Baylor Bears basketball

Early years

Luther Burleson coached the first basketball staff in Baylor in 1907 also doubling as the football coach. In Baylor’s second season of basketball then cross-town rival TCU started their program which the Bears defeated twice during the 1908–09 season. Ralph Glaze’s (1911–1914) .788 winning percentage rankings in the best all time in school history. Ralph Wolf (1927–1941) lead Baylor to its very first SWC Championship in 1932 after surviving and overcoming one of the first great tragedies in college athletics in his first season as coach.
Immortal Ten
See also: List of accidents involving sports teams
On January 22, 1927, Coach Ralph Wolf’s Baylor Basketball group was travelling by bus to play the University of Texas. Since the bus passed through Round Rock, Texas, it approached railroad tracks across the south side of the business district on a drizzly, cloudy day. As the bus crossed the paths the occupants failed to listen to the sound of the train whistle and ringing bell. The motorist caught sight of the train at the last moment and tried to maneuver clear of however, the Sunshine Special crashed into the bus at near 60 miles off ripping off the roof and side.
The Immortal Ten Museum Ten Baylor students and basketball players have been murdered by the effect. [3] One participant, James Clyde»Abe» Kelly, driven his buddy, Weir Washamout the window of the bus just moments before the effect, rescue Washam’s life but costing Kelly his own. The bodies of Kelly and Robert Hailey were found horrifically stretched throughout the cow-catcher on the front of the train, with arms locked around each other and Kelly missing a leg. Ivy Foster Sr. of Taylor, Texas, had heard of the accident and rushed to the train station in Taylor to meet the train and help where needed only to locate his son among the deceased.
The deceased were Jack Castellaw, Sam Dillow, Merle Dudley, L.R. «Ivey» Foster Jr., Robert «Bob» Hailey, James Clyde «Abe» Kelly, Willis Murrary, James «Jim» Walker, and William Winchester.
The rest of the 1927 season was canceled. The catastrophe had reverberations over the whole nation and nation and led to the construction of the first railway overpass in Texas in which the event happened at Round Rock. Buses were later required to come to a full stop and open the door at all railway crossings to listen to trains. The Immortal Ten narrative was commemorated each year since 1927 at first in headquarters providers then afterwards at the Freshman Mass Meeting during Homecoming Week. In 2007, the event was also memorialized in bronze to the Baylor campus at Traditions Plaza.
On the 90th anniversary of this tragedy, January 22, 2017, the City of Round Rock held a memorial occasion to remember those who were murdered in the train-bus collision. At the event, the city dedicated the»Immortal Bridge,» that arcs over the railroad tracks where the incident occurred. Green lampposts, green-and-gold paint and other markings honor the 10 pupils who were murdered there. The event was open to the public, and attendees comprised Baylor administrators and student leaders, that the spirit squads, and Baylor’s Golden Wave Band.
Post World War II success Baylor men’s teams won five conference championships in the former Southwest Conference (1932, 1946, 1948, 1949*, 1950*; * denotes shared title). The Bears reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 1946, also reached the Final Four in 1948 and 1950. Bill Henderson’s 1948 group advanced to play the Kentucky Wildcats for the NCAA championship, but fell 58–42 into Adolph Rupp’s first national championship team. The group again advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1950 beneath Henderson dropping to the Bradley Braves 68–66. Bill Menefee (1962–1973) would lead the Bears to a nationwide ranking in 1969 but failed to make the postseason that year. Menefee was the only coach over the next 50 years to really have a career record of over .500, and might later serve as Baylor’s athletic director in the 1980s. Gene Iba’s 1988 NCAA tournament team are the first NCAA tournament appearance for the app in 38 decades.
2003 scandal
Main article: Baylor University basketball scandal
The men’s basketball program was plagued by a scandal in 2003. Patrick Dennehy, a player for the group, was killed by former teammate Carlton Dotson; then-coach Dave Bliss had been forced to resign amidst allegations that he had violated NCAA rules by making financial payments to four gamers and that he made improper statements to the press characterizing Dennehy as a drug dealer. The school placed itself on probation, restricted itself to seven scholarships for two years and imposed a post-season ban for one year. Furthermore, the NCAA further punished the team by initiating a non-conference ban for the 2005–2006 year and expanding the probationary period during which the faculty would have limited recruiting privileges.
Decade Long Resurgence
The 2005 Bears were hindered by just having 7 scholarship players and recorded just one win in conference play. Regardless of those challenges, head coach Scott Drew managed to put together a 2005 signing class ranked No. 7 nationally by HoopScoop.
The basketball program undergone a resurgence under coach Scott Drew having an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008 for the first time in 20 years with a 9–seven conference record and the group’s first national ranking in 39 decades. The January 23, 2008 116–110 5OT win over Texas A&M at College Station officially became the greatest game in Big 12 history. The 2008–09 team again was ranked early in the season but stumbled to a 5–11 summit finish before heating up in the Big 12 Tournament beating both Kansas and Texas en route to the championship game versus Missouri, also lost by a score of 73–60. The 2008–2009 group recorded the program’s first postseason victory since 1950 in its initial round NIT victory within the Georgetown Hoyas in Waco.
The 2008–09 team went on to advance to the NIT Final where they fell to Penn State. The 2009–10 squad was again ranked in both polls and pulled off the largest road win in school history over the afterward #6 Texas Longhorns at Austin 80–77 on Jan. 30th. The Bears closed out the season with a Big 12 age best 11–5 album and #1 in the Big 12 championship.
The 2009–10 team was picked to finish 10th in the Big 12 in the Big 12 Coaches Poll due to the graduation of several important players in the preceding calendar year. On the other hand, the group ended the regular season 23–6 and tied for 2nd in the Big 12 standings. Following a two –1 album at the Big 12 championship, the Bears were rewarded with a #1 in the South Region of the NCAA tournament. The Bears defeated #14 seed Sam Houston State 68–59 at First Round actions and then defeated #11 seed Old Dominion 76–68 in Second Round play to advance to the Sweet 16 hosted at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The Bear’s Sweet 16 match-up was #10 seed Saint Mary’s, which had defeated #2 seed Villanova the prior week to advance to the Sweet 16. The Bears won handily over the Gaels, 72–49, after major 47–19 at the half. The Elite Eight was held at Reliant Stadium and the Bears’ competition was the #1 seed Duke Blue Devils, the last #1 seed status in the NCAA tournament after the other three #1 seeds (Kansas, Syracuse, and Kentucky) were all defeated by lower seeded teams. In front of quite a pro-Baylor crowd of over 47,000, the Bears were defeated by the Duke Blue Devils, 78–71, to end the magical run to the Elite Eight. It was the best season in the Scott Drew era as defined by conference standing, overall ranking, wins, and NCAA tournament wins. The Bears finished the year ranked #10 from the final ESPN/Coaches Poll–the highest ranking in program history at that moment.
The 2010–11 team started the season ranked 14th (according to the AP Preseason survey ). The Bears began 7–0, and climbed to 9th in the polls before falling to Gonzaga in a neutral court in Dallas. The team finished 18–13 overall and seven –9 in league playwith. The highlight of this season was Lacedarius Dunn getting the Big 12’s all-time top scorer, and a sweep of this series versus rated Texas A&M. After freshman star Perry Jones III was suspended from the NCAA for six games, the Bears proceeded to shed their first-round game of the Big 12 Tournament against Oklahoma.
The 2012 season saw another historic effort for the Bears as they followed the 2011 season with another successful seminar run that saw the Bears win 30 games and make it to the Big 12 tournament title match. The Bears were selected for the NCAA championship and made it all the way into the Elite Eight, which ended in a loss to eventual national champion Kentucky.
The 2013 season witnesses another winning campaign for the Bears as they followed the 2012 Elite Eight season with another successful conference run that saw the Bears sweep both TCU and Texas Tech while only dropping one match to UT. The bears started out with a pre-season standing of 19 in the country. The Bears finish conference play at .500 and were selected for the NIT championship. The Bears made it all of the way into the Closing, which finished in a triumph over Iowa, winning the championship in front of a large crowd in Madison Square Garden and promising that the 2013 NIT Title.