Oct. 2, 2001

Two national basketball publications, Athlon Sports and Lindy's College Basketball, have ranked the Baylor Lady Bears in their Top 25 Preseason Polls. In addition, Sheila Lambert and Danielle Crockrom are listed as preseason All-Americans.

A look at the Athlon Sports Preseason Top 25 Poll shows the Lady Bears ranked No. 10. In fact, four of Athlon's top 10 teams are from the Big 12. Oklahoma is #4, Iowa State #6, Texas Tech #9 and Baylor #10. Colorado also made the list at No. 15. Baylor's senior point guard Sheila Lambert was named to Athlon's preseason All-America third team.

Lindy's College Basketball shows Baylor at No. 16 in their preseason top 25 poll. Six Big 12 teams made Lindy's list: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 5 Texas Tech, No. 8 Iowa State, No. 13 Colorado, No. 16 Baylor and No. 22 Texas. Senior forward Danielle Crockrom, who averaged 21.2 points and 11.6 rebounds a game last season, was named second-team All-American.

Last season first-year head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson led the Lady Bears to a 21-9 record, their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and a final national ranking of No. 23. The Lady Bears return one of the most potent scoring tandems in the nation off that squad in Lambert and Crockrom. Lambert ranked No. 8 in scoring nationally with 22.1 points a game which led the Big 12 while Crockrom scored 21.2 a game. Crockrom also led the Big 12 in rebounding at 11.6 a game and was fifth nationally.

The Lady Bears will see their first action of the season when they open up at the Nevada Bell Classic hosted by the University of Nevada on Nov. 16 & 17. The University of North Texas will be the Lady Bears' first opponent in the tournament.

Baylor's Preseason Rankings:
No. 10 - Women's Basketball Journal
No. 10 - Athlon Sports
No. 16 - Lindy's College Basketball
No. 23 - Women's Basketball News Service

Athlon Sports
1. Tennessee
2. Vanderbilt
3. Connecticut
4. Oklahoma
5. Duke
6. Iowa State
7. Louisiana Tech
8. Stanford
9. Texas Tech
10. Baylor
11. NC State
12. Florida
13. Washington
14. Purdue
15. Colorado
16. Penn State
17. Arizona State
18. Michigan
19. Notre Dame
20. Maryland
21. Drake
22. Utah
23. George Washington
24. North Carolina
25. Georgia

Lindy's College Basketball
1. Oklahoma
2. Duke
3. Connecticut
4. Tennessee
5. Texas Tech
6. Louisiana Tech
7. Vanderbilt
8. Iowa State
9. Stanford
10. Michigan
11. Florida
12. Louisiana State
13. Colorado
14. NC State
15. Purdue
16. Baylor
17. Georgia
18. Colorado State
19. Old Dominion
20. Washington
21. Utah
22. Texas
23. Saint Mary's
24. Arizona State
25. Rutgers