MBB Earns NCAA Tournament No. 1 Seed
3/14/2021 7:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bears will make ninth NCAA Tournament appearance of Drew era
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Ranked No. 5 with a 26-4 record, Baylor basketball was a possible No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament last year before the remainder of the season was canceled because of COVID-19.
It's no longer just a possibility, it's reality.
The second-ranked Bears (22-2) were selected as the No. 1 seed for the South Region and No. 2 overall behind top-ranked Gonzaga (26-0), the No. 1 seed in the West. With the entire NCAA Championship scheduled to be played in Indiana, Baylor will face No. 16 seed Hartford (15-8) at 2:30 p.m. CDT Friday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
"I'm really excited for the guys. They've earned it," Baylor coach Scott Drew said of the program's first No. 1 seed. "Last year, I was really excited about the opportunity to get a No. 1 seed. So, to be able to do that back-to-back years, possibly, really speaks to what the upperclassmen have been able to achieve here."
After winning its first-ever Big 12 regular-season championship, Baylor is in a South Region that includes ninth-ranked Ohio State (21-9) as the No. 2 seed, eighth-ranked Arkansas at No. 3 and 20th-ranked Purdue at No. 4. The regional field also includes 13th-seeded North Texas and 15th-seeded Oral Roberts, which are coached by former Baylor assistants Grant McCasland and Paul Mills, respectively.
"It was a heck of a night watching games with our staff (Saturday) night and celebrating that," said Scott Drew, whose Bears remained in Kansas City after an 83-74 loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 semifinals. "I'm really excited, because we know we're all together in Indianapolis. I'm really excited for what they've done with their programs. They've done outstanding jobs, and they'll be part of the Baylor Bear family for life."
Additionally, Scott's brother, Bryce Drew, led Grand Canyon (17-6) to the WAC tournament title and first NCAA Championship berth, with the Lopes playing second-seeded Iowa in the West Region.
"We definitely learned everything we do from my dad," Scott said of Hall of Fame Valparaiso coach Homer Drew. "You throw in your own twists and turns and spices you like to add. But, there is a reason he's in the Hall of Fame. As good a coach as he is, he's a better father."
The tournament will be a homecoming for Scott, who grew up in Indiana and graduated from Butler University in Indianapolis before joining his dad's staff in Valparaiso, Ind.
"It's always exciting coming back home," he said. "You've got a lot of friends, family, people from that part of the country. At the same time, I'm excited I'm going to be with my brother and the other (former) assistant coaches who are leading their programs. That also makes it easy for mom and dad. They don't have to go to two locations."
Baylor has been ranked No. 2 pretty much all year and set a program record with an 18-0 start. Coming back from a three-week COVID pause, the Bears rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to defeat Iowa State, 77-72, but suffered their first loss of the season four days later at Kansas and then bowed out of the Big 12 tournament with Friday's loss to the Cowboys.
Junior guard Jared Butler, a first-team All-American and Big 12 Player of the Year by the media, said the Bears just "need to go back to our basic rules" on defense.
"Since we're not going to be playing too many Big 12 teams in the beginning, that's going to be key," said Butler, who is averaging 17.1 points and 4.8 assists per game and shooting a Big 12-best 42.9 percent from 3-point range. "Instead of facing Oklahoma State for the third time, who knows our defense, we're going to be playing Hartford, who hasn't seen our defense. We're going to be able to really get after it."
Hartford earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid by defeating sixth-seeded UMass Lowell, 64-50, in the American East Championship on Saturday. The Hawks are led by 6-4 senior guard Austin Williams, a Marist College transfer who is averaging 13.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game after sitting out last season.
The Baylor-Hartford winner advances to the Round of 32 to face either eighth-seeded North Carolina (18-10) or No. 8 seed Wisconsin (17-12) on Sunday.
"I haven't had a chance to analyze anybody, as far as Hartford with film," Drew said, "but I do know Wisconsin and North Carolina and (have) a lot of respect for them. With Hartford, I'm used to coming from Valpo in a one-bid league and I know the parity of college basketball and how good teams are. Anxious to study Hartford and get caught up on that."
Baylor will travel from Kansas City to Indianapolis on Monday and have a few days to practice before Friday's opening-round game.
Two years ago, when the Bears were seeded ninth for the NCAA tournament, Butler scored 14 points in a 78-69 win over eighth-seeded Syracuse and 11 points in an 83-71 loss to No. 1 seed Gonzaga in a West Region game in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"It's such a different feeling," Butler said. "I was like, 'Oh, are we going to beat Syracuse?' As a 1 seed, it's totally different . . . but you still can't overlook anybody. You have to take it one game at a time."
Waco, Texas - Baylor men's basketball has been awarded an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed for the first time in program history. The Bears were the top seed in the South Region in the 2021 NCAA Tournament bracket announced Sunday on CBS.
Baylor (22-2, 13-1 Big 12) will open the 2021 NCAA Tournament on Friday against No. 16 seed Hartford (15-8, 8-6 America East) at a to-be-determined site. The winner of that game will then play a second-round matchup on Sunday against the winner of Friday's first-round game between No. 8 North Carolina and No. 9 Wisconsin.
Tip-off times, TV networks and arena assignments are to be determined. The entire tournament will be played in Indiana, with first and second round games at six sites - Mackey Arena, Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indiana Farmers Coliseum and Lucas Oil Stadium.
BAYLOR NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES:
• Baylor is a No. 1 seed for the first time in program history. The Bears' highest previous seed was No. 3 in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2017.
• Baylor is 14-14 in 12 previous NCAA Championships trips, including an 11-8 record in the Scott Drew era.
• Baylor is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in the last seven tournaments.
• Baylor is appearing in the NCAA postseason for a school-record ninth consecutive time (7 NCAA, 2 NIT).
• Baylor is making its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance in the modern tournament era. BU's first three NCAA Tournament appearances in 1946, 1948 and 1950 were in an eight-team bracket.
• Baylor is 34-21 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last 13 seasons.
• Baylor has played in two Final Fours (1948 and 1950) — when it was an eight-team bracket — and one national championship game (lost to Kentucky in 1948 title game).
• Baylor has played half of its 22 games against seven different NCAA Tournament teams (all top-8 seeds) this season.
• BU is 9-2 against the 2021 NCAA Tournament field – No. 1 Illinois (1-0), No. 3 Kansas (1-1), No. 3 Texas (1-0), No. 3 West Virginia (1-0), No. 4 Oklahoma State (2-1), No. 6 Texas Tech (2-0) and No. 8 Oklahoma (1-0).
• Baylor and Hartford will be meeting for the 3rd time, and Baylor is 2-0 in the series. The Bears won 74-59 on Dec. 22, 2008 and 71-69 on Nov. 15, 2009, both games in Waco.
• If the Bears advance to the second round, they will play either North Carolina for the first time or Wisconsin for the third time.
• Baylor is 1-1 all-time vs. Wisconsin – a 69-52 loss in Anaheim in the 2014 Sweet 16 and a 70-65 win in the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.
• Both of Baylor's losses this season came against 2021 NCAA Tournament teams – on the road at No. 3 Kansas and neutral against No. 4 Oklahoma State.
• Four members of this year's Baylor team played in two games for the Bears during the 2019 NCAA Tournament – Jared Butler, Matthew Mayer, Flo Thamba and Mark Vital.
• Baylor head coach Scott Drew has connections to the head coaches of three additional NCAA Tournament teams – Grand Canyon head coach Bryce Drew is Scott's younger brother, Oral Roberts head coach Paul Mills was an assistant on Drew's staff throughout Drew's first 14 seasons at Baylor (2004-17) and North Texas head coach Grant McCasland was on Drew's Baylor staff for five seasons (2012-16).
Baylor Bear Insider
Ranked No. 5 with a 26-4 record, Baylor basketball was a possible No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament last year before the remainder of the season was canceled because of COVID-19.
It's no longer just a possibility, it's reality.
The second-ranked Bears (22-2) were selected as the No. 1 seed for the South Region and No. 2 overall behind top-ranked Gonzaga (26-0), the No. 1 seed in the West. With the entire NCAA Championship scheduled to be played in Indiana, Baylor will face No. 16 seed Hartford (15-8) at 2:30 p.m. CDT Friday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
"I'm really excited for the guys. They've earned it," Baylor coach Scott Drew said of the program's first No. 1 seed. "Last year, I was really excited about the opportunity to get a No. 1 seed. So, to be able to do that back-to-back years, possibly, really speaks to what the upperclassmen have been able to achieve here."
After winning its first-ever Big 12 regular-season championship, Baylor is in a South Region that includes ninth-ranked Ohio State (21-9) as the No. 2 seed, eighth-ranked Arkansas at No. 3 and 20th-ranked Purdue at No. 4. The regional field also includes 13th-seeded North Texas and 15th-seeded Oral Roberts, which are coached by former Baylor assistants Grant McCasland and Paul Mills, respectively.
"It was a heck of a night watching games with our staff (Saturday) night and celebrating that," said Scott Drew, whose Bears remained in Kansas City after an 83-74 loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 semifinals. "I'm really excited, because we know we're all together in Indianapolis. I'm really excited for what they've done with their programs. They've done outstanding jobs, and they'll be part of the Baylor Bear family for life."
Additionally, Scott's brother, Bryce Drew, led Grand Canyon (17-6) to the WAC tournament title and first NCAA Championship berth, with the Lopes playing second-seeded Iowa in the West Region.
"We definitely learned everything we do from my dad," Scott said of Hall of Fame Valparaiso coach Homer Drew. "You throw in your own twists and turns and spices you like to add. But, there is a reason he's in the Hall of Fame. As good a coach as he is, he's a better father."
The tournament will be a homecoming for Scott, who grew up in Indiana and graduated from Butler University in Indianapolis before joining his dad's staff in Valparaiso, Ind.
"It's always exciting coming back home," he said. "You've got a lot of friends, family, people from that part of the country. At the same time, I'm excited I'm going to be with my brother and the other (former) assistant coaches who are leading their programs. That also makes it easy for mom and dad. They don't have to go to two locations."
Baylor has been ranked No. 2 pretty much all year and set a program record with an 18-0 start. Coming back from a three-week COVID pause, the Bears rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to defeat Iowa State, 77-72, but suffered their first loss of the season four days later at Kansas and then bowed out of the Big 12 tournament with Friday's loss to the Cowboys.
Junior guard Jared Butler, a first-team All-American and Big 12 Player of the Year by the media, said the Bears just "need to go back to our basic rules" on defense.
"Since we're not going to be playing too many Big 12 teams in the beginning, that's going to be key," said Butler, who is averaging 17.1 points and 4.8 assists per game and shooting a Big 12-best 42.9 percent from 3-point range. "Instead of facing Oklahoma State for the third time, who knows our defense, we're going to be playing Hartford, who hasn't seen our defense. We're going to be able to really get after it."
Hartford earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid by defeating sixth-seeded UMass Lowell, 64-50, in the American East Championship on Saturday. The Hawks are led by 6-4 senior guard Austin Williams, a Marist College transfer who is averaging 13.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game after sitting out last season.
The Baylor-Hartford winner advances to the Round of 32 to face either eighth-seeded North Carolina (18-10) or No. 8 seed Wisconsin (17-12) on Sunday.
"I haven't had a chance to analyze anybody, as far as Hartford with film," Drew said, "but I do know Wisconsin and North Carolina and (have) a lot of respect for them. With Hartford, I'm used to coming from Valpo in a one-bid league and I know the parity of college basketball and how good teams are. Anxious to study Hartford and get caught up on that."
Baylor will travel from Kansas City to Indianapolis on Monday and have a few days to practice before Friday's opening-round game.
Two years ago, when the Bears were seeded ninth for the NCAA tournament, Butler scored 14 points in a 78-69 win over eighth-seeded Syracuse and 11 points in an 83-71 loss to No. 1 seed Gonzaga in a West Region game in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"It's such a different feeling," Butler said. "I was like, 'Oh, are we going to beat Syracuse?' As a 1 seed, it's totally different . . . but you still can't overlook anybody. You have to take it one game at a time."
Waco, Texas - Baylor men's basketball has been awarded an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed for the first time in program history. The Bears were the top seed in the South Region in the 2021 NCAA Tournament bracket announced Sunday on CBS.
Baylor (22-2, 13-1 Big 12) will open the 2021 NCAA Tournament on Friday against No. 16 seed Hartford (15-8, 8-6 America East) at a to-be-determined site. The winner of that game will then play a second-round matchup on Sunday against the winner of Friday's first-round game between No. 8 North Carolina and No. 9 Wisconsin.
Tip-off times, TV networks and arena assignments are to be determined. The entire tournament will be played in Indiana, with first and second round games at six sites - Mackey Arena, Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indiana Farmers Coliseum and Lucas Oil Stadium.
BAYLOR NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES:
• Baylor is a No. 1 seed for the first time in program history. The Bears' highest previous seed was No. 3 in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2017.
• Baylor is 14-14 in 12 previous NCAA Championships trips, including an 11-8 record in the Scott Drew era.
• Baylor is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in the last seven tournaments.
• Baylor is appearing in the NCAA postseason for a school-record ninth consecutive time (7 NCAA, 2 NIT).
• Baylor is making its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance in the modern tournament era. BU's first three NCAA Tournament appearances in 1946, 1948 and 1950 were in an eight-team bracket.
• Baylor is 34-21 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last 13 seasons.
• Baylor has played in two Final Fours (1948 and 1950) — when it was an eight-team bracket — and one national championship game (lost to Kentucky in 1948 title game).
• Baylor has played half of its 22 games against seven different NCAA Tournament teams (all top-8 seeds) this season.
• BU is 9-2 against the 2021 NCAA Tournament field – No. 1 Illinois (1-0), No. 3 Kansas (1-1), No. 3 Texas (1-0), No. 3 West Virginia (1-0), No. 4 Oklahoma State (2-1), No. 6 Texas Tech (2-0) and No. 8 Oklahoma (1-0).
• Baylor and Hartford will be meeting for the 3rd time, and Baylor is 2-0 in the series. The Bears won 74-59 on Dec. 22, 2008 and 71-69 on Nov. 15, 2009, both games in Waco.
• If the Bears advance to the second round, they will play either North Carolina for the first time or Wisconsin for the third time.
• Baylor is 1-1 all-time vs. Wisconsin – a 69-52 loss in Anaheim in the 2014 Sweet 16 and a 70-65 win in the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.
• Both of Baylor's losses this season came against 2021 NCAA Tournament teams – on the road at No. 3 Kansas and neutral against No. 4 Oklahoma State.
• Four members of this year's Baylor team played in two games for the Bears during the 2019 NCAA Tournament – Jared Butler, Matthew Mayer, Flo Thamba and Mark Vital.
• Baylor head coach Scott Drew has connections to the head coaches of three additional NCAA Tournament teams – Grand Canyon head coach Bryce Drew is Scott's younger brother, Oral Roberts head coach Paul Mills was an assistant on Drew's staff throughout Drew's first 14 seasons at Baylor (2004-17) and North Texas head coach Grant McCasland was on Drew's Baylor staff for five seasons (2012-16).
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