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NCAA Basketball: Smart’s hot seat, Duke’s weakness and more takeaways

By Brian Rauf

AUSTIN, TX - NOVEMBER 16: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns reacts as his team plays the Citadel Bulldogs at the Frank Erwin Center on November 16, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TX - NOVEMBER 16: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns reacts as his team plays the Citadel Bulldogs at the Frank Erwin Center on November 16, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /
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LAWRENCE, KS – JANUARY 20: Head coach Scott Drew of the Baylor Bears coaches from the bench during the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse on January 20, 2018 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
LAWRENCE, KS – JANUARY 20: Head coach Scott Drew of the Baylor Bears coaches from the bench during the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse on January 20, 2018 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

6) The Curious Case of the Baylor Bears

Another interesting Big 12 team, Baylor was left for dead following a dreadful 6-4 start that included two Quadrant 4(!!!) losses to Texas Southern and Stephen F. Austin.

Since then, the Bears have gotten healthy and the results have been vastly different. They are 7-2 in their last nine games with five KenPom top 55 wins with their only two losses coming to TCU and Kansas.

Baylor now has five Quadrant 1 wins to go up against those two awful losses and, with the way they’re playing and the schedule they have, have the opportunity to rack up a large number of those Quadrant 1 victories.

That will beg the question of the selection committee as to what matters more? How much will they punish a team for having two of the worst kind of losses? Will the fact they weren’t healthy matters? How many Quadrant 1 wins can offset those losses?

I think Baylor will do more than enough to get into the NCAA Tournament. As we saw with Notre Dame last year, the committee can give teams a pass in some games due to injury. And, with the wins they already have and the amount I expect them to have before the end of the year, they should get in without issue.

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