Big 12: Griner is future of women’s basketball

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The most talked about player at the Big 12 women’s basketball news media day was nowhere to be found at the event.

For now, Baylor recruit Brittney Griner remains part YouTube dunking sensation, part stat monster and part myth. She remained in Waco, Texas, in favor of two upperclassmen.

All that will change soon enough for the 6-foot-8 center who might represent the future of women’s basketball and a generational jump in the game. Sometime early in the season, Griner will effortlessly dunk once or twice, and everything people think about women’s basketball will change.

Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said Griner’s arrival “is like when Wilt Chamberlain came to Kansas in 1956 and transformed the game.”

Here’s one number to mull: Griner dunked 52 times as a senior at Aldine Nimitz High School in Houston — far more than the total number of dunks in NCAA women’s history.

It’s not just Griner’s height. It’s her athleticism, coupled with a condor-like 7-4 wingspan.

Baylor coach Kim Mulkey won NCAA titles and Olympic gold as a point guard. During her career, she has played or coached against 6-8 Americans and 7-foot Chinese and Russian centers.

“I’ve never seen a girl that can effortlessly dunk it any way she wants, left-handed, right-handed, two-hand jam,” Mulkey said. “I think the only dunk I’ve not ever seen her do is the windmill.”

Mulkey said there is more to Griner than a highlight-in-waiting, and plenty for her to learn. The checklist includes playing with intensity for 40 minutes and learning to guard athletic opponents who likely will show up in each Big 12 game this season.

But the respect for the freshman extends throughout the Big 12. The league’s coaches voted Baylor the preseason favorite, even though the Bears lost four starters from a 29-6 team.

Already, other schools are thinking about how to cope with Griner, generally ranked as the nation’s No. 1 recruit.

“As much as she’s going to bring to the game, I think it’s going to improve all of us defensively,” Blair said, citing the effective game plan Mansfield Summit used to beat Griner and Aldine Nimitz, 52-43, in the Class 5A state finals.

Double-teams will quickly become a way of life.

Texas A&M senior center Damitria Buchanan said she played against a then-6-4 Griner in AAU games four years ago during summer competition.

“High school basketball isn’t as physical as it is at this level,” said the 6-2 Buchanan, who plans to “rough up her a little bit and let her feel our presence regardless of how tall you are and if you can dunk.”

Some people think Griner might change the women’s game more with her shot-blocking ability than her slams.

Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale talked about using screens to set up her big people for outside shots.

Just don’t expect Baylor to remain static. Mulkey is agreeable to zone defenses, allowing Griner to remain close to the basket.

As her new teammates have discovered, challenging Griner 1-on-1 can be an exercise in rejection.

“Defensively, she has the ability to alter shots and block shots into the stands like you’ve never seen a female athlete do,” Baylor senior forward Morghan Medlock said.

Blair predicted she would be an attendance magnet.

“She’s going to change the game more than any other player — more than Lisa Leslie, more than Candace Parker — because she plays above the rim,” Texas Longhorns coach Gail Goestenkors said. “That’s something no other player has ever done.”