By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
Welcome to the Monday Morning Sports Buzz, where only the strongest stories survive. Baylor women’s hoops is headed back to the Big Dance, men’s basketball is waiting for further instructions and three track athletes earned All-American honors. Let’s get into it.
March Madness
Baylor women’s basketball officially secured its 22nd consecutive NCAA Tournament berth Sunday night. The Bears (24-8, 13-5 Big 12) earned a No. 6 seed and will face the play-in winner of Nebraska (18-12, 7-11 Big Ten) and Richmond (26-7, 15-3 A-10) in the Round of 64.
The winner is expected to face Duke (24-8, 16-2 ACC), a No. 3 seed and the regional host for the first two rounds. You can see the full women’s bracket here.
“There’s no tomorrow if you fear it,” head coach Nicki Collen said. “So for us, we should be excited about the opportunity and not take it for granted because not everybody is playing this time of year. We’ve got to give it our all because if you don’t give it your all, you’re going home.”
Meanwhile, the men’s team (16-16, 6-12 Big 12) missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017-18. The Bears finished without a winning record for the first time since 2006-07 (15-16).
The team was not invited to the NIT, though a berth in the College Basketball Crown is still possible. Two Big 12 teams receive auto-bids, and Baylor ranks second in the NET rankings among the conference’s non-NCAA Tournament teams. Cincinnati, who ranks first, would reportedly decline a bid.
You can see the full men’s NCAA Tournament bracket here.
Three All-Americans
Three Baylor track and field athletes earned All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend: Tiriah Kelley (200 meters), Demario Prince (60-meter hurdles) and Molly Haywood (pole vault), who earned her third All-American distinction. The women’s team tied for 22nd at the meet with 11 points.
“Somebody asked me, ‘How’d you guys do?’” head coach Michael Ford said. “I said, ‘Well, we had three bullets in the gun, we fired all three of them, and they hit the target.’ That’s what I was looking for, so I couldn’t ask for anything else, besides, of course, three national titles.”
Around the Horn (Spring Break Edition)
- Softball (20-7, 2-1 Big 12) won two straight to win a series split over No. 22 UCF this weekend. The Bears will play an away-and-home series against No. 3 Texas at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
- Baseball (11-8, 1-2 Big 12) swept Air Force, knocked off Sam Houston and split a conference-opening weekend series against West Virginia. The Bears will host Kansas State at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
- Men’s tennis (12-6) couldn’t keep up momentum after an upset win over No. 1 Ohio State, falling to SMU 4-2 before bouncing back to win three straight to close out its nonconference schedule. The Bears will open Big 12 play Friday at Arizona.
- Women’s tennis (9-5, 5-1 Big 12) has won three straight Big 12 matches.
- Acrobatics and tumbling (7-0) knocked off No. 4 Iona to remain undefeated.
- Men’s golf is plugging away at the Michael A. Marino invitational in Conway, S.C.
And it’s another beautiful week in Baylor athletics.
Thanks for reading.
— JPose
