Baylor Basketball Must Fix This Major Problem to Turn Its Season Around

The 2020-21 season for Baylor’s men’s basketball team was one for the ages. Literally. They won their first national championship with an 86-70 victory over Gonzaga.

A win like that could have been a springboard for the program to new heights, where they were not only competing for national championships, but winning them.

That has not been the case. Since taking home the title Baylor has played four full seasons, and is in the midst of their fifth.

The New Standard

They have won 20 games every season since then, but success is measured differently in Waco now. Competing in the NCAA tournament is the expectation and demand for Scott Drew and his crew.

They have not delivered up to this point in that regard. Baylor has not made a Sweet 16 since taking home the title five years ago, and this year’s team is off to a 1-5 start in conference play, and potentially in danger of missing the NCAA tournament.

One of the reasons for that, is the team simply has not risen up to big competition, a point driven home Evan Miyakawa, a basketball analyst who specializes in analytics.

His initial point was that Baylor has struggled playing up to elite competition.

That’s not going to surprise anyone this season, considering Baylor’s poor record in conference play, and frankly, that they have not been close against Kansas or Texas Tech in their previous two games.

What’s more alarming?

Miyakawa pointed out that Baylor has not only struggled with elite competition this season, but that it’s a trend spanning across three years.

“Baylor is the worst team in all of Division 1 when it comes to playing up to competition, Miyakawa said.

“It’s been like this for the last three years. Last year Baylor was the seventh worst team in the country when it came to opponent strength adjustment, the year before they were fourth.

It’s pretty rare for a team to be consistently this low from year to year, but that’s what Baylor is doing, it’s a worrying trend for the Baylor Bears.”

For reference’s sake, the best team playing up to their competition according to this metric, is the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who are currently ranked seventh in the country.

Obviously, playing well in big games is a must for any team, but that’s especially true for a team like Baylor, which measures success by how they are able to perform in the tournament.

There are no easy games in March. Getting to the final four requires a team to play well in as many as five games before going to a neutral site to play against two of the best teams in the country.

Baylor used to be on the short list of teams expected to do that. They were a powerhouse, and that resulted in the team bringing home the school’s first national title in 2021.

Now? They struggle to play well against any good team, and they have for the last three years. Scott Drew is not going to get fired, nor should he. He’s earned the right to right this ship.

What he does need to do, however, is figure out what plagues his team in the biggest games, and solve that problem immediately.

If he doesn’t, Baylor could go from not getting out of the first weekend of the tournament to not being in it at all.

The New Standard

What’s more alarming?

More from Baylor on SI