ck fear in the heart of every opponent without a single shriek, clenched fist or shout of, Come on!After Australia, Williams wen

ESTERO, Fla. -- Baylor was unquestionably the elite club in the eight-team Gulf Coast Showcase.And no, that symmetry wasnt lost on Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey.Each of the last three seasons has ended the same way for Baylor -- with a loss in the regional championship round in the NCAA Tournament, one game shy of getting back to the Final Four. So Mulkey went and made the schedule for this team as brutal as possible, with the hope that whatever lessons get learned now pay off at tourney time.Early returns are promising. The fifth-ranked Bears (7-1) topped No. 8 Ohio State 85-68 on Sunday to win the Gulf Coast title, capping a very difficult November slate for Mulkeys club. Baylor has already played four ranked opponents, three of them No. 9 or higher.Its what we need for late in the season, the playoffs in our Big 12 Conference, to be able to get past that Elite Eight, Mulkey said. Were tired of finishing in an Elite Eight. We present a schedule to them that makes them have to come from behind, makes them have to work for everything -- even if you get beat, theres so much to learn from that.And even with three big wins in southwest Florida this weekend, Mulkey and the Lady Bears think they learned plenty.Baylors three wins this weekend came by 42 over Kent State, 32 over No. 18 DePaul and 17 points on Sunday, and the reason why the margin over the Buckeyes was that close was the Lady Bears were 19 for 32 from the foul line. The Bears trailed for exactly 6 minutes, 16 seconds in the three matchups, and outrebounded their opponents 156-76 -- more than a 2-to-1 edge on the glass.Were good. We know were good. But how good are we? Mulkey said. The only way you can gauge that is go play other teams across the country that people think are good.The only loss so far was at UConn, a game where the Huskies revealed yet another national championship banner and played before a packed house. Baylor didnt succumb that night until the final minutes.Theres only one team this year thats going to go to Storrs when they drop a banner, and that was us, Mulkey said. We knew that going in and we need that. We need that environment, we need that type of setting.This weekend inside a minor-league hockey arena wasnt about environment or setting. The building held only a couple hundred fans or so for each game, and the chill from the ice below could be felt coming through the court.It was about the grind of playing three good teams in less than 72 hours, and Baylor came through with flying colors.Were looking to get that competition now so we can be ready at the end and embrace the moment, Lady Bears standout Kalani Brown said.Theres another big test coming next weekend when Baylor goes to Tennessee in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Then before long, conference play will begin.Looking forward to it, said Lady Bears guard Kristy Wallace, the MVP of the Gulf Coast tournament. Its going to be a challenge. Itll be exciting.Last season, Baylor didnt face its third top-10 team until March 7. With this schedule, theres going to be no way Mulkey wonders if her team was properly battle-tested when this seasons NCAA Tournament rolls around.I know why we did it, Mulkey said. Were trying to get past the Elite Eight.Cheap NCAA Jerseys China . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Wholesale College Jerseys . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. http://www.cheapcollegejerseys.us.org/ . -- Ryan Blaney provided more evidence that Penske Racings No. NCAA Jerseys Wholesale . 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Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series.If Angelique Kerber is the type of thoughtful person who still writes thank-you notes, she probably has one in the mail right now to Serena Williams.Williams, the No. 2-ranked woman tennis player in the world (it still seems strange to read that, right?), basically handed No. 1 Kerber the year-end No. 1 ranking for 2016 when Williams declared that she was pulling out of the critical tournaments in Wuhan and Beijing.The decision torpedoed the scenario that both the ATP and WTA dreamed about when they created their tours and year-end championships: a battle for the top ranking that goes down to the wire, long after the last ball in Grand Slam tournament play is called out.I am disappointed that I will not be able to compete at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open or the China Open due to continuing issues with my right shoulder, Williams said in a statement published on the WTA website last Friday. I have been practicing and playing but my shoulder is still not fit for tournament play. ... I am focused on getting ready to compete at the WTA Finals in Singapore.Problem: Kerber already leads Williams in the rankings by more points than the challenger could earn by winning Singapore. True, Kerber will be defending 1,215 points she earned last fall, but keep in mind she didnt win a single title and had a terrible WTA championships, which means there is a more than likely chance she will build on her lead over Williams.Williams obviously feels no need to put the Kerber genie back in the bottle. Williams has her own priorities, which clearly do not include finishing the year ranked No. 1. That might explain why she declared the subject off limits as Kerber closed on the top spot through the summer. It might not be as baffling a position as it appears. Williams shares the record (men and women) for more Grand Slam titles (22) in the Open era with Steffi Graf. Those two also hold the record for most consecutive weeks at No. 1 (186).Williams is 35 and shes been No. 1 for 309 cumulative weeks (good for No. 3 on the all-time list headed by Graf, then Martina Navratilova). Williams haas been the year-end No.dddddddddddd 1 five times. Adding another year to that count doesnt seem nearly as succulent a goal as bagging another major to surpass Graf.Finishing No. 1 for 2016 certainly wouldnt be worth the price if it left her unfit for the new year.Williams abdication might be disappointing, but theres evidence that shes offering delayed gratification in the form of a big, new push in 2017. In what might have been a rare moment of transparency last week, she told CNN, Im tired of playing tournaments unhealthy and taking losses that I would never lose.If Williams already has vengeful eyes riveted on 2017, Singapore becomes more of a question mark. Williams played no tennis after the US Open last year but nevertheless went on to reach the Australian Open final. Would she spurn the WTA Championships for two years in a row? Williams might be obliged to show up, but she cant be forced to train hard or arrive ready to play at full capacity. We wont be able to take the true measure of Williams until next January.Its almost impossible to see Williams going into the Australian Open as the No. 1 seed. She will be seen through different eyes in the locker room. She will know a different form of pressure at a time in her career when she seems to forget far too often how she became dominant. Williams might be great theater these days, but some still prefer the lethal, steely-eyed player who once struck fear in the heart of every opponent without a single shriek, clenched fist or shout of, Come on!After Australia, Williams went on to reach the French Open final and won Wimbledon. She closed out the season with a surprising semifinal loss to Karolina Pliskova. That setback reminded us that in many ways, Williams has become a suffering champion, which has brought her unprecedented attention.Now she must prove the rumors of her latest demise have been greatly exaggerated and that she has one last run in her. Call it: Serenas Last Stand. ' ' '