INDIANAPOLIS – Nearly two decades ago, Scott Drew decided to step out of his comfort zone in tiny Valparaiso to join the scandalous men’s basketball program in Baylor, explaining to his father that the bears could only go upstairs.
Now they are one win away from the top.
Led by Jared Butler and the rest of their brilliant backcourt, a defense that refused to give Houston an inch, and a coach intent on making the most of his first trip to the Final Four, the bears roared at Saturday night to a 78:59 victory, her first appearance in the NCAA tournament semifinals in 71 long years.
“Every day you drag and you don’t really look back. You push forward,” Drew said. “But I am so blessed to have these incredible players who have chosen what we love to do with the program.”
Or, as Butler put it, “This is what we came to Baylor for.”
Butler scored all 17 points in the first half, but almost every one of the bears (27-2) was active. Five Baylor players achieved double-digit results. Number 1 in the South Region, the Bears doubled Houston on 10 minutes, built a 45-20 lead at halftime, and ran the rest of the way in the first Final Four showdown between schools from the Lone Star State.
“It was one of my goals to leave a legacy in Baylor,” said Butler. “And you have to win national championships. You have to win. You have to be a great program, talk about great things, and that is exactly what we do.”
Marcus Sasser had 20 points for the cold-shooting Cougars (28-4), number 2 in the Midwest region, whose dream path was to the first Final Four of the program since 1984 – they faced teams that came in 15th, 10th, 11th and 12 were sown – ended with a whimper against a team focused precisely on that night as last year’s tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Drew, the wait had been even longer.
Eighteen years ago, he took on a program that was embroiled in what was arguably the greatest controversy in the history of the sport: the death of Patrick Patrickehy, his teammate Devon Dotson, who pleaded guilty of murder, and coach Dave Bliss attempts to cover it up and NCAA sanctions that lasted well into Drew’s tenure.
But somehow the son of long-time Valparaiso coach Homer Drew always imagined exactly the scene that took place on Saturday evening: his team played selflessly, almost effortlessly and never felt the pressure of the largest stage in college basketball.
Well, there were a few things Drew probably hadn’t imagined.
Instead of 70,000 fans hitting the rafters, the bears in the lower bowl of Lucas Oil Stadium were cheered on by thousands of cardboard clippings – from late Georgetown coach John Thompson to New Mexico state mascot Pistol Pete – forcing COVID-19 measures her living in a bubble for the past three weeks.
The roughly 8,000 fans who were let through the doors, socially distant in a huge ocean of blue seats, delivered a muted soundtrack to the blowout in the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts cave.
The only cheers? That came from the ones in green and gold.
The Bears took control of the game from the jump, unleashing an early 14-3 run fueled by the crisp passing, silky shooting, and sneaky defenses that made them unbeatable before a 23-day hiatus from COVID-19 – Protocol occurred late in the regular season.
When the Cougars finally scored a goal, the Bears tore off another 16-3 run later in the first half and built the nation’s best 3-point field goal defense with ruthless efficiency. When Davion Mitchell fired two shots from outside the bow at the end of the first half, the Bears had a 45-20 lead that felt insurmountable.
Probably because it was straight.
Sasser did everything to keep Houston alive. He hit five 3-point points for a total of 17 points. But the rest of the Cougars were 1:15 off the field, including All-America Guardian Quentin Grimes (0-5) and DeJon Jarreau (1-7) who was the MVP of the Midwest region.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, whose reputation as a master tactician was stretched to the limit, tried to get the guard-heavy Cougars to forget about the 3-point line and go straight to the basket in the second half.
The Cougars reduced their deficit to 16 at one point, but there was no going back that night.
The big pillow on the track gave the bears – Matthew Mayer with mullet, MaCio Teague and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua in their bright pink sneakers, Butler and Mitchell and the rest of their boys lounging on the bench – enough time to watch the second part of the Program to celebrate trip to the national title game.
