Baylor men nearing first conference title since 1950.

In quest for first regular-season Big 12 title, Bears coach Drew keeping upbeat attitude

Eternal optimism has long been a Scott Drew staple.

“You could say one is a fluke,” a buoyant Drew said following his second Big 12 win as Baylor’s coach in February 2004. “A second one shows we’re getting better. We’re improving.”

The Bears’ win over Texas A&M 17 years ago this month in the Ferrell Center came against six losses to that point in league play, but Drew was right: The Bears already were improving following his hire from Valparaiso and immediately after the scandalous Dave Bliss era in Waco.

Entering Saturday night’s game at No. 17 Kansas, the No. 2 Bears had a chance to clinch their first Big 12 title since they entered the league in 1996, and first overall since 1950 as Southwest Conference members.

“Winning the conference championship is a goal, but it’s not the end goal,” Drew said. “We’ve got March Madness coming up and a chance to do some things that we haven’t done in the school’s history in quite some time.

“The Big 12 regular season and the conference tournament are not the end of it.”

Drew hopes, anyway. A year ago the Bears were flying high as well and were ranked fifth nationally when the season was canceled during the Big 12 tournament because of the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic.

That team had a decent shot at winning the first national title in Baylor men’s basketball history. So does this one, with a balanced attack prompting Kansas coach Bill Self, not one to typically gush over opponents, to dub the Bears “terrific” four times in one proclamation.

“This year’s version is definitely one of the best teams we’ve faced in my time here at Kansas, regardless of where we play them,” Self said. “They have a terrific team — a terrific team, terrific personnel, they’re wellcoached, they’ve got a lot of terrific pieces.”

Baylor led the entire first meeting against Kansas on Jan. 18 in Waco, with a 16-point bulge at one point in a 77-69 victory. Entering Saturday night’s game, the Bears were 10-1 against ranked teams the last two seasons, the first program to win 10 of 11 against the Top 25 since Indiana from 197476.

The frustrated Bears didn’t play for 20 days this month because of COVID-19 issues within the program, coupled with the record-setting arctic blast that swept across the state in the middle of the month.

“We’ve seen two things that are supposedly once every 100 years,” Drew said of the ongoing pandemic and the freeze that brought a temperature of minus-1 Fahrenheit to Waco, coldest on record in a February. “Hopefully, this is a once in a 100-type season that happens a lot more after this.

“Our guys have been really positive all year long and have controlled what they can control.”

The Bears, led by star guard Jared Butler, have plenty of reasons for positivity. They won their first 17 games this season by eight or more points, becoming the first program to do so since the 1990-91 UNLV squad.

That streak was snapped in the Bears’ closest call of the season leading to Saturday night’s action — a 77-72 victory over Iowa State on Tuesday in Waco. Baylor trailed the woebegone Cyclones by 17 points in the first half before getting its act together over the final 20 minutes.

“Does three weeks off affect your play? One-hundred percent,” Drew said. “… It really showed a lot of heart from our guys. I’ve talked to a lot of coaches who’ve had long pauses. … They say it’s three games until you’re normal, minimum.”

Guard MaCio Teague described the Bears’ return to their early fluidity as a “process” in their final swing toward postseason.

“Playing in a game is way different than practicing five-onfive,” Teague said. “No matter how hard the workout is, no matter how much you get up and down the floor, simulating a game is really hard to do.”

Baylor’s lone appearance in a national title game occurred in 1948, a 58-42 loss to Kentucky. They haven’t made the Final Four since 1950 — also marking their last league title. Drew, 50, owns has Elite Eight appearances and four Sweet 16 showings over his 18 seasons, at what was once one of the Big 12’s worst programs.

“The job he’s done over … 18 years at Baylor is probably one of the best coaching jobs ever,” Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said. “The level that he has sustained success there is incredible.”

Richard W. Rodriguez / Associated Press Guard Jared Butler and the Bears had won 10 of their last 11 games against ranked opponents, dating back to 2019, heading into a matchup late Saturday night against No. 17 Kansas.

David Purdy / Getty Images Baylor coach Scott Drew says his team is still working its way back after a long layoff because of COVID-19 issues.