Now entering the Elizabeth Lambert wing of the College Women’s Sports Hall of Fame, please welcome Baylor’s Brittney Griner, who got a quite punchy with Texas Tech’s Jordan Barncastle on Wednesday during Baylor’s 69-60 win. Griner’s future with the Bears is uncertain; coach Kim Mulkey saying that the school will handle the situation internally (not likely: The Big 12 is going to certainly have its say as well). But what is clear is that the freshman center whom the team’s web site called “Baylor’s most decorated recruit in any sport ever” now has a mark on her resume which may never go way.
The bigger question: Could all of this have been avoided? ESPN contributor Mechelle Voepel says yes. Voepel writes that she noticed Griner’s poor sportsmanship in Baylor’s 99-18 win over Texas State in early January (yes, you read that score correctly). Evidently Griner’s two dunks in that game overshadowed her tendency to get in opponent’s faces in a game her team would win by 81 points. So one has to wonder, what kind of coaching is going on here?
Video following the jump.
From Voepel’s story at ESPN today:
At one point, she swatted away a shot, and then sort of hovered over and stared down at her opponent. It was brief but noticeable. And after one of her dunks, she ran back up the court yelling, shaking her head and tapping her chest.
Baylor won that game 99-18; Texas State was humiliated. It’s one thing to beat a team badly because it is not anywhere near your league. There’s not much you can do as a competitor to avoid that. But it’s another thing to essentially lord it over that team. It came across as bullying. … because woofing it up when you’re embarrassing a team that’s so obviously physically inferior to you just makes you look like a jerk.
Well, there goes the Naismith Trophy, I’d reckon.
More video here, including both coaches talking about it at the post-game press conference.
Voepel says he ended up not writing about Griner’s antics because the player was just a freshman, and was just learning. Evidently she wasn’t learning fast enough, which should have been pointed out by her coach before it came to this.
I’m just glad that Dubya didn’t have to see this ugliness.
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No control, no excuses for Griner [ESPN]
Baylor women’s basketball star faces discipline after ejection for landing punch [Associated Press]
