Baylor B-Ball seizes first title

The 2021 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, two years in the making, concluded Monday when the Baylor Bears earned their first championship in program history with a decisive 86-70 rout over the previously undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs. It is just the second time the state of Texas has claimed the college basketball crown (Texas Western, 1966).

The game itself, which featured the two best teams from the sport throughout the season, was itself a letdown unless you’re a fan of the Bears. Baylor jumped on undefeated Gonzaga early and never relinquished control throughout the night, hitting 10 three-pointers and stifling any wouldbe comeback attempts.

The newly crowned champions finished a season ruled by COVID-19 protocols with a 28-2 record and double-digit victories in all but one tournament matchup.

In their Final Four matchup Saturday, Baylor demolished Houston 78-59 to punch their ticket to the title game. Much like the championship, the Bears jumped all over the Cougars early and made it apparent who the best team on the court was.

While the blowout over Houston may not have surprised many, some misguided pundits entered Monday’s action calling this year’s Gonzaga team the greatest college basketball squad of all time, largely based on their undefeated record.

The fact is, even if things had gone differently in Indianapolis, the 31-1 Bulldogs squad was far from perfect. Baylor exposed their flaws and showed the world why Gonzaga wasn’t even the best team in 2021, let alone all time.

The 1976 Indiana Hoosiers remain the last undefeated team in college basketball. Since then, five teams have entered the tournament undefeated, including the 1991 UNLV Rebels (Final Four loss to Duke), the 2014 Wichita State Shockers (Sweet 16 loss to Kentucky), the 2015 Kentucky Wildcats (Final Four loss to Wisconsin) and now Gonzaga’s 2021 squad.

It is worth noting that Gonzaga competes in the West Coast Conference, an undeniably weak group of teams compared to the heavy hitters of the Power Five conferences. Largely based on their questionable schedule, and fewer non-conference matchups due to the pandemic, the Bulldogs waltzed through the regular season without any real competition.

Gonzaga did not compete in a close game all year until they met UCLA in the Final Four Saturday, which will go down as the tournament’s most thrilling game thanks to a Jalen Suggs buzzer-beater in overtime to knock off the heavy underdog and send the Bulldogs to the title game.

While it was undoubtedly a wonky year in college basketball, it was just good to have March Madness back on our television sets. All 68 teams competed within the state of Indiana in front of limited fans to manage the pandemic and one of the first round matchups (Oregon vs. VCU) was canceled due to an outbreak within the VCU team.

Hopefully, standard operations in multiple cities across the country and sellout crowds will come with the 2022 edition of the tournament.

For now, hats off to Baylor.