So Baylor might be the scariest team in the history of the NCAA tournament. They've lost seven times, and five of those seven times were to two teams, Missouri and Kansas, both of which are in the AP top ten and got No. 2 seeds in the upcoming NCAA Tournament!
KU swept the Bears in the regular season, as did Mizzou. On the other hand, Baylor swept K-State in the regular season and split with Iowa State, both of which are also in the NCAA field of 60-whatever it is these days.
Those are good wins for BU, but those two teams aren't on the same level as the Jayhawks and Tigers. What I'm trying to say is this: Don't knock Baylor too far down the ladder for losing to KU and MU twice in the regular season. There are definitely worse things!
Baylor plays some high octane basketball. Between Pierre Jackson, Perry Jones III and Quincy Acy, opponents better be ready to play some fundamental defense and be able to ad-lib at the same time. Seems like every time I show video of BU hoops on a KENS 5 sportscast, we have at least one alley-oop involving one of the three aforementioned players. They're that athletic!
And I know that I can say this about any team in the tournament, I get that. But I really won't be one bit surprised if Baylor, at the very least, rolls into the Elite Eight with a shot at the Final Four. Success through the first two rounds could mean a Sweet Sixteen battle with Duke, and then maybe an Elite Eight showdown with No. 1 overall national seed Kentucky.
And yes, I know, UK is way above the rest of the field they say, but they still gotta get there, and the fellas from Waco have a chance to make 'em at least work for it! This is March Madness! I don't care what the records or the experts say: Anything goes!
And what about Texas? Most folks, the experts, had the Horns slippin' and slidin' all over the place most of the way, but certainly playing to the semi's of the Big XII tournament did them a whole lot of favors in the eyes of the committee.
UT doesn't have much socring this season, so thank goodness for one J'Covan Brown. That guy has literally "willed" Texas to some victories. The Longhorns open the tournament against sixth-seeded Cincinnati. Those 11 vs. 6 games are always essentially toss-ups in the end.
The bad news for Texas is who they would likely get in round two of the dance: Florida State. The Seminoles are white hot after winning the ACC tournament over the weekend, so good luck to Texas on that!
So here's to celebrating the Big XII for getting six teams from the North, and two reps from the great state of Texas! The banner athletic year for Baylor continues, and we'll get to see how much more miracle coaching Rick Barnes has in the pocket for his young but very talented Longhorns!
