Baylor routs Houston to reach title game
from Baylor (27-2) got in on the act. The Bears had five players score in double figures. They built a 45-20 lead by halftime and coasted the rest of the way to their second title game.
They’ll face Gonzaga, the overall No. 1 seed, or upstart UCLA on Monday night for their first national championship.
Marcus Sasser had 20 points for the cold-shooting Cougars (28-4), whose dream path to their first Final Four since 1984 — they faced teams seeded 15th, 10th, 11th and 12th along the way — ended with a whimper against a team focused squarely on this night since the moment last year’s tournament was canceled because of the pandemic.
For Drew, the wait had been even longer.
He took over a program 18 years ago embroiled in arguably the biggest controversy in the history of the sport: the graphic shooting death of player Patrick Dennehy, his teammate Devon Dotson pleading guilty to his murder, attempts by then-coach Dave Bliss to cover it all up, and NCAA sanctions that lasted well into Drew’s own tenure.
Yet somehow, the son of longtime Valpo coach Homer Drew always pictured the very scene that unfolded Saturday night: His team playing selflessly, almost effortlessly, never once feeling the pressure of college basketball’s biggest stage.
Well, there were a few things Drew probably didn’t picture.
Instead of 70,000 fans reaching to the rafters, the Bears were cheered in the lower bowl by thousands of cardboard cutouts — from the late Georgetown coach John Thompson to New Mexico State mascot Pistol Pete — due to measures against COVID-19 that have forced them to live in a bubble for the last three weeks.
The roughly 8,000 fans that were allowed through the doors, socially distanced in a vast ocean of blue seats, provided a muted soundtrack to the blowout inside the cavernous home of the Indianapolis Colts.
The only cheering? That came from those in green and gold.
The Bears controlled the game from the jump, unleashing a 14-3 run fueled by the kind of crisp passing, silky shooting and dastardly defense that made them unbeatable before a 23-day COVID-19 pause late in the regular season.
When the Cougars finally scored, the Bears ripped off another 16-3 run, carving up the nation’s top 3-point field-goal defense with ruthless efficiency.