This year’s Baylor Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams both had incredible highs and lows throughout the regular season with their conference challenges ending in the first rounds of the Big 12 tournament this past week. The Baylor Men showed sparks of brilliance at a few points during the season, but their struggles on both ends of the ball resulted in a 22-10 record with 11-7 in Big 12 play. The Bears finished fourth in the Big 12 after Kansas, T*xas, and Kansas State. The Baylor Women had struggles of their own in head coach Nicki Collen’s second year at the helm with lots of new and young faces on the squad. The Bears dropped out of the AP Top 25 rankings for the first time since 2004—an incredible 19-year run for 365 consecutive polls. They finished with a 19-12 overall record and 10-8 in conference matchups. However, both the Men and Women Bears will go dancing in the 2023 NCAA Tournament (remember when my family and I got to watch the first and second rounds in Texas last year?) as announced today during the selection show! The Baylor Men earned a 3-seed in the 2023 NCAA challenge for a third-consecutive time in the South Region where they will face off against No. 14 UC Santa Barbara (27-7, 15-5). The first and second rounds will be played in Denver at Ball Arena. Should the Bears beat the Gauchos on Friday at 12:30 p.m. (CT), they’ll play against the winner of the game between No. 6 Creighton and No. 11 North Carolina State! The Baylor Women were seeded at No. 7 in the Seattle 3 Region in Storrs, Connecticut and they will match up against No. 10 Alabama (20-10) on Saturday! If they win their game, their following opponent in the second round will be announced.
