NCAA Women's Tournament 2012: Baylor Bears Won't Drop the Ball En Route to Final

After a disappointing loss in last year's Elite Eight, the Baylor Bears are back at the 2012 NCAA tournament with a vengeance that won't be satisfied without a championship trophy hoisted over their heads.

The Bears (34-0) are coming off of the best season in all of women's Division I basketball, and are the clear favorites to take the title home.

The Bears won the national title in 2005 and made it to the Final Four in 2010.

Last year though, they were heavily favored as well, but were upset by Texas A&M sending the Bears packing.

This year though, the team looks unstoppable as center Brittney Griner has led the team to what is looking to be one of the best overall statistical seasons of all-time.

She is scoring 23.3 points per game, while also grabbing 9.4 rebounds with 5.1 blocks a night. If she can continue that type of play into the tournament, this team could—no, will be unstoppable.

This season, the Bears have had no problem handling top-level competition. Their closest game of the season came against the No. 4 UConn Huskies, who nearly took down the Bears in a 66-61 battle. Texas Tech also lost by a margin of five in the second half of the season.

Besides that, no one has really been close.

The Bears have defeated No. 14 Texas A&M—the same team that took them down in last year's tourney—twice since February 11, winning by a margin of 144-98.

The most recent being a 73-50 blowout of the Aggies in the Big 12 title game.

The Bears' toughest opponent in their region is the No. 2 seeded Tennessee Lady Volunteers. The two teams played one another in the early goings of the season, but the Bears walked out of Tennessee with a 76-67 victory.

With this Bears team on the rise, it would truly be a great matchup between the storied Volunteers' program and this Baylor squad that is quickly becoming the face of women's basketball.