Baylor basketball enters CBS Sports national rankings
After a third consecutive win against Sacramento State earlier this week, it seems like the Baylor Bears basketball is starting to gain a little respect nationally.
CBS Sports college basketball analyst Gary Parrish recently moved Baylor into the 26th spot into his daily updated "Top 25 and 1" rankings, sliding in and replacing a preseason exhibition opponent in Indiana, after their first loss of the season to Minnesota.
St. John's, the Bears' only loss of the season, sits at 22nd in Parrish's rankings, losing their last game in the Players Era Festival by double digits to Auburn after toppling Baylor. Slotting just outside the top 25 seems to be the national consensus on the Bears, as they received 13 votes in the latest AP poll, essentially slotting them as 33rd in the country with the 8th highest amount of votes among non-ranked teams. They also appear at 29th in the latest KenPom rankings, another metric used in NCAA seeding consideration.
These rankings have the Bears much higher than the NCAA-backed NET rankings that released earlier in the week. The Bears slot just inside the projected NCAA tournament field at 67th, despite two quality non-conference win in Las Vegas against Creighton and San Diego State, both who are within the top 60 at KenPom.
The Bears will have ample opportunities to bolster their computer numbers once the non-conference slate ends, as the Big 12 saw eight teams make it to the NCAA tournament last year, and currently has six teams within the AP Top 25, and 10 within the NCAA Net top 50.
The Bears are on the road next against the Memphis Tigers of the American Conference, the first of the team's 4-game series. The Tigers, in their sixth season under former NBA All-Star, have stumbled to a 3-4 start so far, but they led the top team in the country, Purdue, through most of the first half in their matchup before losing to the Boilermakers in the Baha Mar tournament in the Bahamas. Hardaway, like Baylor head coach Scott Drew, did not retain any of his roster from the 2024-25 season, and he was able to snag a slew of power-conference transfers, including forward Zachary Davis from South Carolina, guard Dug McDaniel from Michigan, and Curtis Givens from LSU.
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Josh began covering Baylor athletics in July 2025. Before this, he previously wrote for Syracuse men's basketball and football at SI from 2022-24. As a former Division I defensive lineman at Prairie View, Josh is passionate about storytelling from a former athlete's perspective. When he's not covering Baylor, he enjoys traveling, listening to podcasts and music, and loves cooking a good meal.