"We've had one goal all season long," Diggins said. "We've wanted to get back here and play in this game."

The Irish have been one of the best teams in the country all season long, but don't have to worry about the weight of expectations. Most people are picking Baylor to win, including President Barack Obama, who correctly predicted tonight's title matchup.

"I think when you're undefeated, you have a lot of confidence that you're playing with, but at the same time, it's just a little bit of pressure of knowing that you've never lost. And when it gets down to the end of the game, you hope they feel that pressure," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said.

"I think they have had a great season. They have one thing they want to do, same goal we have. And we're back to being the underdog. ... And we can now even be more loose, and the pressure is all on them."

With a win, Baylor would become the seventh women's team to run through a season unbeaten, joining Connecticut -- which has done it four times -- Tennessee and Texas.

"Win or lose tomorrow, we're going to head back to Waco," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "Unfortunately, we're 39-0, and you don't want to lose that last game. We know that whoever beats us, just make sure that you didn't beat yourself. Make sure that team was better than you that night. If you do that, you can't fault your effort."

The Lady Bears have used the same "unfinished business" mantra as the Irish after losing to Texas A&M in the regional final last season. Mulkey had the saying put up in the locker room, on notebooks and even handed out hundreds of those silicon wristband reminders to everyone associated with the program.

"I think it's a testament to the players. Coaches can come up with mottos and motivational tactics, but it boils down to those players," Mulkey said. "They have to have that feeling I had last year, don't want to have it again."

The teams met this season in Waco, with Baylor winning by 13 for the preseason WNIT title. Griner was unstoppable. She had 32 points and 14 rebounds, making 14 of her 18 shots, and had five blocks. Odyssey Sims had 25 points for Baylor.

"They won the first matchup, but we're two different teams now," Diggins said. "We've both gotten a lot better."