By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
For the sixth straight season, Baylor is going dancing in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA selection committee announced Sunday that Scott Drew’s Bears (19-14, 10-10) earned a No. 9 seed in the East Region, setting up a first-round matchup with No. 8 Mississippi State (21-12, 8-10) on Friday in Raleigh, N.C.
“Mississippi State [has] been ranked a lot this year, had a lot of success,” Drew said. “Coach [Chris] Jans is a great coach. They’re seeded higher than us for a reason.”
After opening the season as a preseason top-10 team, Baylor dropped into bubble contention amid a difficult stretch of Big 12 play, including a season-ending knee injury to starting center Josh Ojianwuna. But the Bears bounced back from a three-game skid to win three of their last five, with the two losses coming to top-three seeds Houston and Texas Tech by a combined six points.
“The good thing with our team is we’ve been playing better basketball in the last couple weeks than we had been,” Drew said. “Hopefully we’re peaking at the right time.”
That late-season rally proved enough to bump the Bears up from a projected No. 10 seed to a No. 9. In a particularly tough season for No. 9 seeds — blue-blood adjacent programs Louisville, Gonzaga and UConn await in the first round — Baylor drew Mississippi State, a program with less historical success but one that still poses key matchup problems for an undersized rotation.
“Anytime you play a Coach Jans team, it’s a team that plays really hard, really competes,” Drew said. “It’s a team that plays really hard, really competes, and you gotta beat them — they’re not going to beat themselves.”
The Bulldogs are one of a record-breaking 14 SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament, shattering the Big East’s former record of 11. That group includes four former Big 12 teams (Texas A&M, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas) and two No. 1 seeds (Auburn, Florida).
That level of depth made sustained success difficult. The Bulldogs limped to the finish line, losing five of their final seven games by a combined 62 points, including a whopping 111-73 defeat at the hands of Alabama. They haven’t beaten a team other than LSU since Feb. 18.
Still, Mississippi State’s size poses a major problem for Baylor. The Bulldogs rank 31st nationally in offensive rebounding (13.0 per game) behind a rotation that features a pair of 6-foot-10 big men and two more 6-foot-7 players. Norchad Omier, listed at 6-foot-7, is the tallest player in Baylor’s primary rotation.
Sophomore guard Josh Hubbard, a 5-foot-10 firecracker, is the team’s offensive engine. The Madison, Miss., native averages 18.7 points and 3.2 assists per game to only 1.2 turnovers. He and forward KeShawn Murphy (11.8 points, 7.5 rebounds) are the only double-digit scorers for a team that ranks 45th nationally in scoring offense; everybody contributes in Jans’ scheme.
If Baylor knocks off Mississippi State, a second-round matchup with No. 1 Duke (and projected top NBA pick Cooper Flagg) looms. It would practically be a home game for the Blue Devils (31-3), who play just half an hour from the opening-weekend venue in Raleigh. Baylor would be a heavy underdog in that matchup unless Flagg unexpectedly misses more time due to his ankle injury.
“One negative for both the eight and nine is you have to play the one if you’re blessed to win,” Drew said. “In [former Duke transfer Jeremy Roach’s] mind, when he saw that, I know it was bittersweet for him because he loves Duke, loves their team.”
Tipoff against No. 8 Mississippi State is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Friday at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C. The game will be broadcast on CBS.
