The Baylor Lady Bears, already in the Final Four as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, added another honor as head coach Kim Mulkey garnered the Associated Press Coach of the Year award on Thursday.
Mulkey, who received 17 of 28 votes, claimed the AP accolade for the second time in her career as she also won it in 2012 when the Lady Bears went 40-0 and won the national championship.
This season, the Baylor coach superbly merged a veteran group, which included the formidable front court of 6-foot-7 center Kalani Brown and 6-4 forward Lauren Cox, with the nation’s top freshman class.
Mulkey also guided graduate transfer Chloe Jackson’s transition from shooting guard at LSU to point guard for Baylor. Jackson is averaging 11.4 points with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.4.
The Baylor coach’s job of building the current team, which is making the program’s fourth Final Four appearance, involved replacing a few key pieces.
Last season’s senior point guard Kristy Wallace graduated and sophomore guard Natalie Chou transferred out. In September, heir-apparent point guard Alexis Morris was dismissed from the team.
But Mulkey found the right combination as Jackson has held down the point guard spot and Juicy Landrum, DiDi Richards and Moon Ursin have filled out the rest of the back court.
The Lady Bears (35-1) currently have the nation’s longest winning streak at 27 games. During that run, Baylor claimed its 10th Big 12 championship and 10th Big 12 Tournament title.
Also on the awards docket, Baylor forward Lauren Cox received the NCAA Elite 90 Award, presented to the athlete at each NCAA Championship with the highest GPA. Cox joins Lindsey Palmer, who won the award in 2010 and 2012, as Baylor women’s basketball players who have taken the top academic honor at the Final Four.
— WACOTRIB