Baylor, Michigan St. look to finalize their renovation projects

INDIANAPOLIS -- Steffanie Blackmon saw a challenge at Baylor and jumped at it. Kristin Haynie was told she could win championships at Michigan State and believed it.

Each took a chance at a struggling program with the goal of making a difference. Just look where they are now: Tonight, one of them will leave the RCA Dome as part of a national championship team.

Baylor and Michigan State, Final Four rookies both, have put a fresh face on the title game, getting there after two astonishing comebacks in the semifinals.

No Connecticut, no Tennessee. Just two teams with eager, energetic coaches who arrived in their jobs at the same time -- Kim Mulkey-Robertson at Baylor, Joanne P. McCallie with the Spartans -- and could be a case study in how a five-year plan can work.

"A lot of brackets are busted and we just have to go out there and get it done," Baylor's Chelsea Whitaker said. "They're hungry and they have a nice young coach and our coach is young. They both just want to start something new at their university."

They already have.

Five years ago, Baylor was the worst team in the Big 12 and Michigan State was only slightly better in the Big Ten, a middle-of-the-pack program that was starting to go stale. Thanks to players such as Blackmon and Haynie, their fortunes have turned.

Baylor (32-3) goes into the final night with a 19-game winning streak; Michigan State (33-3) has won 17 in a row. Baylor has the more celebrated players with Blackmon and Sophia Young, who helped the Lady Bears overcome a 15-point deficit to beat LSU in Sunday night's semifinals.

But no one in the NCAA tournament has played better as a team than Michigan State, which came from 16 down in the second half to beat Tennessee on Sunday, matching the biggest comeback in Final Four history.

"Ever since summer, we have been dreaming big -- Final Fours, pursue championships in everything we do," Michigan State's Liz Shimek said. "It's not a surprise to us because we have worked so hard all year and over the course of the years. We know we belong here."

Mulkey-Robertson took the Baylor job in 2000 after 15 seasons as an assistant at Louisiana Tech, one of the game's traditional powers. The Lady Bears had gone 7-20 the season before and Mulkey-Robertson knew she had to get to work quickly.

"They were really working hard," said Blackmon, a 6-foot-2 senior who was one of Mulkey-Robertson's first recruits. "They hadn't even gotten a house yet and they were out there on the road recruiting players."

Success came quickly. Baylor made the NCAA tournament in Mulkey-Robertson's first two seasons, going 21-9 and 27-6. A 26-9 record and an appearance in the regional semifinals a year ago showed the Lady Bears what was possible this season and they made it happen, reaffirming for Blackmon that she made the right choice.

"When I signed, that was one of my motivating factors, being a part of something that helped turn the program around," she said. "I like challenges and I like to say, 'I think we can do this and get this thing done.' I'm proud to be a part of that."

Haynie, the Spartans' point guard, and center Kelli Roehrig were McCallie's first two recruits after she moved to East Lansing from Maine, where she had six NCAA tournament teams in eight seasons.

Both got the same pitch: Come to Michigan State and help win championships.

"I trusted her. I believed in her," Haynie said. "I knew she was capable of turning around a program. What she did with Maine, I knew what she was capable of doing."

It didn't happen overnight. The Spartans went 10-18 in McCallie's first season, losing 12 of their last 14 games. They made the WNIT in year No. 2 and have played in the NCAA tournament ever since.

"We always had this vision," Roehrig said. "From my freshman year, Kristin and I talked about it. It's always been in the back of our mind. We kept going and going and our seasons kept getting better and better and better.

"And this season we had an unbelievable team with unbelievable hard work and we have talent. What's a better year to win that national title?"

This will be only the third championship game in the past 11 without Connecticut or Tennessee. That prompted numerous questions on whether women's basketball is entering a new era of parity, a word that gets tossed around a lot in the sport but sometimes has rung hollow.

Both coaches agreed: Maybe things are changing after all.

"The coaching is better, the players are better the schedules are better," McCallie said. "Everything about it has taken an upswing. I think it's just getting started really and it will continue. There will be many more Michigan State and Baylor stories coming."

For now, this one certainly will do.