Bone's confident comment doesn't hold up against Baylor

WACO -- It turned out to be a very small table. Maybe a coffee table, or more like an end table.

After an impressive victory over Kansas last week, Kelsey Bone -- much to the chagrin of her coach Gary Blair -- said Texas A&M had nine games left and the Aggies would "run the table."

You can't blame Bone, who had scored 26 points that day, for believing in herself and her team.

Her confidence and moxie were admirable. Her timing was not.

Because right around the corner was a juggernaut of a team that was just waiting in its own gym to avenge arguably the lowest moment in their program's history.

Top-ranked and undefeated Baylor had been waiting for this one for 320 days, since it lost to A&M in the NCAA regional final last season.

Three wins over the Aggies last season wasn't enough. The Lady Bears needed a fourth (which is another story), and it never came.

So Saturday's 71-48 win over A&M was a statement game for the Lady Bears and coach Kim Mulkey.

The video before the announcement of their starters was predicated on avenging that one loss, to work for and focus on the one thing that eluded them last season, a national championship.

They broke out the new Nike uniforms with matching shoes and socks.

Nearly everyone in the Ferrell Center donned free T-shirts that commemorated their national title in 2005.

Former assistant coach Leon Barmore, who coached Louisiana Tech to nine Final Fours and a national title, returned to the Ferrell Center for the first time since retiring.

The game had been sold out for more than week and matched a Baylor mark of 10,627, which was established earlier in the season when the Lady Bears defeated UConn, one of two schools synonymous with winning women's basketball.

The building was so brimming with anticipation, a good three-quarters of the fans were in their seats 45 minutes before the tip.

Even the National Anthem had a special flavor with Mulkey escorting country star Trace Adkins out to midcourt.

So obviously the Lady Bears didn't need anything else to motivate them.

They got it, though.

"Kelsey Bone thought they were going to run the table," said Mulkey after touching on the rest of the day's happenings, including some keys to the actual game.

She turned to her two stars, one sitting on each side of her, and asked if she had brought it up before the game.

Brittney Griner and Odyssey Sims played along, saying "No, no," before finally confessing they had touched on subject.

In reality, though, and the most obvious reason Bone should have just tabled the table comment, was the Lady Bears are a force like no other in women's basketball right now.

Griner may eventually be known as the best women's player ever, and Sims plays second chair to no one at this point. And to call those around them role players would be an insult to the likes of Destiny Williams, Kimetria Hayden, Jordan Madden and Brooklyn Pope.

It was the perfect storm for the Aggies, which might explain why the Lady Bears got off to a 17-2 start and from there, ran the table.