Baylor

The little Louisiana Tech spitfire point guard who was on the first NCAA women's basketball tournament championship team in 1982 was back in the winner's circle last night. This time, however, she was there as Baylor's coach. Kim Mulkey-Robertson guided the Bears to their first NCAA title with an 84-62 win over Michigan State in front of a sellout crowd of 28,937 at the RCA Dome. That made Mulkey-Robertson the first woman to win the NCAA basketball title as a player and a coach.

All athletes transferring to Baylor should undergo criminal background checks and allow access to disciplinary records at previous colleges, a university task force recommended yesterday. Several recruiting-policy recommendations were made by the task force, which was formed by the school to address NCAA violations and other problems discovered last summer after basketball player Patrick Dennehy was killed. His former teammate, Carlton Dotson, was charged with murder and is jailed in Waco, Texas, awaiting an August trial.

Former Baylor coach Dave Bliss made payments to players, allowed major NCAA infractions and then tried to cover up the improprieties, the school president said yesterday. In summing up a 7-month internal investigation, president Robert Sloan said Baylor "failed to exercise appropriate institutional control" and missed clues that could have stopped wrongdoing by Bliss. The school will send its report next week to the NCAA, which could impose even harsher sanctions or accept Baylor's self-imposed penalties of reduced scholarships, an additional year of probation and a 1-year ban on postseason play.

Ian McCaw was hired yesterday as athletic director at Baylor, a school shaken by scandal and the slaying of one of its basketball players. McCaw left the same job at Massachusetts; previously he ran the athletic departments at Northeastern and Tulane. "Baylor represents a pinnacle personal and professional position for me," he said at a news conference. He replaces Tom Stanton, who resigned exactly 1 month earlier as the fallout began from the death of Patrick Dennehy.

Chelsea Whitaker had 16 points and eight assists, many at key times for Baylor, and the seventh-ranked Bears (24-3, 14-2 Big Twelve) clinched their first Big Twelve regular season title outright with a 79-69 win over No. 13 Texas Tech (21-6, 12-4) last night in Waco, Texas. Gonzaga 77, Portland 42 - Ashley Burke scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half and No. 24 Gonzaga (26-2) extended its winning streak to 22 games by beating Portland (6-22) in the first round of the West Coast Conference tournament in Santa Clara, Calif.

With its first NCAA tournament victory in 60 years out of the way, Baylor has now earned an extended stay. LaceDarius Dunn scored 26 points as the third-seeded Bears beat 11th-seeded Old Dominion, 76-68, yesterday in New Orleans in the second round of the South Regional. The Bears squandered a 14-point first-half lead but went on a late 8-1 run to pull away. Baylor (27-7) now heads back to its home state to play No. 10 seed St. Mary's in Houston in a Sweet 16 game. Baylor struggled to beat Sam Houston State in the first round for its first NCAA tournament win since 1950, but the Bears arrived loose and confident vs. ODU, using a barrage of early three-pointers and alley-oops to take a double-digit lead.

DENVER - Fueled by the best big player in women's college basketball, Baylor decisively defeated Notre Dame, 80-61, in Tuesday night's NCAA championship. The Bears got 26 points from 6-foot-8 junior center Brittney Griner and became the first college team to finish a season 40-0. It was Baylor's second national title, both under coach Kim Mulkey. The first came in 2003. Griner, the AP player of the year, also grabbed 13 rebounds. A year ago, Notre Dame (35-4)

Coach Roy Williams knew No. 6 Kansas was looking past Baylor, so he told his Jayhawks to snap out of it before tipoff. Williams told them again when the Bears scored the game's first 10 points, and again when his team was down by 25 at halftime. Kansas eventually got the message and rallied, but it wasn't enough as the Bears beat the Jayhawks, 85-77, last night for their first win over a Top 10 team in 11 years. "I don't know that I've ever been part of a more complete breakdown," Williams said.

PERRY JONES III had 21 points and 12 rebounds, Pierre Jackson added 16 points and No. 6 Baylor bounced back after its first two losses of the season to beat host Oklahoma, 77-65, last night. The Bears (18-2, 5-2 Big 12) led throughout but needed a strong finish to put away the Sooners, who were within 62-60 in the final 5 minutes. Quincy Acy contributed 13 points and three blocks for Baylor, which shot 54 percent to get back on the winning track after losses to Kansas and Missouri, both Top 10 teams.

NOTRE DAME is back in the national championship thanks to Skylar Diggins' steady leadership and Brittany Mallory's clutch shooting. Diggins scored 19 points, Mallory hit two big three-pointers in overtime and the Irish beat Connecticut, 83-75, on Sunday night in Denver. The two hooked up for a game-turning play in overtime when Diggins stood her ground on a fastbreak, blocked the shot to prevent the Huskies from retaking the lead, then fed Mallory at the other end for her second important three.

The NCAA put Baylor on three years of probation Wednesday after an investigation turned up hundreds of impermissible telephone calls and text messages sent to prep recruits by coaches and assistants on the basketball teams. The violations were considered to be major infractions, and they were announced less than a week after the Bears won the women's national basketball championship with the first 40-0 season in NCAA history. Akosa Maduegbunam , a 6-foot-3, 185-pound guard from Boston, signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Penn State.

THE NCAA put Baylor on 3 years' probation Wednesday after an investigation turned up hundreds of impermissible telephone calls and text messages sent to recruits by coaches and assistants on the basketball teams. The violations were considered to be major infractions, and they were announced less than a week after the Lady Bears won the national championship with the first 40-0 season in NCAA history. All of the penalties were proposed by the school and accepted by the NCAA after a review of nearly 900,000 phone and text-message records found that 738 texts and 528 calls were against the rules.

Less than a week after Baylor won the NCAA women's basketball championship, the Bears face possible NCAA sanctions in women's and men's basketball after an investigation uncovered more than 1,200 impermissible phone calls and text messages in 29 months. Women's coach Kim Mulkey, men's coach Scott Drew, and their assistants were involved in the calls and texts. ESPN.com obtained a copy of the summary disposition. Baylor already has imposed a number of penalties on the programs as a result of the NCAA enforcement staff's probe, which began in 2008 with the recruiting of women's basketball star Brittney Griner . Baylor acknowledged the investigation in a statement released Monday.

DENVER - Fueled by the best big player in women's college basketball, Baylor decisively defeated Notre Dame, 80-61, in Tuesday night's NCAA championship. The Bears got 26 points from 6-foot-8 junior center Brittney Griner and became the first college team to finish a season 40-0. It was Baylor's second national title, both under coach Kim Mulkey. The first came in 2003. Griner, the AP player of the year, also grabbed 13 rebounds. A year ago, Notre Dame (35-4)

DENVER - Brittney Griner and Baylor left no doubt they're head and shoulders above any team in the country. In fact, they are perfect. Griner had 26 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks to lead Baylor to a dominating 80-61 victory over Notre Dame in the NCAA women's basketball championship on Tuesday night, capping a 40-0 season for the Lady Bears. They became the seventh women's team to run through a season unbeaten and the first in NCAA history to win 40 games. It was the second national championship for Baylor, which also won a title in 2005.

DENVER - Baylor coach Kim Mulkey says she's disgusted by taunting and insults directed at star player Brittney Griner on social media. The 6-8 Associated Press player of the year is the subject of constant criticism on Twitter and other sites, and Mulkey said during her news conference Monday that she's had enough of it. "I made a commitment my fourth year at Baylor that I'll never read a message board, I don't want to see...

NOTRE DAME is back in the national championship thanks to Skylar Diggins' steady leadership and Brittany Mallory's clutch shooting. Diggins scored 19 points, Mallory hit two big three-pointers in overtime and the Irish beat Connecticut, 83-75, on Sunday night in Denver. The two hooked up for a game-turning play in overtime when Diggins stood her ground on a fastbreak, blocked the shot to prevent the Huskies from retaking the lead, then fed Mallory at the other end for her second important three.

Baylor coach Kim Mulkey promised to make no changes in how she coaches the Bears for the Final Four, even after learning that she has Bell's palsy, a form of facial paralysis. She showed it Thursday as the 38-0 team prepared for Sunday night's semifinal with Stanford in Denver. "When I smile, it's crooked, and when I talk, and talk loud, the hollowness in my hearing is weird," the 49-year-old Mulkey said. "But it's not going to keep me from hollering. " Team trainer Alex Olson said Mulkey is being treated with anti-viral medication and oral steroids to reduce inflammation of the facial nerve that causes the problem.

Baylor has just two wins to go for 40-0. Tennessee's future is far less certain. Brittney Griner had 23 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocks before being ejected with less than a minute left and top-seeded Baylor rolled over Tennessee, 77-58, Monday night in the Des Moines Regional final to advance to the Final Four. Shekinna Stricklen had 22 points for Tennessee (27-9), whose seniors became its first 4-year class not to reach a Final Four. The second-seeded Lady Vols now face an uncertain future, as Pat Summitt has yet to say if she will return for a 39th season as Tennessee coach.

Brittney Griner had 23 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocks before being ejected with less than a minute left as top-seeded Baylor rolled over Tennessee, 77-58, on Monday night in Des Moines, Iowa, to advance to the Final Four. Shekinna Stricklen had 22 points for the Vols (27-9), whose seniors became their first four-year class not to reach a Final Four. Tennessee now faces an uncertain future, as Pat Summitt has yet to say if she'll return for a 39th season as the Vols' coach.