Big 12 Insider: Baylor is the league’s last hope after disastrous March Madness
This isn’t what the Big 12 expected.
Only one team advancing through the first weekend of March Madness? The conference’s tournament champion falling to a “Cinderella” that shoots less than 30% in the game? The league’s superstar exiting early? The class of the conference for most of this century being humiliated?
All of it is true. So much for the “best basketball conference” debate. At least the Big Ten had a similarly embarrassing opening weekend.
Hey, maybe Baylor can salvage the conference’s reputation as the lone survivor. The Bears certainly looked like a Final Four-caliber team on the opening weekend, rolling past Hartford and Wisconsin.
Next up is Villanova in the Sweet 16 on Saturday. That won’t be an easy win by any stretch, especially if the Wildcats get hot from 3-point range as they did against North Texas in the Round of 32. At least the Bears’ region has seen 2-seed Ohio State eliminated by 15-seed Oral Roberts.
The Big 12 has more Ohio States than Baylors this March, though.
It all started when 3-seed Texas inexplicably lost to a 14-seeded Abilene Christian team that shot just 29.9% from the field and went 3 of 18 from deep in the first round.
Things unraveled for the league more in the second round.
Syracuse, a bubble team, knocked out 3-seed West Virginia with a three-point victory. Texas Tech fell to Arkansas by two points. Then 12-seed Oregon State eliminated Cade Cunningham and Oklahoma State with a 10-point victory. USC routed Kansas by 34 points, the third-worst defeat in KU’s history. And Gonzaga rolled OU, as expected.
So it’s all on Baylor going forward. They were the league’s best hope going into the Big Dance and now the only one left.
Women’s watch
Just like on the men’s side, Baylor is the conference’s best bet in the women’s tournament. The Lady Bears have reached the Sweet 16, rolling past Jackson State and Virginia Tech.
Baylor’s next opponent is Michigan with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.
Unlike the men, though, Baylor has a conference mate with it in the Sweet 16. Texas punched its ticket on Wednesday by knocking off UCLA.
In other women’s basketball news, the Big 12 announced its Academic All-Big 12 team. TCU had four players honored: Michelle Berry, Tavy Diggs and Emma Schmidt were all first-team selections, while Yummy Morris was named to the second team.
Bragan watch
Another week, another Big 12 baseball player honored by the Fort Worth-based Bragan Award.
Baylor’s Andy Thomas was named the Bragan player of the week, going 11-for-21 (.524) with eight RBIs and seven runs in five games. The Bears had games against UTSA and Prairie View A&M, and a three-game series against Texas.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
