Tune into ESPN tonight (8 p.m. CT) to see if Baylor women’s basketball All-American Brittney Griner is named the Best Breakthrough Athlete at the 2010 ESPYs, hosted by Saturday Night Live‘s Seth Meyers.
Griner, of course, more than lived up to her billing as the top high school player in the nation a year ago. As a freshman in 2009-10, she set an NCAA single-season record for blocked shots with 223 — averaging 6.4 a game to go along with 18.4 points and 8.5 rebounds a night. She was named second-team All-America by the Associated Press and Freshman of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association, while Big 12 coaches voted her the league’s Freshman of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year. Other nominees for the ESPY are the Tennessee Titans’ Chris Johnson, the Washington Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg and the University of Kentucky’s John Wall.
Griner was also featured in the June 2010 issue of Texas Monthly in a story titled “Where I’m From.” The article told the back stories of Texans such as Griner, Former First Lady Laura Bush, actress Sissy Spacek and singer Norah Jones. Pretty nice company for a 19-year-old Baylor student!
Sic ’em, Brittney!
