NCAA Basketball: San Diego State, Baylor exposed and more takeaways
By Brian Rauf
2) Baylor might be the first No. 1 seed to lose
The loss to Utah State likely bumps San Diego State from being a No. 1 seed, which may work in the Aztecs’ favor as they’ll probably end up being the No. 2 seed in the West. But that also gives Baylor the distinction as the top seed most likely to lose first in my mind.
Baylor has been excellent this season and Scott Drew has my vote as National Coach of the Year. They spent most of the season atop the AP poll and deserved it, yet their offensive weaknesses have been exposed and exploited over the last two weeks.
I wrote about those struggles a couple of weeks ago – namely their shooting problems and their lack of a true go-to guy – and they’ve been on full display as they’ve lost three of their last five games.
Let’s not even look at the loss to Kansas, because that was close and losing to the Jayhawks is nothing to be ashamed about. But losing to TCU certainly isn’t great, and the Bears lost because they shot just 23.5 percent from three-point range. They managed to squeak by Texas Tech in overtime despite shooting 30.4 percent from three but then were handled by a struggling West Virginia team. Why? Baylor was a dismal 22.2 percent from three.
Baylor has the size and defense to avoid being upset in the first round, yet it will only be a matter of time before their shooting woes sink them.