Baylor's Griner could revolutionize women's basketball

Attention women's basketball haters: Brittney Griner may win even YOU over.

Have you heard about her yet?

Griner is the 6-foot-8 Baylor freshman who is turning heads with her strength, power, athleticism and, yes, dunking.

Yeah, yeah, you've heard it before, right? A girl who can dunk? Big deal, you say. You're in the camp that would argue that some of those girly dunks you've seen in the past weren't really even dunks. Not dunks with authority anyway.

Well, get ready. Griner, known for her frequent dunks in high school, can THROW IT DOWN. Seriously.

She went off for two dunks in Baylor's big victory over Texas State on Saturday, becoming just the second player in the history of the women's game to throw down two dunks in one NCAA game. (Naperville Central's own Candace Parker was the first while she was playing at Tennessee.)

One of Griner's dunks against Texas State came on the break, the other out of a post move. Both impressive.

If you haven't seen the dunks yet, go to www.brittney-griner.com, hit the link at the top about the game, then click on the "highlights" link.

While you're on Griner's Web site, scroll down the page a bit and watch the YouTube video of Griner's dunk-off against legendary And1 star "Air up There," who is also known as 720.

The moves by 720 are more acrobatic, more theatrical. But Griner holds her own and shows that she even has some legitimate hang time when, just before dunking, she jumps over a man standing in front of the basket.

Sure, she's 6-foot-8. I guess she should be able to dunk. But, just remind yourself of this: we don't dismiss the dunking skills of a man just because he's 6-foot-8.

So give Griner a chance to impress you. She really is amazing. And what's even more amazing is that she's also just a college freshman.

The other thing I like about Griner is that she's a very complete player. Already.

She has solid post moves, a nice touch, and she can play some mean defense.

In the same game in which she dunked twice, Griner rolled up 3 blocked shots to set Baylor's school record for blocked shots in a season with 87.

Keep in mind the Bears are just 14 games in. That's 6.2 blocks per game for Griner to go along with her 19.6 points and 9 rebounds per game. Incredible.

By the time she's done, Griner's name will be all over Baylor's record books, and possibly the NCAA's.

It's also possible that with her frequent dunking Griner will completely revolutionize women's basketball, and, in turn, change the way the mainstream thinks about it.

A lot of people see her as having the potential to be that influential.

What do you think?

Best of the best: In the meantime, all this talk about legends and revolutionaries got me thinking about other players who have left an indelible footprint on the women's game.

When I think of meaningful pioneers I first think of Nancy Lieberman, a scrappy guard who starred at Old Dominion in the late 1970s and early 1980s and then went on to play in several professional leagues, including a men's league called the United States Basketball League.

Lieberman also played for the Washington Generals, the regular opponent for the Harlem Globetrotters.

The first player I remember actually following closely on TV was Cheryl Miller, a smooth forward who carried USC to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1983 and '84. She was also a four-time all-American.

There's also 6-8 Anne Donovan of Old Dominion and Dawn Staley of Virginia, perhaps the best center and point guard, respectively, in the history of the game. Their heyday was back in the 1980s and early '90s.

Next came Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie, who, along with Rebecca Lobo, were two of the three most prominent founding members of the WNBA.

At Texas Tech, when she scored a record 47 points against Ohio State in the 1993 NCAA title game, Swoopes wowed us with a fluid athleticism and speed rarely seen in women's players. She was nicknamed "the female Michael Jordan" and was the first women's player to have a Nike shoe named after her: the "Air Swoopes."

Leslie, a USC grad, was a silky smooth center who just retired after 12 WNBA seasons. She leaves the league as its all-time leading scorer and the first player to ever dunk in a game. Leslie is also a four-time Olympic gold medalist.

Finally, Chamique Holdsclaw, Diana Taurasi and Candace Parker are greats who reflect Tennessee and Connecticut's recent stranglehold on the women's college game.

Holdsclaw and Parker both led Tennessee to multiple national championships and are both known for their ability to dominate at more than one position - rare in the women's game. Parker is also known for her dunking.

Meanwhile, Taurasi, who led Connecticut to multiple championships, is one of the best pure shooters and scorers the women's game has ever seen. She's led the WNBA in scoring in several seasons.

So, will Griner eventually join this list of women's basketball greats? Will she have some kind of lasting influence on the game?

Only time will tell, of course. But I think she's off to a great start. She's got my attention. Does she have yours?