Breaking down Baylor women's basketball: Can Griner do it again?

Region: Oklahoma City
Head coach: Kim Mulkey
Record: 32-1
Potential matchup with Duke: National championship

Baylor has the biggest and best asset in the country: Brittney Griner.

At 6-foot-8, the reigning National Player of the Year is the most dominant force in women’s basketball. Griner led the Bears to the 2011 national championship, and her 3,203 career points trail only Jackie Stiles on the all-time NCAA women’s basketball scoring list. This season, she has averaged 23.6 points per game on over 60-percent shooting—11.1 points more than any of her teammates— as she carried No. 1 Baylor to a 32-1 record and Big 12 Championship.

Although her scoring ability is prodigious, her defensive presence might be even more noticeable. With 736 career blocked shots­—more than any other men’s or women’s player in NCAA Div. I history—few guards still dare enter the lane.

Read more about Duke women's basketball in the 2013 NCAA tournament

Griner’s lengthy frame not only allows her to intimidate opponents, but also helps her dominate the boards, where she collects 9.0 rebounds per game.

And though Griner runs the show for the Bears, she is not the only standout on the roster. Baylor feature two other double-digit scorers in junior Odyssey Sims and graduate student Brooklyn Pope. Sims is one of the best point guards in the country, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.66—good for second in the nation.

The only blemish on Baylor’s record is a two-point loss to No. 4 Stanford early in the season. Since then, the Bears have rattled off 30 consecutive wins, including marquee road victories against other top seeds Notre Dame and Connecticut. Baylor faces a potential showdown with Tennessee in its regional final.