INDIANAPOLIS – By the time of Baylor’s 78-59 victory over Houston in the Final Four on Saturday, it was clear that the two programs, one of the Big 12 and another of the American Athletics Conference, were operating on two different levels.
Baylor’s 45-20 lead at halftime was, according to ESPN Stats & Information, the largest halftime lead in a Final Four game in 18 years and the fourth largest in Final Four history. Marcus Sasser scored 17 of his team’s points at that point. The rest of the Cougars recorded only three halftime.
Jared Butler finishes with 17 points, five players record double figures, and Baylor makes up 46% of his three points. This is the story of the game.
Baylor on Saturday did all the things that made it a national contender for the title and the most dominant program since the start of the 2019-2020 season. The Bears have lost just five games since November 8, 2019.
Baylor are now preparing for a potential game with Gonzaga on Monday – if the Bulldogs can beat UCLA in the second national semifinal on Saturday. In December, Baylor and Gonzaga would meet before the match was canceled hours before the knockout due to the positive COVID-19 tests within Gonzaga’s program.
“They have advantages,” Butler said after his win over Houston. “We have advantages.”
Scott Drew, orchestra director of Baylor’s long-term revolution for centuries, said he and Mark Few agreed – after their game was canceled four months ago – that a meeting in the NCAA tournament might be imminent.
“I know whoever it will be, it’s going to be a tough fight,” Drew said Saturday. “Coach Few and I were joking when the game was canceled and we went to the arena and we held a press conference and said the game was canceled and what not yet. And while we were driving back, we were, you know, if we would end up playing this game in the Final Four or the championship game, it sounds like a better idea, so that was obviously the goal for both of us.
“And I know we’re there. And we’ll see if [it’s] Gonzaga or UCLA. … Again, whoever you play will be a good match and both are good teams. ‘
Since the original game was canceled, the Bulldogs have advanced to history and maintained their undefeated record in pursuit of the first perfect season in 45 years. Meanwhile, Baylor kept up with the Bulldogs until a three-week hiatus due to positive cases of coronavirus seemed the program’s mojo.
Baylor lost in its second game against Kansas before losing in the Big 12 tournament semifinals to Oklahoma State. The latter, according to Drew Baylor, helped regain his focus.
“We lost with a very good Oklahoma State team in our conference tournament, which was a blessing to look back on because we could train and really get better in our defense, which we would not be here in the end. today as we [in the] did not lock up the second half and did a really good job in that piece, “Drew said after his team’s win over Arkansas in the Elite Eight.
It was indeed an unlikely run for Drew at Baylor. When he arrived in 2003, the program was caught up in one of the worst scandals the sport has ever seen. After Carlton Dotson was arrested for the murder of teammate Patrick Dennehy, former coach Dave Bliss resigned after an assistant coach caught him on tape to encourage players to create a story about Dennehy telling him as a drug dealer would paint to throw investigators off the scent of Bliss. illegal actions, which include improper payments to players, including Dennehy.
“I’m very excited to be part of the Baylor family,” Drew said at his inaugural news conference in 2003. He was appointed shortly after Bliss resigned and asked to perform a miracle on a program that had not yet been in a Final Four. since 1950.
In Drew’s third season, Baylor finished 4-13 amid huge NCAA sanctions from the Bliss era, including a ban on non-conference games. After Saturday’s victory, he attributed the people in his corner to helping him move forward after the early challenges at Baylor.
“Well, you grind every day,” Drew says of the trip Saturday. “And you really do not look back. You just keep pushing forward. And I was so blessed that I had incredible players who bought into what we like to do with the program, great assistant coaches who sacrificed so much time, hard work, sweat to get us here. ‘
Saturday’s match, however, marked the first national appearance of the title since 1948 in the program. It also added another chapter in Drew’s story.
Baylor was not just a struggling program when he got there. It was hit with an unprecedented set of challenges. But his patience paid off.
Even when his team had to pay the price for the actions of a previous coach, Drew remained positive.
“The light is definitely at the end of the tunnel,” Drew said in 2005.
Baylor and Drew want to shine brightly again Monday at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.