Heading into her freshman campaign, Brittney Griner said she never saw herself claiming the Most Valuable Player honor of an entire NCAA tournament region.

Now with four wins and 35 blocks in March Madness, Griner has cemented her role as a dominant figure in women’s basketball for years to come.

“I think it would be kind of funny to be 6-8 and not have any blocks at all. You just see the shot and try to throw it out-of-bounds,” Griner said after Monday’s win over the No. 2 seeded Duke Blue Devils.

Fighting around heavy contact, the Houston native now ranks third in the Big 12 with 18.6 points per game through 36 contests. Her inside presence has helped Baylor hold opponents to 56 points per game, good for second in the league.

With the success, though, came unpredictable struggles at times. Even aside from the inconsistencies that coach Kim Mulkey expected from her first-year players, Griner’s punch in a road matchup against Texas Tech threatened to alter the second team All-American’s aggressive mindset on the court.

In Griner’s first game back, a Big 12 quarterfinal game against Oklahoma, she received some boos and appeared to begin the game timidly. Griner managed four field goal attempts in the first half as part of her 13-point performance in Baylor’s 59-54 loss.

“I thought she wasn’t probably as much of a presence in the paint as she had been. I thought she was tentative,” Mulkey said.

Griner entered the tournament determined to be the inside force that demanded attention from teams earlier in the year. But against Fresno State, first-tournament jitters kept Griner from finding an early groove as she struggled to 2 of 8 from the field in the first half and 2 of 6 from the charity stripe.

“It’s my first NCAA tournament game so I was a little nervous, but I got going after knocking down some shots and looked to my confidence to keep me going,” Griner said.

Then Griner exploded for 14 blocks in the Lady Bears’ 49-33 win over Georgetown and another 10 rejections to send Baylor past Tennessee and into the Elite Eight.

“Brittney’s been getting back in her rhythm that she used to be in. When it came down to it, in a big game against Tennessee, she’s going to come out and play to the best of her ability, and that’s what she did tonight,” junior guard Melissa Jones said.

With a chance to cut down the net for the first time in her life, the freshman center finished one block shy of a triple-double to help Baylor beat Duke, 51-48.

Regardless of her Final Four performance against UConn’s 6-foot-4, first-team All American Tina Charles, Griner is here to be coached, improve and help elevate her team to elite status.

“It was so appropriate that she made a hard, strong move, layup over the front of the rim to take the lead,” Mulkey said after beating the Blue Devils.