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ESTERO, Fla. -- Baylor was unquestionably the elite club in the eight-team Gulf Coast Showcase.And no, that symmetry wasnt lost on Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey.Each of the last three seasons has ended the same way for Baylor -- with a loss in the regional championship round in the NCAA Tournament, one game shy of getting back to the Final Four. So Mulkey went and made the schedule for this team as brutal as possible, with the hope that whatever lessons get learned now pay off at tourney time.Early returns are promising. The fifth-ranked Bears (7-1) topped No. 8 Ohio State 85-68 on Sunday to win the Gulf Coast title, capping a very difficult November slate for Mulkeys club. Baylor has already played four ranked opponents, three of them No. 9 or higher.Its what we need for late in the season, the playoffs in our Big 12 Conference, to be able to get past that Elite Eight, Mulkey said. Were tired of finishing in an Elite Eight. We present a schedule to them that makes them have to come from behind, makes them have to work for everything -- even if you get beat, theres so much to learn from that.And even with three big wins in southwest Florida this weekend, Mulkey and the Lady Bears think they learned plenty.Baylors three wins this weekend came by 42 over Kent State, 32 over No. 18 DePaul and 17 points on Sunday, and the reason why the margin over the Buckeyes was that close was the Lady Bears were 19 for 32 from the foul line. The Bears trailed for exactly 6 minutes, 16 seconds in the three matchups, and outrebounded their opponents 156-76 -- more than a 2-to-1 edge on the glass.Were good. We know were good. But how good are we? Mulkey said. The only way you can gauge that is go play other teams across the country that people think are good.The only loss so far was at UConn, a game where the Huskies revealed yet another national championship banner and played before a packed house. Baylor didnt succumb that night until the final minutes.Theres only one team this year thats going to go to Storrs when they drop a banner, and that was us, Mulkey said. We knew that going in and we need that. We need that environment, we need that type of setting.This weekend inside a minor-league hockey arena wasnt about environment or setting. The building held only a couple hundred fans or so for each game, and the chill from the ice below could be felt coming through the court.It was about the grind of playing three good teams in less than 72 hours, and Baylor came through with flying colors.Were looking to get that competition now so we can be ready at the end and embrace the moment, Lady Bears standout Kalani Brown said.Theres another big test coming next weekend when Baylor goes to Tennessee in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Then before long, conference play will begin.Looking forward to it, said Lady Bears guard Kristy Wallace, the MVP of the Gulf Coast tournament. Its going to be a challenge. Itll be exciting.Last season, Baylor didnt face its third top-10 team until March 7. With this schedule, theres going to be no way Mulkey wonders if her team was properly battle-tested when this seasons NCAA Tournament rolls around.I know why we did it, Mulkey said. Were trying to get past the Elite Eight. Nikola Jokic Nuggets Jersey . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. Malik Beasley Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.nuggetsprostore.com/kids-dikembe-mutombo-nuggets-jersey/ . Aaron Harrison scored a 22 points for Kentucky (6-1), which has won four in a row following a Nov. 12 loss to current No. 1 Michigan State. Julius Randle overcame a scoreless first half and added his sixth double-double in as many games with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Paul Millsap Jersey . The FA rejected Wilsheres appeal that the length of his punishment was "clearly excessive" and said Thursday his suspension begins with immediate effect. He will miss league matches against Chelsea on Monday and West Ham on Dec. Denver Nuggets Jerseys .Y. -- Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers had no intention of changing his hard-hitting style before taking part in a disciplinary hearing for his illegal check to New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus head. George McPhee, general manager for Las Vegas NHL team, has a lot of choices to make during the next 11 months, one of which is whom to select as the franchises first coach.Coaches come in many different styles. Some are motivators, some are teachers, and others are all about managing the bench. It mightr be hard for McPhee to select the perfect coach without knowing the teams roster, but it might also be difficult to pick the team without having some idea of who will coach them.So far, a lot of the speculation has been grounded in traditional analysis but given the teams commitment to hockey analytics, it makes sense to consider this question from a purely statistical perspective.ddddddddddddUsing modern coaching metrics to estimate experience and success, the net was cast far and wide to include all recent former NHL coaches, current NHL assistants with head coaching experience at any level, AHL head coaches, and additional coaches of prominence in the U.S. college ranks, Canadian major junior leagues and the ECHL. In the end, 185 coaches were placed on the following chart, where a few interesting names have pulled away from the pack. ' ' '