Baylor
Colgate
No. 3 Seed MBB Readies to Open NCAA Tournament against No. 14 Seed Colgate
3/20/2024 11:41:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Bears are the only team in the nation to be a top-3 seed in four-straight tournaments
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No. 14 COLGATE RAIDERS (25-9, 16-2 Patriot) Location: Hamilton, N.Y. Conference/Affiliation: Patriot Head Coach: Matt Langel (Penn, 2000) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
COLGATE (25-9, 16-2 Patriot) vs. 14/13 BAYLOR (23-10, 11-7 Big 12) March 22, 2024 • 11:40 a.m. CT Memphis, Tenn. • FedEx Forum (18,119) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: TruTV or the March Madness App Talent: Spero Dedes(pxp), Jim Spanarkel (analyst), Jon Rothstein (reporter) LISTEN: Baylor Sports Media Network via ESPN 1660 AM / 92.3 FM in Central Texas Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (Analyst) LISTEN: Westwood One Talent: John Sadak (pxp), Tom Crean (Analyst) SIRIUS XM: SiriusXM 202, 209 or on the SXM App Baylor Social Media:    |
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No. 3 BAYLOR BEARS (23-10, 11-7 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
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Story lines
• No. 3 seed Baylor takes on No. 14 seed Colgate in an 11:40 a.m. tilt on TruTV in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
• The Bears are the only team in the country to be a No. 3 seed or higher in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments.
• The No. 9 overall seed this season, BU is the only school in the country to be a top-10 overall seed in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments. No other school has been better than a 14 in that span.
• The Bears enter the tournament as one of four teams to win at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of the last four tournaments (Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas).
• BU is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in the last 10 tournaments.
• Baylor is 1 of 9 teams to appear in nine of the last 10 tournaments, joining Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina, Purdue, and Virginia.
• The Bears are 22-16 in 14 NCAA Championship appearances and 19-10 under Scott Drew.
• Baylor is 43-27 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last 16 seasons.
• BU is 8-4 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament including five-straight first-round wins.
• BU is 9-7 all-time when playing as a No. 3 seed.
• The Bears are ninth in the nation in 3-point FG% (38.8), rank sixth in nation in offensive efficiency (122.5) and second among Big 12 in points per game (80.5).
• Baylor finished the season with the No. 1 strength of schedule and faced the best defenses in the nation according to KenPom.
• Baylor is the only Big 12 team to win 11+ conference games in each of the last five seasons.
• BU is 12-5 in its last 17 games against AP top-10 teams.
• BU is 1 of 4 programs ranked No. 1 nationally in four of the last eight seasons (Gonzaga, Duke and Kansas).
• BU is 127-34 over the last five seasons, the nation's best winning percentage among Power-6 teams in that span (.789%).
• The Bears are the only team in the nation with six active players averaging double-digit points.
• Baylor has now been ranked in the top-10 for a fifth-straight year, one of just five programs (Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Gonzaga) to accomplish that feat.
• Baylor had five players garner All-Big 12 honors this past week (tied for second-most in the league), headlined by Big 12 Freshman of the Year Ja'Kobe Walter.
• Walter gave BU The preseason and postseason Freshman of the Year for the second-straight season (Keyonte George), joining Oklahoma State as the only Big 12 school to accomplish that in back-to-back seasons.
• RayJ Dennis continued his strong season for the Bears with a All-Big 12 Second Team selection by the coaches and media, while also being a unanimous All-Newcomer team selection.
• Dennis is etching his name in the Baylor history books climbing to third on Baylor's single-season assist chart. His 225 assists are 30 shy of the second-best season in program history (Pierre Jackson 255, 2012-13.)
• Thirteen of Baylor's 14 starting point guards under Drew have earned All-Big recognition (17 of last 18 seasons).
• Dennis' 6.8 assists per game would rank as the fifth-best single-season average in program history.
• Jalen Bridges was voted to the All-Big 12 Third Team, his second All-Big 12 selection after he made the 2020-21 Big 12 All-Freshman Team while at West Virginia.
• In the absence of guard Langston Love, Bridges and Jayden Nunn have helped shoulder the scoring load averaging 14.4 and 12.1 points, respectively.
• Yves Missi was voted to the Big 12 All-Freshman and All-Defensive Teams, in addition to being an All-Big 12 Honorable mention, alongside with Love.
