Arkansas-Baylor Preview
3/15/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 15, 2001
GAME: No. 9 Arkansas (19-12) vs. No. 8 Baylor (21-8).
REGIONAL: West, first round.
TIME: Saturday, 11 a.m. EST.
SITE: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, N.C.
Coming off one of the most impressive turnarounds in college basketball, Baylor makes its first NCAA tournament appearance when it faces Arkansas in the first round of the West Regional.
The eighth-seeded Lady Bears were just 7-20 last season. But they have made remarkable strides under first-year coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, going 21-8 for the biggest turnaround in Division I this season.
"Who'd have thought this? You can't have these kinds of expectations," Mulkey-Robertson said. "All we wanted to do was lay the foundation, we may have set the bar too high, too early."
While her team lacks postseason experience, Mulkey-Robertson certainly does not. She had spent the previous 20 years as a player and assistant coach at Louisiana Tech, and either played or coached in the national championship game six times.
The Lady Bears have ridden the outstanding play of Sheila Lambert and Danielle Crockrom. Lambert topped the Big 12 with 22.3 points per game, while Crockrom adds 21.3 points and a league-leading 11.6 rebounds.
Saturday's game matches a pair of teams from two of the power conferences in women's basketball. Baylor was one of seven Big 12 teams to make the NCAA tournament, while being an SEC team allowed Arkansas to get in despite a losing record in conference play.
The Lady Razorbacks were only 6-8 in league play, finishing in a sixth-place tie. But they reached the semifinals of the SEC tournament to secure an at-large bid.
"We got rewarded for our strength of schedule," Arkansas coach Gary Blair said. "There were teams from the other power conferences that did not get in that had winning conference records, but they did not take on the teams that we faced."
Blair was an assistant at Louisiana Tech when Mulkey-Robertson was a player in the early 1980s.
Arkansas is back in the tournament for the first time since 1998, when the Lady Razorbacks won the West Regional and advanced to the Final Four.
The teams are long-time rivals from their days playing in the defunct Southwest Conference, having met nearly 30 times. Arkansas has won the last five meetings, including an 80-69 victory on Dec. 2, 1999.
The winner advances to face top-seeded Duke or No. 16 Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the second round.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Arkansas - F Shameka Christon (10.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg), F Lonniya Bragg (10.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg), G Wendi Willits (13.3 ppg, 1.9 apg), G Dana Cherry (10.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg), G Amy Wright (6.9 ppg, 6.1 apg).
Baylor - F Crockrom (21.3 ppg, 11.6 rpg), F Chanelle Fox (4.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg), C Monica Arnold (10.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg), G Nicole Collins (5.0 ppg, 2.6 apg), G Lambert (22.3 ppg, 6.1 apg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Arkansas - At-large bid, SEC. Baylor - At-large bid, Big 12.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORDS: Arkansas - 9-6, 6 years. Baylor - First appearance.
