Lady Bears advance to Sweet 16 for 6th straight season

Six straight Sweet 16 seasons. It's a tongue twister -- and a reality for Baylor women's basketball.

In front of a raucous Monday night crowd that included Baylor football head coach Art Briles and men's basketball head coach Scott Drew, the Lady Bears pulled away from Cal late to win 75-56 and join the Baylor men in the NCAA's Sweet 16.

[LINKS: Photos and highlights from BU's opening win over Western Kentucky || ESPN interviews Mulkey and Sims after the Cal win || Get your Lady Bears gear]

Lady Bear fans are used to success, up to and including the two national championship banners hanging in the Ferrell Center. But though the success is the same, this year is different; head coach Kim Mulkey's squad has succeeded despite losing four starters from a year ago, including the national player of the year, and yet another projected starter from this year after Alexis Prince went down to injury.

National Player of the Year finalist Odyssey Sims led the charge, however, and National Freshman of the Year candidate Nina Davis cleaned up the boards, together helping the Lady Bears add yet another Sweet 16 to their resume on top of sweeping the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles for the fourth straight year.

Baylor will face Kentucky in the next round (Saturday, time and TV coverage TBA). You might remember that these two teams have already met once this season, back in December -- a four-overtime, 133-130 thriller that saw the Lady Bears end up on the wrong end of the highest scoring game in Division-1 women's history. Fans should be in for yet another show Thursday night in South Bend, Ind.

Sic 'em, Lady Bears!

Men's hoops heads to Sweet 16 for 3rd time in 5 years

For the third time in five years, Baylor men's basketball is headed to the Sweet 16. Just let that sink in for a minute.

Winners of 12 of their last 14 games, head coach Scott Drew's Bears are once again peaking at the right time. After wins over No. 11 seed Nebraska (74-60) and No. 3 seed Creighton (85-55), Baylor advances to face 12th-ranked Wisconsin on Thursday in Anaheim, Calif. (6:47 p.m. CT, TBS).

[LINKS: NU photos, highlights and postgame interviews || CU photos, highlights and postgame interviews || CBSSports previews Baylor-Wisconsin || CBS Evening News report on Isaiah Austin]

In their opening two games, the Bears got contributions from just about everyone. In the win over Nebraska, Baylor's big men (senior Cory Jefferson and sophomores Isaiah Austin and Rico Gathers) combined for 40 points and 19 rebounds. Two days later, it was the smaller guys (senior Brady Heslip and juniors Royce O'Neale and Kenny Chery) who combined for 41 points thanks to 11-of-14 shooting on 3-pointers -- all while holding Creighton's Doug McDermott, the fifth-leading scorer in NCAA history, to just 15 points.

[GET YOUR: Sweet 16 tickets || Baylor basketball gear]

A great Baylor crowd at the first two games in San Antonio helped the Bears improve to 8-3 in NCAA tournament play under Drew (and 17-3 in the postseason over the last six years). Baylor will look to keep that going in Anaheim against Wisconsin, the Big 10 runners-up who defeated American University and Oregon in the first two rounds to reach their third Sweet 16 in four years.

Sic 'em, Baylor basketball!

Baylor prof/alum training female leaders around the world

Many women around the world are only just beginning to have their voices heard. As women ascend to leadership in nations where they were previously relegated to other roles, many of them have found a mentor in one Baylor professor.

Rachel Woods, BA '98, an adjunct professor in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business, recently returned from the Kingdom of Bhutan in the Himalayan Mountains, where she mentored women seeking to serve as decision makers in their communities. She is also currently working with female political leaders from 13 countries via the Internet.

As the founder and CEO of LTrek, an organization that develops leadership skills in individuals across a variety of areas, Woods is no stranger to mentoring in business settings. And through her partnership with the Women's Democracy Network and the United Nations Democracy Fund, her curriculum has been utilized in 20 countries to help women develop "skills and confidence to actively participate in public life." While in Bhutan, Woods also met with the Supreme Court justice who led the drafting of Bhutan's constitution and discussed the future of women in politics there.

Baylor permeates LTrek and its work around the world. Woods was mentored in leadership by her uncle, Dr. Clifton Williams, BA '52, who served his alma mater as a professor, department chair, dean and vice president before retiring in 1995. Dr. Mitch Neubert, an associate professor of management and entrepreneurship at Baylor, serves as LTrek's chief learning officer and executive leadership consultant. Neubert co-authored curriculum that will be used to train political leaders in worldwide this year.

Sic 'em, LTrek and Rachel Woods!

Can video games help teach civics? Baylor research says yes.

When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor came to Baylor almost two years ago, part of her visit was to see the work Baylor students were doing with iCivics, an online curriculum founded by O'Connor that uses games to introduce students to civic principles and ideas.

At the time, Baylor law students had developed a model that was using iCivics in local classrooms, while Baylor education students were analyzing the program's effectiveness. [Read more on their combined approach here.] The results of that study are now in, and as it turns out, video games really can help students learn.

The study, led by Drs. Brooke Blevins and Karon LeCompte, both professors in Baylor's School of Education, found that iCivics can be an effective tool for teaching civics to primary and middle school students. Their results were published in a recent issue of The Journal of Social Studies Research.

Statistics, student journals and teacher interviews all reported that students' knowledge and interest in the subject improved after playing the games twice a week for six weeks. As their report concludes, "iCivics provides the opportunity for teachers and students alike to move beyond traditional, didactic models of civic education and towards a vision of civics education that is engaging and inclusive."

Sic 'em, Baylor researchers!

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