Leon trying to reach out to Kim . . .

[Dawgpix]

. . . but I'm sure there's more to this story and her comments about Leon.




Baylor Sailing Uncharted Waters in Tourney

By BOB BAUM
.c The Associated Press

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Now it's the North Carolina women's turn. Just like Connecticut a year ago, the Tar Heels could win both of college basketball's biggest prizes. The men made it to the Final Four by beating Wisconsin on Sunday. The North Carolina women can do the same with a victory over Baylor in the Tempe Regional final Monday night.

The matchup of the No. 1-seeded Tar Heals and No. 2-seeded Lady Bears should be a showcase of how athletically gifted and skilled the young women who play basketball have become.

``You're going to see tremendous athletes. You're going to see unbelievable speed and quickness,'' Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson said. ``You're going to see unbelievable leaping ability. You're going to see girls that grew up playing the game with guys.''

Both teams are 30-3 and riding long winning streaks - North Carolina 16 games and Baylor a school-record 17. Both teams love to run, both play tough defense, both are strong inside.

``I think it shows where the game is now, the skill level, the abilities of the players, the style of play, the coaching, the ability of players to shoot the basketball,'' North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. ``The game's come a long way.''

Hatchell is 684-265 in 19 seasons at North Carolina, but is in a regional final for only the third time. Her 1998 team lost to eventual national champion Tennessee, her 1994 team, with Marion Jones at point guard, won the national title.

Baylor has never made it this far in the tournament, but in just five years, Mulkey-Robertson has built a strong program that reflects her own intensely competitive personality.

As a player, she helped Louisiana Tech win two national titles, and was part of the U.S. Olympic gold medal team in 1984.

She was an assistant at Louisiana Tech for 15 years, helping the school win three more national championships and assuming she would take over when longtime coach Leon Barmore retired. She was offered the job, but the money was far less than she could have gotten had she accepted several big-time coaching positions she turned down over the years. Louisiana Tech also didn't give her the five-year deal she wanted.

So she left on sour terms to take over the downtrodden Baylor program.

``I keep in contact with a lot of friends at Louisiana Tech,'' Mulkey-Robertson said. ``I've not talked to Coach Barmore since I left there. He's left two messages on my cell phone after a basketball game.''

Baylor has little athletic heritage. The track program of coach Clyde Hart has produced Olympic gold medalists Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner. But the school probably is best remembered for a men's basketball player accused of murdering a teammate in 2003.

So an NCAA women's basketball championship would be a very big deal.

``As a university and a community in Waco, we've got so many people behind us,'' guard Chameka Scott said. ``They just love to see us bring some goodness to Baylor. To become a powerhouse, and just what we've come from and what we've become, is a lot of fun to watch.''

Mulkey-Robertson's job got a lot easier when she found Sophia Young, who came to the United States from the West Indies as an exchange student age 15. Through some connections, she heard about Young, went to see her play a high school game at Shreveport and could see a raw talent with tremendous potential.

Young, a 6-foot-1 junior, scored 26 points in Baylor's rugged 64-57 victory over Minnesota on Saturday night.

``She's a great player and a great athlete,'' Hatchell said. ``When I saw her jump last night, I was wondering if she was ever going to come back down. She can just jump over the rest of the defense and shoot her shot. There is no way to stop that. She jumps higher than anyone I've seen this year.''

Young's mother came from the West Indies and watched her play for the first time on Saturday night.

``She thought I was pretty good,'' Young said.

The Tar Heels had to overcome a hostile crowd to beat Arizona State on its home floor 79-72 on Saturday night. On Sunday, the North Carolina women watched in their locker room and rooted the men's team on to victory. Three of the women date players on the men's team.

The men and women play the same North Carolina, up-tempo style.

``We're just a run-and-gun team,'' said the Tar Heels' 5-foot-6, ever-energized playmaker Ivory Latta, who scored 20 on Saturday. ``Everybody can run.''

[Dirtydawg]

I can't believe she hasn't talked to him in 5 years, and wouldn't return his phone calls. I think she knows she stabbed him in the back after what he did for her when he retired the first time and she can't bring herself to call him. What a b....

[DawgGoneMad]

Sick. She knows and feels tremendous guilt over this. She did leave here on sour terms. But why, I ask YET AGAIN! Because Jim Oakes wouldn't give her that fifth year-- I do not understand this still-- and because we couldn't cough up the dough. Instead, we concentrated on trying to make football our power by investing as much money as we could in this and joining the WAC.

Good for us, huh Jim Oakes? Now we're out one of the best women basketball coaches in the country, we're in a crap conference almost no better than the Sun Belt, and our women's basketball team is going down the tubes and losing another coach. Congratulations.

When this kind of thing happens at other univeristies, people are forced to resign for AWFUL decisions and direction.

It is time we start placing blame on Jim Oakes. It is time we start realizing he hasn't done such a good job. It's time for change at the top!

[glm47]

Sick. She knows and feels tremendous guilt over this. She did leave here on sour terms. But why, I ask YET AGAIN! Because Jim Oakes wouldn't give her that fifth year-- I do not understand this still-- and because we couldn't cough up the dough. Instead, we concentrated on trying to make football our power by investing as much money as we could in this and joining the WAC.

Good for us, huh Jim Oakes? Now we're out one of the best women basketball coaches in the country, we're in a crap conference almost no better than the Sun Belt, and our women's basketball team is going down the tubes and losing another coach. Congratulations.

When this kind of thing happens at other univeristies, people are forced to resign for AWFUL decisions and direction.

It is time we start placing blame on Jim Oakes. It is time we start realizing he hasn't done such a good job. It's time for change at the top!

You are totally clueless. Your gibberish doesn't even warrant a response.

[champion110]

Kim is gone. I am sure that Leon was just calling to congratulate her. He is a class act like that.

We need to forget about Kim. She is happy where she is and they are EXTREMELY happy with her.

Time to bring in the next great Lady Techster coach!

[atomicdawg]

Sick. She knows and feels tremendous guilt over this. She did leave here on sour terms. But why, I ask YET AGAIN! Because Jim Oakes wouldn't give her that fifth year-- I do not understand this still-- and because we couldn't cough up the dough. Instead, we concentrated on trying to make football our power by investing as much money as we could in this and joining the WAC.

Good for us, huh Jim Oakes? Now we're out one of the best women basketball coaches in the country, we're in a crap conference almost no better than the Sun Belt, and our women's basketball team is going down the tubes and losing another coach. Congratulations.

When this kind of thing happens at other univeristies, people are forced to resign for AWFUL decisions and direction.

It is time we start placing blame on Jim Oakes. It is time we start realizing he hasn't done such a good job. It's time for change at the top!

You really think jim made that call by himself. Kim was here for 15 years. One of the best players to ever play here. If it deals with a matter of money I think Dr. Dan has alot of input.

[killerdawg]

Sick. She knows and feels tremendous guilt over this. She did leave here on sour terms. But why, I ask YET AGAIN! Because Jim Oakes wouldn't give her that fifth year--

It wasn't up to Oakes to give her a fifth year. The Board of Regents sets the no. of years and the limit was four at the time. Most Tech employees get a one year contract each year.

Mulkey knew this and asked for a 5th year so she would have an excuse not to follow in Leon's footsteps.

She is a spoiled brat and an overrated coach. She was recruiting Young for Tech and took her to Baylor with her. That's her ace in the hole now but once she's gone, Mulkey's (lack of) coaching talent will be exposed.

Get over it.

[Bulldog44]

This story says she was offered only one year.



http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaato...ory?id=2022020

[champion110]

No matter what the article states, we offered 4 years. When asked by Kim what would happen at the end of 4 years IF it didn't work out, the Administration promised a 5th year in some capacity. This was for her Louisiana retirement assurance. This was all we could offer - that was not Tech's fault.

Kim probably would have been a great coach here, because she loved the Lady Techsters. I think it came down to being scared to go behind Leon, though. She took a bottom dweller team with no where to go but up. I don't think she believed in herself enough to follow a legend at Tech. She has proven that she is a great Head Coach and recruited very well. Players will go to a school that shows it is serious about the program - Baylor did with this hire. That is old news and is over now.

The question is if Louisiana Tech will show that it is serious about this program with this hire.

As for not being able to compete with B12 and SEC schools for recruits, that is simply not true. How do you think the Dukes of the world started their programs going in the right direction. Louisiana Tech fans (especially those in the Ruston area - and especially Shreveport) have an inferiority complex. Being in a top conference does not dictate a great program. We have shown that for 25 years. You can see it on the men's side too. If you are serious about having a power house program, you can do it. Football is a little different because of the BCS. There is a built in ceiling for teams that is REAL tough to break through. Basketball is not that way.

We CAN be at the top again, but the decision of who will coach will send a clear message of IF we will be.

We need to knock the chip off of our shoulder and go forward like the Elite Program that we are.

[RXDAWG]

How come Gonzaga has a great men's team year after year? You don't have to be in a top BCS conference to succeed.

[DawgGoneMad]

Although I appreciate your responses, Kim was not afraid to follow in his footsteps and a simple demand such as a fifth year should have been easily provided to keep her put. We needed her and should have been more flexible to keep her at Tech. Look what happened. Are we better off without her?

And although I too can never look at her the same again, she is anything but an awful coach. Nice try.

[CARTEK]

Although I appreciate your responses, Kim was not afraid to follow in his footsteps and a simple demand such as a fifth year should have been easily provided to keep her put. We needed her and should have been more flexible to keep her at Tech. Look what happened. Are we better off without her?

And although I too can never look at her the same again, she is anything but an awful coach. Nice try.

Moron, you are in denial. Several people have told you that a 5th year was not possible because Louisiana law at the time prohibited it. Fact is she did not want to follow Leon...fact is she knew the 5th year could not be contracted.

[playdablues]

Although I appreciate your responses, Kim was not afraid to follow in his footsteps and a simple demand such as a fifth year should have been easily provided to keep her put. We needed her and should have been more flexible to keep her at Tech. Look what happened. Are we better off without her?

Would you throw away your entire life's work, basically the only thing you've ever known and worked for, over a measly ONE year regarding contract length? Stop and think about it.

I don't know KMR. I do know that her actions over the Techster job says more about her and her character than I could ever state.

[CARTEK]

Would you throw away your entire life's work, basically the only thing you've ever known and worked for, over a measly ONE year regarding contract length? Stop and think about it.

I don't know KMR. I do know that her actions over the Techster job says more about her and her character than I could ever state.

I wish I had thought of that...an EXCELLENT post.

[DawgGoneMad]

Could you please find me that law. I do not believe it. However, I am not saying it is not possible. Would just like to see it in writing.