It’s a Great Time to be a Baylor Bear

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Created on Saturday, 24 March 2012 21:28

Last Updated on Thursday, 16 May 2013 07:51

Written by Travis Pulver

The Baylor Bears have become a household name thanks to the winning ways of the football team led by their Heisman trophy winning quarterback, Robert Griffin III. Nowadays the sporting world is watching the Baylor Bears again, and it has nothing to do with RG3.

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have a shot at winning a national championship.

The women’s team is an easy favorite to win, and so far it does not look like there is anything human that will be able to stop them. No one has really come close to being able to beat the Lady Bears during the tournament so far. The average margin of victory through the Sweet Sixteen has been 25 points (41, 19, and 15).

So far the Lady Bears have played like a team that is determined to win the title this season. They never trailed in the first two games of the season, and only trailed briefly against Florida early in the first half. That was also the game where Griner became just the second woman in NCAA Tournament history to record a slam dunk in a game.

"I wanted to get one in this game," said Griner. "Brooklyn got me the ball and I just went up and slammed it."

The men were not considered a favorite coming into the tournament, but as a No 3 seed and ranked No 9 in the AP Poll they were a team to look out for. After a close win over South Dakota State (68-60) they had an easier time with Colorado, but still needed a strong second half in order to pull out the win (80-63).

Brady Heslip came to the rescue with nine three-pointers against Colorado (ninth person in NCAA history to record nine or more three-pointers in a single game. Friday night against a very talented Xavier team, the Bears had a different hero step up in a different way.

Quincy Acy put on a dunk display that his teammates could not help but be electrified from. Acy ended up with 20 points and 15 rebounds on the night as he and fellow big man Perry Jones III (what is it with Baylor and ‘III’?) led the way to victory, 75-70.

“He’s a cage-rattler,” said Xavier head coach Chris Mack of Acy. “We knew that.”

The men’s road to the Final Four will hit its toughest challenge yet on Sunday when they face off against No 1 seed Kentucky at 2:20 PM ET. Should they make the Final Four it will be the first time since 1950. They’ve made it to the title game only once (1948), but have never won.

For the Lady Bears the journey will continue against No 2 seed Tennessee on Monday at 6 PM ET.