Unfurling of OVC banners fails to instill fear in Baylor

The red banners flopped down to a standing ovation at the Show Me Center on Thursday night.

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team, which gathered at midcourt, showed little emotion as the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season banner, OVC tournament banner and NCAA participation banner from last season were unveiled before the Redhawks' game with Baylor.

They're impressive markers of the program's success over the last few years, but they weren't going to intimidate the Bears.

Back-to-back NCAA appearances are nice, but Baylor won the national championship in 2005 and has played in the NCAA tournament in five of the last six years. While the Bears have emerged as a national power -- currently they're ranked No. 10 in the nation -- that wasn't always the case. See, Baylor enjoyed three winning seasons from the 1984-85 season until 1999-2000. Kim Mulkey has turned the Bears into a powerhouse since she took over for the 2000-01 season, posting seven straight 20-win seasons.

"I think we just have a great administration that provides me the resources to go out and recruit and bring in players that are sleepers and just work hard and be diligent in what you do," she said. "We have players that believe in the system. We've been able to build it fairly quickly."

Mulkey said she concentrated her recruiting efforts on regional players, but wasn't afraid to go after one or two players from many states away, either. One of those players, Danielle Wilson from Bay Shore, N.Y., posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds in Thursday's 81-51 victory. She said she chose to leave home because of Mulkey and her reputation.

"She's one of the better coaches in the nation, so I think it starts with her," Wilson said. "Then she recruits the best players."

If Baylor was able to turn around its program and become a national powerhouse that's almost cemented into the top 25, why can't Southeast follow a similar path?

Redhawks coach John Ishee said it would be unrealistic to expect a similar turnaround in Cape Girardeau. He said Mulkey enjoyed many more advantages when building a consistent winner at Baylor.

"You have the Big 12 Conference and revenue sharing," he said. "You have a lot of resources to put into a program like their women's basketball program. They've made a commitment to it. You take a great coach like coach Mulkey, you take resources, facilities and you get a couple great players, and you can build off that. That's been their blueprint."

Ishee knows he has to follow a different path, but he's ready for the work. He said Southeast sits in a fertile area for basketball, situated within a day's drive from St. Louis, Memphis, Tenn., Nashville, Tenn., Indianapolis and Little Rock, Ark., and already he's reaping the rewards of the university's location.

"There are pretty good basketball players," he said. "And the more success you have, the easier it is to build something. I think we're showing fruits of that labor. We had a great early signing for us."

And while Ishee and Mulkey travel different paths to try to create consistent winners, there's one thing they agree on.

"Any time you win championships or you're exposed by being on television, you can't put a dollar value on what that means to your program and to your university," Mulkey said. "Enrollment goes up, money, donations goes up and recruiting goes with it."

Ishee agreed.

"It's easier to recruit when you're winning because you can show them you've got something, instead of selling them a vision or a dream," he said following the game when the university unveiled three new banners at the Show Me Center.