Baylor Bears Make It Big at the Final Four

The NCAA Final Four, which took place on April 3, saw the Baylor Bears face off against the Houston Cougars. The Bears capped their best basketball season in program history by winning against the Cougars 78-59. It was the largest margin of victory in a national semifinal game since Villanova won against Oklahoma by 34 points in 2016.

The basketball Final Four officially ended at 7:14 p.m. ET. However, it was unofficially over at halftime. Houston experienced its largest season deficit 20 minutes after the game started when Baylor guard Davion Mitchell hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Bears a 45-20 lead going into the break. The Cougars didn’t get within 16 points after that.

The Bears’ victory isn’t surprising, given their exceptional performance throughout the year. For most of the year, the Bears led all of college basketball in terms of scoring margin. Their win over Houston was their fourth double-digit win in five March Madness games. Their win landed them in the championship finale for the first time since 1948. After the game, Baylor guard Jared Butler said, “We’re extremely confident. We didn’t come all this way to not win it all.”

However, don’t let the Bears’ win distract you from the Cougars’ achievements throughout the season. Houston lost AAC Player of the Year Caleb Mills preseason after a mere four games. Nevertheless, they still finished the season with a sixth-ever Final Four appearance and the fourth-best winning percentage in program history. Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson stated, “I told those guys how appreciative I was of their commitment to the team in probably the toughest year for any of us. This team went from 355 [Division I teams] to [a Final] Four.”

On February 2, Baylor stood 17-0 and was one of the two undefeated teams. They had the firm advantage to replace Gonzaga as the NCAA Tournament No. 1 overall seed. However, due to a COVID layoff, their advantage fell apart, with the team losing its sharpness and momentum after dropping out of two of their next six games. However, they turned things around by particularly making 19 of their 39 three-pointers in their last two games combined.