Baylor Basketball Mentioned as Team with Work To Do

There’s no way around it. Baylor basketball is in trouble. They have struggled all season to the point where they have no margin for error.

This is not a conversation about getting a good seed in the NCAA Tournament, or a favorable draw.

We’re talking about getting a bid into the dance at all.

Baylor is not supposed to be a team sweating out their fate on Selection Sunday. They’re not supposed to be a team hoping to find Cinderella’s glass slipper. They’re supposed to be a national power.

That’s the program that Scott Drew has built, and it’s become more of the expectation since winning the national championship in 2020. Like it or not, those are the expectations.

Former Green Bay Packers defensive end Willie Davis used to say under Vince Lombardi, there was no in between or second place. The Packers either won the championship, or they lost for the year.

Fair or not, that’s the expectation in Waco, Texas for this basketball team.

There are some bright spots, to be sure. Cameron Carr has been an excellent addition via the transfer portal. Tounde Yessoufou has been one of the top freshman in the country. Those two help form a dynamic scoring duo.

Unfortunately, the negatives outweigh the positives. Baylor has stunk against top-tier competition. They’ve struggled against some bottom feeders in the Big 12 as well. They have won just three conference games this season, and have been unable to score that signature win that has eluded them to this point of the year.

Baylor has work to do

ESPN’s Neil Paine recently had some discussion about teams that need to do some work before Selection Sunday which is just a few weeks away. Baylor, to nobody’s surprise, that has watched this season, made the list.

Baylor joined the bubble fray after beating Colorado by 19 on Wednesday -- its second win in a row after snapping a recent slump of seven losses in eight games. But the Bears' failed attempt to erase Iowa State's 15-point lead in the final three minutes of Saturday's loss cut into their recent gains. The Bears have a pretty mixed résumé at this point -- three Quadrant 1 wins but a ninth-place rank in résumé average in a Big 12 that might not have eight bids -- but they boast a decent ranking (44th) in the predictive metrics and will get a few more shots at signature upsets coming up.

Paine is right, there are some positives that Baylor has going for them, and being a name-brand program will certainly help the Bears be on the tips of tongues of those making decisions on Selection Sunday.

We already laid out why the Bears need to find a win against BYU Tuesday night, but they do have more opportunities for upsets as well.

They’ll likely need to score wins against two of BYU, Arizona, and Houston in the final stretch of the season.

If they’re unable to do that, they’ll likely need to pile up wins against the rest of the teams on their schedule to add some fluff to their record

Baylor has work to do

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