Behind a 14-5-4 record, top-15 national ranking and five All-Big 12 honors, Baylor delivered its most complete season under Michelle Lenard, powered by depth, veteran leadership and strong wins. It was a year the Bears didn’t just put up numbers — they rebuilt a standard, found their identity and laid a foundation that will carry the program forward for years to come.

Baylor capitalized on a late first-half penalty and leaned on Alvarez’s 11-save effort to edge No. 15 Wisconsin 1-0 in Thursday’s NCAA second round. The Bears survived a late Badger surge, overcoming a 20-10 shot margin to secure their first Sweet 16 berth since 2018.

After securing an at-large berth and their best résumé of the Michelle Lenard era, the Bears open NCAA Tournament play at home Friday against Texas State. They will look to advance past the opening round for the first time since 2018.

What began with a handful of believers in 1995 has become one of the Big 12’s strongest programs, powered by a blend of faith, tradition and drive that has Baylor on the brink of history. Three decades later, the Bears aren’t just chasing a title; they’re living out the promise that built the program from the start.

With experience, depth and a sharper attack, the Bears have the pieces to make a championship run in 2025.

No. 19 Baylor men’s tennis had its season come to a close as it lost 4-3 to No. 18 Texas A&M Sunday evening at the Mitchell D. Case Tennis Center in College Station.

No. 19 Baylor men’s tennis broke through the first round defeating Nebraska 4-1 Saturday morning at Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station.

For the 27th year in a row, No. 19 Baylor men’s tennis is heading to the NCAA Tournament. The Bears will open the biggest tournament in college tennis against Nebraska in the first round at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station.

Heading into the Big Dance, Wright leads the team in assists per game (4.3) and is third on the team in points per game (11.3). Wright holds the program record for assists as a freshman with 143 and counting. He also set the freshman record for most assists in a single game, dishing out 13 in a 94-69 win over Norfolk State on Dec. 11.

After missing over a month of action due to a right knee injury, No. 4 Baylor women’s basketball was prepared to field questions regarding the status of junior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs heading into March Madness. But the Bears had an ace up their sleeve.

Reaching the program’s 21st consecutive tournament appearance, graduate guard Sarah Andrews and senior guard Jada Walker leaned on leadership and experience to put No. 4 Baylor women’s basketball in a position to succeed in March.

The Bears jumped up a seed line after a strong finish to the season. They’ll take on Chris Jans’ Bulldogs (21-12, 8-10) Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina.

After falling in a winner-take-all regular-season finale, No. 2 Baylor women’s basketball is set on claiming the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship. Earning a double bye, the Bears will start the journey in the quarterfinals against No. 7 Iowa State at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.

In the second-ever meeting between the two teams, the green and gold came up short while trying to make up for a 4-1 loss to the Toreros in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Despite dropping the doubles point, the Bears made a statement and won the first set on all six courts before San Diego staged a comeback.

Baylor soccer is back from its trip to Hawaii, and the Bears brought two wins back with them. Now, the green and gold are preparing to take one more when they host Texas A&M at 8 p.m. Friday night at Betty Lou Mays Field.

“I feel like there’s no pressure on us,” senior guard Sarah Andrews said. “The pressure is on the other team. We’re the underdogs. We have nothing to lose, but we have a lot to gain.”

Following the second-best start to a season in program history (14-0 start through Jan. 6), No. 5 seed Baylor women’s basketball hit turbulence.. Through a cold streak in which they lost six of their next 10 games, the team stayed positive and rallied back to find itself in the Sweet 16 for the first time under head coach Nicki Collen. Now, the Bears will clash with No. 1 seed USC at 4:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at the Moda Center.

After senior guard RayJ Dennis powered through contact and ended a scoring drought that lasted just over two minutes, No. 3 seed Baylor men’s basketball was down by 13 with just over six minutes to play.

Ja’Kobe Walter could’ve coasted through his one-and-done season. Baylor could’ve been a pitstop. He didn’t have to care. That’s never been Walter, though — that’s not his style.

In late February, Brownell said on the Tigers’ flagship radio station that Big 12 teams would adjust their nonconference schedules to play softer opponents with the idea that more routs would take place. Thus, those larger-margin victories would boost how Big 12 teams are reflected in metrics like the NET, which is the NCAA Evaluation Tool used by the selection committee.

Inked in familiar territory, head coach Scott Drew takes his Bears (24-10) into the round of 32 for the ninth time in his career, and he holds a 5-3 record in those previous contests. However, Drew’s teams have faced second-round exits in back-to-back seasons. But with all the underlying emotions, Drew said that at the end of the day it’s still basketball at the biggest stage.

As good as No. 3 seed Baylor’s offense was throughout its 92-67 win over No. 14 seed Colgate on Friday afternoon in the FedExForum, the team knows its fate relies on the defensive end.

After Tchamwa Tchatchoua drilled his first career postseason 3-pointer with 1:16 to play, Sacks found his first with 22 seconds remaining. Sacks’ 3-pointer marked the 16th of the night, which tied a postseason program record and notched the 92nd point which also marked the highest scoring output for the Bears (24-10) in an NCAA Tournament game in school history.

The only team in the country to be a No. 3 seed or higher in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments, three-seeded Baylor men’s basketball did so with four new starters. Now, the Bears roll into a round of 64 matchup against No. 14 seed Colgate, which is scheduled for 11:40 a.m. on Friday at FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn.

Baylor redshirt sophomore guard Langston Love must have picked up pennies on the tails side or walked under ladders growing up. Love is out for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament with a series of ankle injuries, and the setback came after dealing with a torn ACL his freshman year, followed by an eye injury down the stretch of the 2022-23 season.

Looking at the games played so far this year, head coach Nicki Collen and the No. 12-ranked Bears have been a dominant force. On both sides of the ball, the Bears have been able to outperform their competition in nearly all statistical categories.

Baseball is a game of streaks — losing streaks and hitting streaks, slumps on the mound or at the plate, maybe even an unusually high number of consecutive wins. Baylor baseball has learned a thing or two about that when looking back on the 2012 season and a craze that stormed through Waco: “Feed the beaver.”

The Horned Frogs won the final three sets of Saturday’s match by a combined seven points.

With all that was going on over the busy homecoming weekend, here’s everything you may have missed with Baylor Athletics.

No. 8 seed Baylor soccer suffered an early exit in the 2023 Sprouts Farmers Market Big 12 Soccer Championship. The Bears fell to No. 9 seed Cincinnati 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex in Round Rock.