Women's Tournament 2012: Brittney Griner Will Lead Baylor to Title

In the sport of basketball, it doesn't take much more than one dominant center to win. Baylor has a lot more than just Brittney Griner, but she is the player who will lead the team through the Final Four and to a national championship. 

Of her potential opponents (Stanford in the semifinal, UConn or Notre Dame in the final), no other player has the athleticism and size needed to play with match up with Griner, which really limits the possibility of an upset. 

See, to pull an upset, you need to go on some runs. Now, basketball is a game with many momentum changes, but anything happening against Baylor is going to be limited, and the reason is simple. Whenever the Bears need to stop a run and get some easy points, they can throw the ball to Griner for a reliable two.

This is the advantage of having a woman who can not only dunk, but dunk in traffic. Nobody can jump up and block her shots, or do anything to challenge. If Griner gets the ball in the paint and wants to score, that's exactly what she's going to do. 

Again, Baylor is not just Griner. Odyssey Sims and Destiny Williams both bring in double-digit points every night, which is more than enough of a compliment. When the focus is on the paint and Griner, either one of those two is more than capable of knocking down the shots, keeping the Bears moving. 

But ultimately, this comes down to Griner. Baylor is a Final Four team without her, but she makes them a national champion. From this point on, it's nothing but No. 1 seeds, and all of the other three remaining teams are indeed fantastic.

But with Griner, Baylor is a clear step ahead. She will take this team to two more victories, winning a national championship. Don't look for either of the two games to be terribly suspenseful.  

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