It’s been a great 14-hour period for basketball coaches who grew up in the heartland of basketball, Indiana.
Texas Tech, led by Bloomington-born and raised Pat Knight, scored a thrilling come-from-behind victory last night over Texas A&M to move into the second round of the Big 
12 Tournament. The Red Raiders’ victory featured an unbelievable performance by Mike Singletary, who scored at will in the second half.
And just a few minutes ago the Baylor Bears finished off a 71-64 upset of #1 seed Kansas. Baylor is led by Butler graduate Scott Drew, the son of legendary Valpo coach Homer Drew.
Scott Drew has engineered a remarkable turnaround at Baylor, which suffered through a scandal under Dave Bliss in the early part of this decade that rocked the foundation of the basketball program. The Bears made the NCAA Tournament last year, ultimately losing to Purdue in the first round, and were a trendy pick to be there again in this year. They fell on hard times in conference play, however, and are now fighting tooth and nail to earn the Big 12′s automatic berth.
Considering what Scott Drew started with in 2003, his 12-52 conference record over his first four years is not all that surprising. Despite their struggles this season, Baylor’s upset of Kansas today proves that the Bears’ basketball program is still on the upswing under Scott Drew.
While I predicted an IU victory over Penn State tonight, and am hoping beyond hope that the Hoosiers pull off the upset and can face Purdue in round two, our 1-17 conference record, and the injury to Devan Dumes, does not give me a whole lot of legitimate confidence. Should the Hoosiers’ season end later today, I will happily jump onto the Baylor bandwagon as long as it’s rolling — in addition to the Tech bandwagon that I’ve already been on ever since Bob Knight went there.
Congratulations Pat and Scott. Two more wins for Tech and one more for Baylor and the two will meet in the Big 12 Championship game. That is a looooonnnnnggggg way from being a reality, but hey — with Indiana suffering through the worst season in school history, a Hoosier can dream, can’t he?
About Jerod Morris
