To Jared Butler, it felt like a natural disaster hit Waco, Texas, last March. Baylor was set to receive its highest NCAA Tournament seed in program history. The Final Four seemed realistic.
Then, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everything was canceled. The Bears didn’t even play a postseason game.
“It was like a tornado hitting our town in Waco, Texas and just destroying everything,” Butler recalled. “It was, like, what? It was so crazy. We just couldn’t understand it. We couldn’t fathom it.”
A year later, Baylor has become that tornado for opposing teams, following up a Big 12 regular season crown with a run toward Monday’s national championship game after landing its first No. 1 seed ever. Saturday night, the Bears continued to devastate quality opponents.
Houston, the second seed in the Midwest Region, was the latest victim. The Cougars were ripped apart, 78-59, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as Baylor reached the national championship game for the second time, and the first time since 1948. The Bears will play for the title Monday against undefeated Gonzaga, which survived UCLA, 93-90 in overtime.
“That was one of my goals and I know some of my teammates’ goals, just to leave a legacy at Baylor, create Baylor as a blue blood,” Butler said. “And you’ve got to win national championships. You’ve got to be just a great program, be about the right things, and that’s we’re doing. That’s what I wanted to do.”
The entire core returned from last year’s team, determined to pick up where it had left off. Before Saturday’s game, coach Scott Drew reminded his team of the lost opportunity last March, and that three members of that group — Freddie Gillespie, Tristan Clark and Devonte Bandoo — were in the stands Saturday night.
“Moments like that make you reflect and think,” Drew said. “You feel so bad for the guys that didn’t have that opportunity, and never will, but at the same time you feel so blessed and fortunate these guys are [getting the chance] this year.”
Baylor has now defeated its five tournament opponents by a combined 76 points, with just one of those victories — the nine-point Elite Eight win over No. 3 Arkansas — coming by single digits. Its defense has returned to form, limiting those opponents to 26.6 3-point shooting and forcing 14 turnovers per game. It very much looks like the Baylor team that started this season 18-0, which many felt was on a par with undefeated Gonzaga, before a three-week COVID-19 pause in February led to a poor finish to the regular season.
“If we’re not where we were, I can’t see the difference,” Drew said.
Of the two national semifinals, the Baylor-Houston game was supposed to be the more competitive one. The Bears (27-2) were just five-point favorites, which was silly in retrospect. They manhandled the Cougars (28-4), one of the premier rebounding teams in the country, on the glass, out-rebounding them 32-24. They had no problem with Houston’s pressure defense, the Cougars’ calling card. The Bears shot 52 percent from the field and went 11-for-24 from 3-point range. They had 23 assists on 28 made baskets, the ball moving side to side, in and out.
This was more than the Baylor big three of MaCio Teague, Davion Mitchell (11 assists) and Butler, who had a team-high 17 points. They each reached double figures to combine for 40 points. The Bears’ bench scored 32 points, 12 coming from matchup nightmare Matthew Mayer, and they were stingy on the defensive end, holding Houston’s star duo of Quentin Grimes and DeJon Jarreau to 7-for-22 shooting.
“That’s why we’re making it to the national championship game,” Butler said. “And that’s what we’re going to need in the championship game, too.”
