Sports Briefs

Mulkey Named to Basketball Hall of Fame

Women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey will be a part of the 2020 enshrinement class for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Mulkey is 604-101 in 20 seasons at Baylor with three national titles. Her winning percentage (.857) ranks third all-time behind only Geno Auriemma (University of Connecticut) and Leon Barmore, for whom she played and as an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech University.

Mulkey, who enters the Hall of Fame as a coach, will be enshrined along with Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Rudy Tomjanovich, Tamika Catchings, Eddie Sutton, Barbara Stevens and Patrick Baumann.

Four Bears Taken in NFL Draft

Wide receiver Denzel Mims was selected 59th overall by the New York Jets in the second round of the NFL Draft. Defensive tackles James Lynch (fourth round, Minnesota Vikings) and Bravvion Roy (sixth round, Carolina Panthers), and linebacker Clay Johnston (seventh-round, Los Angeles Rams) were also NFL Draft picks this year.

Ten other Baylor football student-athletes signed free agent contracts with NFL teams, including offensive lineman Sam Tecklenburg rejoining former Bears head coach Matt Rhule with the Carolina Panthers. For more information on Baylor’s NFL Draft selections and free-agent signees, visit BaylorBears.com.

Lady Bears Trio Named All-Americans

Lauren Cox was named to the 10-member Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-America Team, while Te’a Cooper and NaLyssa Smith were WBCA honorable mention selections. Cox also was named All-America by The Associated Press, the John Wooden Award and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). She joins Brittney Griner, Odyssey Sims and Nina Davis as the only Lady Bears to be named to all four teams in the same season.

Meanwhile, Didi Richards was named the 2020 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and the WBCA Defensive Player of the Year. She joins three-time winner Griner as the only Lady Bears to earn national defensive player of the year honors.

Three Selected in WNBA Draft

Lauren Cox was selected third overall by the Indiana Fever in April’s WNBA Draft. Te’a Cooper (second round, Phoenix Mercury) and Juicy Landrum (third round, Connecticut Sun) were also taken in the 12-team league’s three-round draft. It marked the first year in which Baylor had three players drafted.

Cox is the third Lady Bear to be drafted in the overall top three, joining Brittney Griner (first, 2013) and Odyssey Sims (second, 2014). The trio gives Baylor 19 all-time WNBA Draft picks in the league’s 24-year existence.

Butler Leads Men’s Basketball Honors

Sophomore guard Jared Butler was named third-team All-America by each of the four publications used to determine consensus All-America honors — The Associated Press, USBWA, National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Sporting News. He joins Johnathan Motley (2017) as the only players in program history to be named All-America by all four publications.

Baylor became the first team in the Big 12 Conference’s 24-year history to have all five starters represented across the league’s three all-conference teams as Butler (unanimous first team), MaCio Teague and Freddie Gillespie (second team), and Davion Mitchell and Mark Vital (third team) were honored.

Scott Drew was named Big 12 Coach of the Year, Baylor’s first. Gillespie (Most Improved Player), Mitchell (Newcomer of the Year) and Devonte Bandoo (Sixth Man Award) also earned Big 12 individual honors.

Royals Nab Loftin in First Round 

Junior shortstop Nick Loftin was selected 32nd overall by the Kansas City Royals in the first round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. This is the second consecutive year in which a Baylor player was a first-round selection after Shea Langeliers (Atlanta Braves) and Davis Wendzel (Texas Rangers) were so drafted in 2019. 

Loftin is the program’s 11th first-round draft pick, the first selected by the Royals. He was the second-highest drafted player from the Big 12 Conference behind Oklahoma pitcher Cade Cavalli, and he was the sixth shortstop taken and fourth among college players. Loftin is the fifth Bear drafted by the Royals and the first since Zane Carlson in 2004.