Best moment for Baylor came, finally

WACO — When Baylor’s shining moment in the NCAA sun finally came late Sunday afternoon, players jumped up and down and hugged each other, coaches jumped up and down and hugged each other, and fans were kissing and congratulating one another.

For only the fifth time in the school’s 102-year history — and the first time in 20 seasons — the Baylor Bears are going to the NCAA Tournament.

The Bears were the last team announced for the field of 65. That made for some agonizing moments and frazzled nerves for the crowd of 700 and the players and coaches who gathered at the Ferrell Center for a watch party.

With 64 teams already announced and only one remaining, Baylor coach Scott Drew didn’t know if Thursday’s opening-round loss to Colorado in the Big 12 tournament was going to cost his team its NCAA berth. As the schools were announced one by one, Drew nervously rubbed his head and neck, made small talk with his wife and players, and tried to get through the proceedings as best he could.

Once Drew knew Baylor was in, he scampered to the podium and said to the boisterous crowd, “How ’bout them Bears?”

Baylor (21-10), seeded No. 11, will face No. 6-seeded Purdue (24-8) in the East Region on Thursday in Washington, D.C. The winner meets the Xavier-Georgia winner Saturday.

The Bears are one of the true Cinderella stories of the year. The program, saddled by NCAA sanctions following a series of incidents that included the 2003 murder of a Baylor player by one of his teammates, has started to turn around under Drew.

“When coach Drew got here and then once I got here, thinking about days like this and thinking about going to the tournament wasn’t even in the picture,” said senior guard Aaron Bruce. “Now we have this opportunity and this great chance.”

Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw got caught up in the moment as he jumped about 2 feet off the floor when Baylor was announced.

“I guess it’s fitting that we were part of the last bracket announced,” McCaw said. “When you go right down to selection No. 65, it does cause the palms to sweat a little bit.”

Before Sunday’s events started, Bears forward Kevin Rogers correctly told Drew that Baylor would be the 11th seed in the West Region.

“I think I was pretty calm,” Rogers said. “Not only do I cut hair, I predict seeds.”

Drew said it doesn’t matter that the Bears are not in the more favorable South or Midwest regions.

“We just wanted to be in that tournament,” he said. “We were ready to go to Mexico. They could have put us against North Carolina or whoever. When it got down to that last pick, we just wanted in.”