Baylor
Norfolk State
Top-Seeded MBB Set for NCAA Tournament Opener Against Norfolk State
3/14/2022 9:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The defending champs are a No. 1 seed for a second-straight year
 |
No. 1 BAYLOR BEARS (26-6, 14-4) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
No. 16 NORFLOK STATE (24-6, 12-2 MEAC) vs. No. 1 BAYLOR (26-6, 14-4 Big 12) March 17, 2022 • 1:00 p.m. CT Fort Worth, Texas • Dickies Arena (13,300) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: TBS Talent: Brian Anderson (pxp), Jim Jackson (analyst), Allie LaForce (reporter) LISTEN: Learfield / 1660 AM & 92.3 FM in Central Texas Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (Analyst) NATIONAL RADIO: Westwood One Talent: Kevin Kugler (pxp), Robbie Hummel (analyst) SIRIUS XM: Sirius 138, XM, 205, Internet 968 Baylor Social Media:    |
 |
No. 16 NORFOLK STATE SPARTANS (24-6, 12-2) Location: Norfolk, Va. Conference/Affiliation: MEAC Head Coach: Robert Jones (SUNY New Paltz, 2002) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
|
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
FORT WORTH – Ten years after a 15th-seeded Norfolk State team upset second-seeded and Big 12 tournament champion Missouri, 86-84, the Spartans are faced with an even taller task in an NCAA Tournament first-round game in the East Region.
Seeded 16th after winning the MEAC regular-season and tournament titles, Norfolk State (24-6) faces top-seeded and defending national champion Baylor (26-6) at 1 p.m. Thursday at Dickies Arena.
"They say, if you want to be the champ, you've got to beat the champ," said Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones, who was the Spartans' associate head coach in that March 16, 2012 stunner in Omaha, Neb. "We've got the national champion the first game.
"Just like the other 64 teams that are playing for a national championship, we're playing for a national championship, too. And that's the way we see it."
Certainly, history favors a Baylor team that is 17-8 in the NCAA Tournament under Scott Drew. In 36 previous tournaments using this same format, No. 1 seeds are 143-1 versus 16 seeds, the lone exception being UMBC's 74-58 stunning upset of top-seeded Virginia in 2018.
"What makes March Madness March Madness is those seed numbers don't matter," said Drew, whose team had won five-straight and seven of its last eight games before a 72-67 loss to Oklahoma in last Thursday's Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals. "Coaches know that. And our players are definitely aware of just how good and talented Norfolk is."
The dominant team in the MEAC over the last decade, Norfolk State also beat a top-seeded Alabama team, 80-79, in overtime in a first-round NIT game three years ago and then beat Appalachian State, 54-53, in a First Four game last year before getting blown out by Gonzaga, 98-55.
"Due to COVID, we didn't play any high-majors last year. Every year, we play about five or six, so when we get to postseason it's not a shock," Jones said. "Last year, when we played Gonzaga, it was almost a shock for us, the physicality, the speed and things like that."
This year, half of the Spartans' six losses came against mid-major teams Xavier, Wichita State and New Mexico.
"Obviously, New Mexico and Xavier and those guys are not Baylor," Jones said. "But, it still gave us a good taste of what it's going to feel like and look like playing against a team like Baylor."
A No. 1 seed in back-to-back years, Baylor has a chance to join a list of elite repeat winners. Since UCLA coach John Wooden won seven-straight and 10 in a 12-year stretch (1964-1975), the only back-to-back national champions were Duke in 1991-92 and Florida in 2006-07.
"First, it's very hard to do," Drew said. "Because in this day, if you win it all, probably you have a lot of pros that leave. And then, with the transfer portal, people leave and it's hard to have enough chemistry or experience to repeat.
"We're blessed to where we're in a position that we have that opportunity. There's normally more pressure and expectations when you're the reigning champ. But, with us, it's a such a new team and we've lost so much, I think there's plenty of excitement. We haven't approached it with pressure, but more opportunity. Our guys have responded and done a great job with that."
Baylor lost four starters off last year's 28-2 national championship team, but did return seven players off that roster. Seniors Flo Thamba (6.2 ppg, 5.6 rebounds) and Matthew Mayer (9.4 ppg, 5.0 rebounds), juniors Jonathan TchamwaTchatchoua (8.4 ppg, 6.8 rebounds) and Adam Flagler (13.4 ppg) and sophomore LJ Cryer (13.5 ppg) all played pivotal roles on that team and have significant NCAA Tournament experience.
"It was a dream come true to be able to play with these guys in March Madness," Flagler said. "Last year, we were able to win the national championship. So, just to be able to go and be a part of this journey again and strive for that is amazing."
Ranked No. 1 at 15-0 in January, Baylor has survived with basically a seven-man rotation with Tchamwa Tchatchoua and freshman guard Langston Love suffering season-ending knee injuries and Cryer playing only one game since January because of an injured foot.
"The injuries have been crazy, to be honest," said Flagler, who has also missed three games with an injury. "None of us ever expected it to be like this. But, the perseverance we have as a team, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, really just molding us together and continuing to uplift us has been an amazing opportunity."
In last year's opening-round game, the Bears struggled early and trailed 16th-seeded Hartford until closing the first half on a 24-7 run and then cruising to a 79-55 victory. Which should put them on upset alert against Norfolk State.
"Just the utmost respect for Norfolk," Thamba said. "When I looked at their history, they've been dominant in their conference for the last nine to 10 years. We take every game seriously, regardless of who we play."
Thursday's game will be broadcast by TBS, with Brian Anderson, Jim Jackson and Allie LaForce calling the action.
The Baylor-Norfolk winner will face either eighth-seeded North Carolina or ninth-seeded Marquette in Saturday's second-round game with a berth in the Sweet 16 and a trip to Philadelphia on the line.
"I think every coach would rather have (experience) than not have it," Drew said. "We don't have as much as we've had in the past. But, at the same time, we have more in terms of people that have actually won a championship and know what it takes. There are no guarantees in March Madness about anything: depth, experience, best player in the tournament. That's why it's March Madness. Once you think you've got it figured out, you don't."
STORY LINES
• Baylor has earned No. 1 seeds in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments and was a projected No. 1 seed in 2020 – if 2020 had been played, BU would now be the 11th team all-time with 3-straight No. 1 seeds.
• Baylor is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in the last eight tournaments.
• Baylor is 20-14 in 13 all-time NCAA Championships, including a 17-8 record in the Scott Drew era.
• Drew's .680 career NCAA Tournament winning percentage (17-8) is 7th-best among active coaches.
• BU has won 15-straight neutral-site games against non-conference opponents (last loss Nov. 8, 2019).
• BU has won 36 of its last 37 non-conference games (+22.3 average margin) dating back to Nov. 2019.
• Baylor's streak of 10 consecutive postseason appearances is tied as the nation's 6th-longest active streak.
• Baylor is making its 11th NCAA Tournament appearance in the modern tournament era. BU's first three NCAA Tournament appearances in 1946, 1948 and 1950 were in an eight-team, unseeded bracket.
• BU is 9-4 against the Tournament field – No. 1 Kansas (1-1), No. 2 Villanova (1-0), No. 3 Texas Tech (0-2), No. 6 Texas (2-0), No. 6 Alabama (0-1), No. 7 Michigan St. (1-0), No. 9 TCU (2-0) and No. 11 Iowa St. (2-0).
• Baylor and Norfolk State will meet for the 3rd time – BU won 86-58 in 2009 and 92-51 in 2014.
• BU has 3 available players who played every game in the 2021 NCAA Tournament – Adam Flagler (10.7 ppg in 23.2 mpg), Matthew Mayer (8.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg in 18.9 mpg) and Flo Thamba (4.0 ppg in 16.9 mpg).
• Thamba is the lone returning starter – the four departed starters are all playing in the NBA, G-League or NFL.
• Six of Baylor's rotation players have been injured this season – Tchamwa Tchatchoua and Langston Love are out for the year, while Akinjo, Flagler, Sochan and Cryer all missed multiple Big 12 games.
• BU claimed its 7th conference title in program history (1932, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1950, 2021, 2022).
• BU won a school-record 26 regular-season games and finished with its 2nd-most conference wins (14).
• Baylor has won 13+ conference games in 3-straight seasons after never doing so prior to 2019-20.
• Scott Drew was named Big 12 Coach of the Year for a 3rd-straight season, joining Gene Keady (Purdue, 94-96) and Jay Wright (Villanova, 14-16) as the only high-major coaches to accomplish the feat.
• Baylor is playing its 618th game of the 19-year Drew era – more than half (310) have been as a ranked team, a remarkable feat considering BU was unranked for the first 122 games of Drew's rebuild.
• Baylor is 38-3 vs. unranked teams over the last 2 seasons (+19.7 avg scoring margin).
• The Bears have won 18 of their last 21 games away from home – 9-1 neutral, 8-3 road.
• Baylor is 22-6 against ranked teams over the last 3 seasons, including a 13-4 mark away from home.
• Baylor's 42-8 Big 12 record over the last 3 seasons is the best of any Power-5 team.
• Baylor's 54-8 record over the last 2 seasons is the nation's best among Power-5 teams, and the Bears' 80-12 record over the last 3 seasons is 2nd-best nationally, trailing only Gonzaga (88-6).
• Baylor has reached the 25-win milestone in each of the last 3 seasons and in 7 of the last 13 years. Prior to that, BU reached 25 wins just once in the program's first 103 years (25-5 in 1945-46).
• BU ranks 7th nationally in KenPom's offensive rebound pct (36.3), its 9th-straight year ranked top-10.
• BU is the only High Major ranked top-50 in scoring offense (46th) and top-40 in scoring defense (34th).
BACK-TO-BACK BIG 12 CHAMPIONS
• Baylor has won back-to-back Big 12 Championships, claiming its first league titles since the 1950 SWC.
• BU became the first team other than Kansas to win consecutive Big 12 titles since Iowa State in 2000-01.
• Baylor has won seven league titles in program history, the first five in the Southwest Conference –
SWC Championships: 1932 (10-2), 1946 (11-1), 1948 (11-1), 1949 (9-3) and 1950 (8-4);
Big 12 Championships: 2021 (13-1) and 2022 (14-4). The 1949, 1950 and 2022 titles were co-championships.
• This marks 3-straight years of top-2 finishes; the best prior Big 12 finish was a tie for 2nd (2010 & 2017).
• Baylor's 15 Big 12 wins in 2020 were the most ever by a team that didn't claim the Big 12 title.
QUICK HITS
• Head coach Scott Drew is in his 19th season at Baylor with a school-record 396 career victories.
• Drew has won Big 12 Coach of the Year honors each of the last three seasons.
• Over the last 3 seasons, Baylor is 64-5 when leading at the half and 80-7 when taking a 2nd-half lead.
• Baylor is on a school-record streak of 48-straight weeks top-10 ranked (top-5 ranked in 41 of those).
• BU is on a school-record streak of 56-straight weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 (previous record was 25). It's the nation's 3rd-longest active streak behind Gonzaga (114) and Villanova (59).
• Baylor has been ranked in all 10 spots in the AP Top 10 within the last 11 months (20 total weekly polls).
• Baylor has been ranked in all 25 spots in the AP Top 25 at some point in the last 7 years.
• Baylor has been No. 1 ranked in 4 of the last 6 seasons (Gonzaga, Duke and Kansas are only others).
• Baylor and Kansas are the only Power-5 schools to win 18+ games every year since 2008.
• Baylor has built leads of 10+ points in 32 of 38 games since the start of the 2021 NCAA Tournament (32-6 record).
• BU has built double-digit leads in 77 of 92 games over the last 3 seasons (53 of 62 last 2 seasons).
• For a second-straight season, Baylor was one of the nation's final two undefeated teams.
• BU went 305 days between losses, the longest in program history (March 12, 2021 – Jan. 11, 2022).
• BU had a 36-game non-conference winning streak with 813 days between losses (Nov. 8, 2019 – Jan. 29, 2022).
• Baylor became the first program to start consecutive seasons 15-0 since Syracuse in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
• Baylor's streak of 10 consecutive postseasons is tied as the nation's 6th-longest active streak.
• Baylor is 1 of 9 teams nationally to appear in every postseason since 2012 (8 NCAAs, 2 NITs).
• Baylor is 94-8 when leading at halftime over the last 5 seasons (64-5 over last 3 seasons).
• Baylor has won 90% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (212-24).
• Baylor is 271-105 over the last 11 seasons, averaging 24.5 wins per season since 2011-12.
• Baylor's 271 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (313).
• Baylor is 362-152 since 2007-08, the first year Drew's staff had a full allotment of scholarships.
• Five of Baylor's players have used or are currently using a redshirt year. Two after transferring to BU (Flagler, Tchamwa Tchatchoua), one before transferring (Bonner) and two as freshmen — Turner and Langston Love.
• Eleven of Baylor's 12 starting point guards under Drew have earned All-Big recognition (17 of last 18 seasons).
• Baylor has the nation's 9th-longest active streak with at least one 3-point FG made in 994 straight games — the last time Baylor failed to make a 3-pointer was nearly 32 years ago, on Feb. 21, 1990 vs. Texas Tech (0-8).
• Baylor has won 8 tournament titles under Drew – 2007 Paradise Jam, 2011 Las Vegas Classic, 2013 NIT, 2016 & 2021 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2017 Hall of Fame Classic, 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational and 2021 NCAA Championship.
For a full version onf Baylor's game notes, click here.
