College Basketball Power 10: Who Runs The Pac-12?
By Jeremy Karll
7. Baylor (22-4)
It seems like an eternity ago since Baylor was the top-ranked team in the country and one of the last undefeated teams. Baylor is just 2-3 in their last five games after losing to Texas Tech on Monday night.
Kansas, Kansas State and Texas Tech, their last three losses, aren’t bad teams, but they are games the selection committee expects Baylor to win if they want to be considered a legitimate contender in the Big 12 and nationally.
With their chances of ending Kansas’ historic regular season championship streak already looking slim before this week, it looks near impossible for Baylor to do it now.
Texas Tech held Johnathan Motley to an uncharacteristic 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. It ended his eight game streak of scoring at least 15 points and nine game streak of grabbing at least seven rebounds.
It’s evident that when Motley doesn’t play well, especially on offense, Baylor stalls. Although, in their loss to Texas Tech, it was their usually good defense that couldn’t stop the Red Raiders.
Baylor topped 75 points for just the second time in the past nine games, but Texas Tech shot 51.1 percent from the field and 40 percent from three.
Right now, Baylor is not a good team. They still lack any consistent scoring outside of Motley and their scoring defense has fallen to eighth in the country.
Baylor’s only game this week is at home against Kansas. It could be an embarrassing home loss if they play like they have been over the past couple of weeks.