The public disclosure of her diagnosis came after players Brittney Griner, Odyssey Sims and Destiny Williams — with Mulkey also sitting at the podium — talked about the Final Four, then left the room to get ready for practice. The players already had been told about the coach's ailment but they didn't address it.
Mulkey missed Baylor's NCAA tournament opener in 2009 after surgery to remove a kidney stone, though she returned to the bench two days later.
"I learned then your health keeps you in the game or it doesn't, and we have really no control over health issues a lot of times," she said. "I learned then this game can be taken away from you in a heartbeat. I'm pretty tough and I can hang through a lot of things, but I know when something's not right. I knew the kidney stone wasn't right, I knew this wasn't right."
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