Baylor Bears solidifying case for best team in NCAA
The top ranked Baylor Bears are taking the college basketball world by storm. The Bears, with their blowout win over West Virginia, are riding a 22 game winning streak en route to a 23-1 overall record.
Undefeated in the Big 12, Baylor has six games remaining and could finish an outstanding 18-0 in conference play. A No. 1 overall seed is also in play for the NCAA Tournament.
Perhaps the most impressive team stat for Baylor in 2019-20 is about some of the teams they've beaten throughout the year.
Baylor is the only team in college basketball with six wins over Top 25 teams. They are now 6-0 in such games.
The victories came against Villanova (No. 17), Arizona (No. 12), Butler (No. 18), Texas Tech (No. 22), Kansas (No. 3) and West Virginia (No. 14). What was impressive about their victory over the Mountaineers last night, was the ability to adapt to a lineup change.
Without second leading scorer MaCio Teague in the lineup, day-to-day with a wrist injury he suffered against Texas, Baylor used a different lineup and rotation than they have pretty much all year. Senior guard Devonte Bandoo got his first start of the 2019-20 season with reserve wing Matthew Mayer playing big minutes. The new rotation had Mayer playing both at the small forward position, as well as at forward when Mark Vital exited the game with two early fouls.
Baylor dominated this one from start to finish, building up a 28-point lead halfway through the second half. Leading 53-23, West Virginia would go on a 34-17 run over the final 10:34 of action. This game was over after Baylor put together an 18-3 run to start the second half.
While the magical ride for Baylor continues, there could be some flaws that prevent the Bears from winning the Big 12 and even a National title.
Baylor developed a few bad habits that could cost them a) the Big 12 title—Kansas is only one game behind— or b) a long, glorious run in March. Those are poor free throw shooting and the tendency to go through lengthy offensive dry spells.
The Bears shoot 69 percent from the line as a team. Although, their in-game performances have not been too terrible until recently. They had two bad performances early when they went 5-for-11 at the line against Butler and then 9-for-17 against Texas Tech.
More importantly though, Baylor must find a way to fix their scoring droughts.
It started on the Alaskan neutral court when they played Washington in the second game of the year. Baylor went scoreless in both the final 3:19 of the first half and the final 5:29 of the game. They were up 13 on the Huskies with 8:40 to play, but only scored two field goals during Washington's 21-5 run.
Against Arizona, the Bears shot 22 percent from the floor in the second half and allowed a 7-0 late Wildcat run to erase their lead to one with less than a minute to play. They shot 24 percent from the floor in the second half and were scoreless in the final 3:39 of the game versus Butler and allowed another late 7-0 run to win by one.
When games come down to the wire in March, Baylor's droughts or lack of free throw shooting can be exposed. In a win or go home situation, there are no second chances.
On the other hand, Baylor's ability to win all but one game this season shows they could be in for a special ride, finding ways to win differently each night.
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