LITTLE ROCK — Brittney Griner and Baylor are starting the season where they hope to end it.
The Lady Bears are ranked No. 1 on The Associated Press preseason poll for the first time. Baylor started last year at No. 2 before ascending to No. 1 in early January for the first time in school history. The Lady Bears finished with a No. 3 ranking.
“Certainly we’d rather it was the last ranking, but it’s great recognition for our program and Baylor University,” Coach Kim Mulkey said. “Regardless of where you’re ranked at the beginning of the season it’s a positive for your university. We’ll embrace it in such a way and understand that it doesn’t win basketball games.”
Baylor received 33 of 40 first place votes Saturday from a national media panel. The Lady Bears became the first Big 12 school to be ranked No. 1 to start the season since Texas in 1985 and 1986.
Notre Dame drew six first-place votes and was second, with Tennessee, Connecticut and Stanford rounding out the top five. The No. 2 ranking is the Irish’s best since the final poll of 2001 when they also were ranked second.
Texas A&M is sixth, receiving the other first-place vote, and Miami is seventh. Duke, Louisville, and Georgetown round out the Top 10.
Sports, Pages 29 on 10/30/2011