We'll jump right in today with all the news Baylor fans could possibly want to know:

In case you missed it-- and I can see how you might, it's not like I posted on the front page all about it or anything-- Baylor Baseball laid a whoopin' on the Longhorns last night in game 1 of their three-game set. The series shifts now to Austin for the final two games tonight and tomorrow. I doubt we see the same offensive fireworks with UT throwing their ace today.

No. 23 Baylor Softball takes on 16th-ranked Stanford tonight in their first game of the NCAA Tournament. Keep an eye on that one.

Former Baylor QB and current Washington Redskin Robert Griffin III was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night. I can definitely see how you might have missed this because it's the Tonight Show and Jay Leno isn't funny. But it's worth watching nonetheless because RG3 is awesome and we love him. I believe there are two links to different parts of the interview.

The Houston Chronicle has two articles this morning that Baylor fans might find interesting. The first talks about Baylor's incredible year (The Year of the Bear, Chron, call it by its name) and the changing landscape of Baylor athletics. The second focuses on realignment and the fact that the Big 12 is suddenly a lot more attractive than it was a year ago.

Speaking of the Big 12, in case you missed that front page post from earlier today, the conference announced a postseason partnership this morning with the SEC that will pair the champions of the two conferences in a New Years Day bowl. Sorry, Fiesta Bowl, this doesn't look good for you at all. It does look good for the TV rights of both conferences since they now have another premium game on their slate.

Continuing with the Big 12 for a second, ESPN's Mark Schlabach posted his post-spring training top-25 this morning and 6 of our conference brethren are represented. I've already said my piece about Texas and Kansas State being overrated at this point, so I won't say it again. ESPN's David Ubben weighed in with his own post-spring conference power rankings. Baylor is seventh on his list behind OU, WVU, KSU, TCU, UT, and OSU. Ubben says that Baylor's offense should not be doubted; it is our defense that will determine how well we play. STOP THE PRESSES!

The AAS talked a little bit about three potential future Baylor Bears (albeit in the context of an update of Longhorn recruiting): Robbie Rhodes, Quincy Russell, and Mike Mitchell. Regular readers here are familiar with Rhodes and Mitchell because of the updates I've done about both. Russell is different in that he's a JUCO player that signed with the Longhorns originally before not making his grades. Baylor was in on him then (rumor was we finished second in that race) and may be in on him now that he has been cut loose by the Longhorns this go-round. I think we get Rhodes but I don't know enough about Mitchell to say the same. To be safe, I'll say that we do not.

The Big 12 and the SEC have agreed that their champions will meet in a postseason bowl game starting in 2014, provided that neither team has been selected to play in the BCS National Championship game. This agreement essentially recreates the Rose Bowl (Pac12/B1G matchup) in the SE and could pave the way for 4-team playoff using those two bowls as de facto national sites. Jason Kirk of SBNation CFB thinks this is an effort by the Big 12 and SEC to align themselves in detente against the B1G and Pac12, who cherish the Rose Bowl like a long-lost lover.

The language of the agreement apparently states that this bowl will exist outside of a playoff structure; if one of the teams that is supposed to play in this game is in the playoffs, they will be replaced. The chances of a 4-team playoff happening without one or both of the champions of the Big 12 and the SEC is miniscule, so I'm not buying it. This game is designed to be incorporated into that structure as a semifinal. I'd bet anything.

This is huge news, everyone; the possible implications are enormous. Assuming that things come to pass as I just said, that would leave two major players out in the cold: the ACC and Notre Dame. Already numerous impartial observers on twitter are saying that this makes FSU to the Big 12 almost inevitable because FSU needs a spot in that format and won't/can't go to the SEC. Notre Dame now has to decide whether it wants to stay independent and forfeit any chance of making this playoff.

I'll keep this post updated as more information becomes available.

UPDATE: The Big 12's official release about the 5-year agreement is available with quotes from Interim Commissioner Neinas and SEC Commissioner Mike Slive.

UPDATE #2:

Source to SN: Goal of new #SEC-Big12 bowl is a stand-alone game with its own (separate) TV contract. Revenue potential "unthinkable."

— Matt Hayes (@Matt_HayesSN) May 18, 2012

5 TEXAS (29-19, 13-9) Rank: NR

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 5 8 1 3 1 0 1 0 7 4 0 X 16 19 1 Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery Waco, Texas • Attendance: 4,889

16 BAYLOR (41-11, 19-3) Rank: #7

Turley went 7 giving up only 5 hits and 1 walk against 4 strikeouts and the Baylor bats exploded for their highest output of the season with 16 runs on 19 hits. The usual suspects Nathan Orf (4-4, 2 2Bs, 2 R), Logan Vick (3-4, 2 2B, BB, 3 R), Josh Ludy (2-4, 2B, BB, 2 R), and Max Muncy (1-4, HR) led the way for the Bears but it was a complete team effort offensively without equal.

It was definitely the right way to get the final series of the season started, and, though it's probably too early to really think about this, if the Bears can sweep the rest of the series they will tie the record of records.

vs.
No. 7 Baylor (40-11, 18-3) vs. Texas (29-18, 13-8) May 17-19, 2012 | Waco, Texas/Austin, Texas | Baylor Ballpark/Disch-Falk Field GAME NOTES
THURS. | 6:35 P.M. MYTX-TV BIG 12 CHAMPIONS T-SHIRTS Probable Starters: BU - LHP Josh Turley 7-0, 1.59 ERA, 79.1 IP, 62 K UT - LHP Dillon Peters 4-0, 2.61 ERA, 38.0 IP, 42 K		FRI. | 6:30 P.M. LHN-TV Probable Starters: BU - RHP Trent Blank 9-1, 2.30 ERA, 78.1 IP, 44 K UT - RHP Corey Knebel 4-3, 1.29 ERA, 62.2 IP, 63 K		SAT. | 2 P.M. LHN-TV Probable Starters: BU - RHP Tyler Bremer 5-1, 3.41 ERA, 31.2 IP, 30 K UT - RHP John Curtiss 2-2, 3.40 ERA, 53.0 IP, 40 K

We don't typically start weekend series on Thursdays, but we are this time. Baylor finishes its regular season this weekend against UT starting tonight at home. The series shifts tomorrow to Austin for the final two games.

#Baylor lineup vs. Texas:twitpic.com/9m5wyi First pitch at 6:35. Final regular season game in Waco. #SicEm

— Baylor Baseball (@BaylorBaseball) May 17, 2012

In addition to the excellent write-up from BaylorBears.com, we have another preview of this weekend's series from our friends over at BurntOrangeNation, one of SBNation's UT blogs. I like our chances in game 1 with Turley on the mound against freshman Dillon Peters better than I do in game 2 versus UT's stud pitcher Knebel. Bremer vs. Curtiss on Saturday should be an interesting matchup of lesser-used pitchers so far. I'm somewhat surprised that Hainsfurther didn't get the call for that game, to be honest.

Go Bears!! If anyone wants to GDT this game, we can use this thread.

The guys over at PerfectGame are doing a live chat today about the draft, so I figured I'd ask them about Ludy and where he might go. I also want to say that PerfectGame is very quickly becoming my favorite college baseball resource. The guys over there do an amazing job. Here are their thoughts on Ludy:

David Rawnsley: Ludy has had a great year, Miles, hitting .341-8-52 for the Bears and doing a solid job behind the plate. I think scouts see him as a solid senior sign type draft, somewhere in the 12-18 range when teams start addressing minor league needs and balancing rosters.

Kendall Rogers: I've had a chance to see Ludy a few times this season. He's got a thick trunk and isn't the most physically gifted guy in the world, but he's a fantastic leader and has really done a terrific job hitting the baseball this season. He's also pretty adequate behind the plate. Big fan of Ludy ... nice guy, too.