WACO, Texas (AP) Those big post players for the No. 2 Baylor women are so often the center of attention.
Kim Mulkey understands the focus on 6-foot-7 Big 12 player of the year Kalani Brown and 6-foot-4 Lauren Cox. The Lady Bears coach, a championship-winning guard as a player, also knows the posts don't do it all alone.
''They're dependent on guards, but those guards are dependent on those bigs too,'' Mulkey said. ''Kalani and Lauren are two of the finest, probably in the history of the game, that have ever played together. But they're not playing with scrubs out there. They're playing with some pretty dang good players, and they'll tell you that.''
The Big 12 champion Lady Bears (31-1) open NCAA Tournament play at home Friday night against SWAC tournament champion Grambling State (19-13), whose tallest player is 6-foot-3 - and the only player over 6 feet.
In the early first-round game in Waco, No. 7 seed Michigan (22-9) plays NCAA first-timer Northern Colorado (26-6), which has a 13-game winning streak.
After Baylor senior guard Kristy Wallace suffered a season-ending knee injury in the regular-season finale, freshman Alexis Morris took over as a starter in the Big 12 Tournament. Morris, who played 30 minutes only twice in the regular season, was in for at least 38 minutes in all three tournament games while averaging 14.3 points and four assists per game.
''Actually, I have no idea who that is,'' said Grambling State junior guard Shakyla Hill, the team's leading scorer at 17.1 points per game. ''It really doesn't make me any difference, because they put on their shoes like we do. I'm going at whoever's holding me and whoever I'm holding, I'm going at them the same as if they were anybody else.''
The Lady Bears will be heavily favored at home, where they have won 12 straight NCAA Tournament games.
Baylor is the No. 2 seed in the Lexington Region, denied a No. 1 seed despite its lofty national ranking and its eighth straight Big 12 regular-season title. Its only loss was at then-No. 8 UCLA, a game Mulkey and Cox missed just more than a week into the season.
''I don't get caught up in that. I really don't,'' Mulkey said. ''We won a national championship as a No. 2 seed. We've won it as a No. 1 seed, and really, what does it matter?''
Some other things to know when NCAA first- and second-round games are played in Waco for the sixth year in a row:
FLAHERTY'S FIRST
Michigan's career scoring leader Katelynn Flaherty and the rest of the Wolverines' seniors are finally getting to play in the NCAA Tournament.
''It's definitely indescribable,'' Flaherty said. ''We've worked so hard to get here. Between the players and coaching staff and all our support, it's awesome to finish like this.''
After being snubbed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee last year, the Wolverines went on to win the WNIT. This is their first NCAA appearance since 2013.
''When we didn't make the tournament (last year), I think that was a devastating blow to all of us because we thought we were in a position to make it,'' coach Kim Barnes Arico said. ''But the way our team responded, to go on and win the WNIT, I think the champion of the WNIT probably could have made a decent run in the NCAA tournament as well.''
SOME FAMILIARITY
Fourth-year Northern Colorado coach Kamie Ethridge played high school ball in Lubbock, Texas, was a senior on the University of Texas national championship team in 1986 and spent 18 seasons as an assistant coach at Big 12 school Kansas State.
Northern Colorado, now in its 12th season as a Division I program, is in its first NCAA Tournament after winning the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
''We probably can't go out and get more talent than a lot of teams,'' Ethridge said. ''But we have to figure out a way to play and compete and build a team that can be successful in our own league and hopefully across leagues as well. That's what we've learned.''
POSTSEASON PERKS
Northern Colorado senior Savannah Scott, the Big Sky player of the year, is enjoying the travel setup for the NCAA Tournament.
''It's been a little different than our usual trips because we're traveling with the cheer. There's just a lot more people coming, but it's been great,'' Scott said. ''We got to fly charter, which was a cool experience. Never done that before. We're just enjoying the new experiences we have.''
