Three Bears eye fairy tale NCAA ending HOW DO YOU TOP THAT?
For Gonzaga, only way to follow Final Four thriller is with championship
INDIANAPOLIS — The only reason Baylor’s backcourt can’t be considered a true brotherhood is the blood coursing through its veins.
Whether declaring together for the NBA draft or withdrawing from it, transferring from other schools or helping newcomers acclimate to coach Scott Drew’s program, Jared Butler, MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell have done just about everything together over the past few years.
That includes leading the Bears to their first national championship game since the 1940s.
But that much-anticipated showdown with unbeaten Gonzaga tonight probably wouldn’t have been happened had those three not returned to Baylor this season.
Teague was the first to declare for the NBA draft last spring, shortly after the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments were called off due to the coronavirus outbreak. Butler dropped his name in the hat after an All-American season a few weeks later, and Mitchell might have done the same if scouts cared as much about defense as they do offense.
All three came back, though. Each had their own reasons, but one in particular tied them together: The three knew they would have a chance to win the program’s first national championship.
“I don’t think the COVID ending was, like, a big reason why everybody came back,” Butler said, “but I think we all explored our options equally and we wanted to see where we were at in our basketball career. And we just made the decision to come back, and we felt like, each one of us felt like coming back was the best option.”
It certainly was the best situation for Baylor. Along with Mark Vital, who decided to return for his fifth season, the Bears wound up bringing back just about their entire lineup from a team that spent time at No. 1 last season. And if not for a the pandemic putting a stop to everything, the Bears could have been chasing their Final Four dreams 12 months ago.
“I remember when it got canceled,” Butler said, “it was like a tornado hitting our town in Waco, Texas, and just destroying everything. It was like, ‘What?’ It was so crazy. We just couldn’t understand it. We couldn’t fathom it.”
It’s still hard to fathom, especially when the Bears looked into the stands on Saturday night. Mixed among the thousands of cardboard cutouts in the lower section of Lucas Oil Stadium, and behind the masks required for fans to attend, were three members of last year’s team cheering them on against Houston in the Final Four.
Devonte Bandoo and Freddie Gillespie had graduated, and Tristan Clark had retired from basketball due to injuries, the pandemic having short-changed all of them of a once-in-a-lifetime March Madness experience.
“We did talk to our team before we went out and said that Freddie and Devonte and Tristan were all in the stands and how much they wish they had this opportunity but they’re here to cheer us on,” Drew said.
INDIANAPOLIS — Now comes the hard part for Gonzaga.
Less than 16 hours after walking off the floor with one of the most scintillating wins in the game’s history, the barely-still-undefeated Bulldogs returned to the practice court Sunday to get ready for the national championship game.
Their opponent, Baylor, is rested, ready and waiting for a challenge.
The meeting tonight is one most hoops fans have waited for all year — two years, really — a matchup between two teams that have been on a collision course since the bracket came out.
No need for extra motivation here. But how do the Zags move on after THAT?
“It’s a lot in 30 hours, but it is what it is,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “My guys have been great at game preparations all season, so consistent with effort and the attention to detail on game night. So, we’re definitely banking on that.”
To recap, Jalen Suggs banked in a shot from a step inside the midcourt line at the buzzer to lift the Zags to a 93-90 overtime victory over UCLA. The game ended after 11 p.m. Saturday.
By the time that happened, Baylor (27-2) was back at the hotel.
“We were probably like everyone else on the eighth floor of the hotel,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said of the reaction to The Shot. “Pandemonium erupted.”
The Bears rolled over Houston, 78-59, and, suddenly, they look every bit as unbeatable as the unbeaten Bulldogs (31-0). No team has come closer than nine points of Baylor over the three weeks in Indianapolis.
This matchup has been a long time in the making.
Had the COVID-19 pandemic not washed out the 2020 postseason, both these teams would have been No. 1 seeds in last season’s NCAA Tournament.
They were supposed to play this season, too. The meeting was set for Dec. 5 in Indianapolis — a Final Four preview in the Final Four city, many predicted — but the game got scratched when a Zags player and a staffer tested positive.
The coaches worked hard to try to reschedule. But there was no room on the calendar. Instead, they meet for the title.
This marks the first time since 2005 that the top two teams on the overall seeding list have faced in the final. Gonzaga has spent the entire season at No. 1 in the AP poll. Baylor spent 15 of 17 weeks at No. 2 and finished at No. 3 (behind Illinois).
Nobody will ever forget Adam Morrison’s tears against UCLA. Now, nobody will forget his “Yeessssss.”
The former Gonzaga star was crestfallen, weeping with his head buried in the hardwood after a devastating loss to the Bruins in the Sweet 16 back in 2006.
Fifteen years, later, he does color for Bulldogs radio, and his reaction to Suggs’ game-winner was getting plenty of buzz a day later. It’s three loud shouts of “Yesssss” with some other hooting and hollering to wrap it up.
Few said the team’s sports information director played it for him on the way over to do his interviews Sunday.
“A pretty special moment, and I was happy for him and proud of him for letting his guard down,” the coach said.
Before COVID put a threeweek hold on their season in February, the Bears were undefeated, too.
After starting 18-0, they lost two of six shortly after coming out of the break. Drew said the lack of quality practice time during the layoff, then afterward when Baylor was playing almost every other day, took its toll on the team’s defense.
Only when the Bears lost to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament semifinals were they able to get back to practicing regularly, and get back to basics.
“Our players really bought in,” Drew said. “Our defense was lapsing, and we had to get back to where we were.”
Analytics rank the Bears third in the nation in forced turnovers and sixth in steals — part of the formula for stopping Gonzaga’s top-ranked offense.