Indian
Baylor’s 45-20 break advantage was the biggest break advantage in a Final Four game in 18 years and the fourth-largest in Four Final history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Marcus Sasser had scored 17 points at the time. The rest of the Cougars combined to record just three at the break.
Jared Butler finished with 17 points, five players recorded double figures, and Baylor got 46% of his triples. This is the story of the game.
On Saturday, Baylor did all the things that made him a competitor for the national title and the most dominant program of the game at the beginning of the 2019-2020 season. The Bears have lost only five games since November 8, 2019.
Baylor is now preparing for a potential match with Gonzaga on Monday – if the Bulldogs can beat UCLA in the second national semifinal game on Saturday. In December, Baylor and Gonzaga had to meet before the match was canceled a few hours before disconnection due to positive tests COVID-19 in Gonzaga’s program.
“They have professionals,” Butler said after his team beat Houston. – We have professionals.
Scott Drew, the orchestrator of Baylor’s long-term change for centuries, said both he and Mark Few agreed – after their game was canceled four months ago, that a meeting in the NCAA tournament could be on the horizon .
“I know who it will be, it will be a hard-fought game,” Drew said Saturday. “Coach Few and I joked when the game was canceled and we went to the arena and held a press conference saying that the game was canceled and what not. And as I was going backwards I was like, you know what, if we’re going to end up playing this game in the Final Four or in the championship, it sounds like a better idea, so that was obviously the goal for both of us.
“It simply came to our notice then. And we’ll see if [it’s] Gonzaga or UCLA. … Again, whoever you play, it will be a great match and they are both great teams. “
Ever since the original game was canceled, the Bulldogs have gone down in history, keeping their flawless record in search of the perfect first season in 45 years. Meanwhile, Baylor kept up with the Bulldogs until a three-week break due to positive coronavirus cases, which appeared to disrupt the program’s mojo.
Baylor lost to Kansas in the second game back before losing to Oklahoma in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament. The latter, per Drew, helped Baylor regain his attention.
“We lost to a very good Oklahoma team in our conference tour, which was a blessing, looking back, because we were able to train and really improve on our defense, which at the end of the day we wouldn’t be here today if we were [in the] the second half didn’t stop and he did a great job in that stretch, “Drew said after his team’s victory over Arkansas in the Elite Eight.
Indeed, this was an unlikely race for Drew at Baylor. When it arrived in 2003, the program was stuck 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 the bandwagon encouraging players to create a story about Dennehy who would paint him as a drug dealer for to throw investigators off Bliss’ scent. illegal actions, which included improper payments to players, including Dennehy.
“I am extremely excited to be part of the Baylor family,” Drew said at the 2003 introductory press conference. He was hired shortly after Bliss resigned, and Drew was asked to perform a miracle at a program that had not been a Final Four since 1950.
In Drew’s third season, Baylor finished 4-13 amid NCAA major sanctions from the Bliss era, including a ban on non-conference games. After Saturday’s win, he credited the people around him for helping him advance through Baylor’s early challenges.
“Well, you eat every day,” Drew said of Saturday’s trip. “And you really don’t look back. Just keep pressing ahead. And I was so blessed to have incredible players who bought what we love to do with the program, great assistant coaches who sacrificed so much time, hard work, sweat to bring us here. “
However, Saturday’s game sealed the game’s first national title appearance in 1948. It also added another chapter to Drew’s narrative.
Baylor was not just a program with difficulties when it arrived. He had been hit by 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.
On Monday, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Baylor and Drew aim to shine again.