Daily Bears Report 12/14

Today’s Events

Men's Basketball, vs Southern, 6:00 PM, Listen

Man Bears Basketball

The Southern Jaguars will roll into Baylor's Ferrell Center on Wednesday, hoping to interrupt the No. 4 Bears' perfect beginning to this basketball season. From FoxSports.

Baylor knows Southern, the SWAC tournament champion last season, will be aiming for a big upset and there's at least a hint of a reason to believe the Jaguars can do it.

The Bears haven't played a game in 11 days during the school's final exams.

Baylor coach Scott Drew said he could sense that the end of the academic semester was mentally draining on his team. Now the Bears have to try to regain their rhythm on the court against a program that has proven to be pesky.

Unranked in the preseason polls, the Baylor men’s basketball team has become the darlings of the national media with its 8-0 start. Story by John Werner of WacoTrib’s BearsExtra.

The No. 4 Bears already have wins over three top 10 teams on their resume, including Oregon, Louisville and Xavier.

But the Bears also know they must also beat unheralded teams to stay high in the national polls, and don’t plan to won’t overlook Southern at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Ferrell Center.

Baylor coach Scott Drew hasn’t let his players forget how the Bears squeaked out a 70-66 win over Southern in the last meeting between the two teams on Dec. 22, 2014, at the Ferrell Center.

“With Southern, the last time they came here, it was a one-possession game with under 15 seconds to go,” Drew said. “Traditionally, they’re top three in their league. I have a lot of respect for them. They do a good job taking transition buckets and controlling tempo and putting themselves in position to win the game.

Lady Bears Basketball

The No. 3/4 Baylor Lady Bears (10-1) play the final nonconference game of the regular season on Thursday, Dec. 15 against Winthrop (1-8). Tipoff is set for 12:05 p.m. (CT).

Fans can watch Thursday’s game online on Fox Sports Plus with John Morris (play-by-play) and Jim Haller (analyst) calling the action. Live audio is also available on the Baylor Sports Network, IMG College and ESPN 1660 AM. Rick May (play-by-play) and Lori Fogelman (analyst) are on the call.

My Baylor Story Part 1 posted by Emily F

Football

The schedule for Baylor’s 2017 football season, the first under the direction of head coach Matt Rhule, was released Tuesday by the Big 12 Conference office. From Baylor Bears dot com.

The Rhule era will open on Sept. 2 in Waco against Liberty, which is one of six games at McLane Stadium in 2017. BU will also host UTSA (Sept. 9) and Big 12 contests against Oklahoma (conference-opener Sept. 23), West Virginia (Oct. 21), Texas (Oct. 28) and Iowa State (Nov. 18).

The Bears will play five true road games next season, including four outside of Texas, leaving the Lone Star state for contests at Duke (Sept. 16), Kansas State (Sept. 30), Oklahoma State (Oct. 14) and Kansas (Nov. 4). The remaining true road game is the regular season finale on Nov. 25 at TCU.

The annual Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Shootout against Texas Tech is scheduled for Nov. 11 at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

All 12 dates are subject to change based on requests received from the Big 12's television partners or other factors. The date for Baylor’s 2017 Homecoming celebration will be designated at a later time.

Baylor wraps up the 2016 season in the Motel 6 Cactus Bowl, Dec. 27, at 9:15 p.m. CT in Phoenix, Ariz. The Bears will take on Boise State (10-2) at Chase Field on ESPN.

Despite a somewhat lackluster end to the regular season, the Boise State football team is focused and excited to face the Baylor Bears in the Cactus Bowl later this month, coach Bryan Harsin said at a news conference on Tuesday. From KTVB dot com.

Harsin said the matchup provides "an awesome opportunity" to take on a Big 12 team that is on the rise after a tumultuous year.

After losing to Air Force for the third-straight year, and failing to make it into the conference championship for the second-straight year, the Broncos (10-2) want to end the year on a positive note.

"We're trying to finish this season the right way and take everything we've learned and apply it," Harsin said. "And go out there and be a much better football team than we were in the last game."

The Broncos were ranked as high as No. 13 this season and had their sights set on not only the conference championship, but also on making a New Years Six bowl game. But a two-point loss at Wyoming on Oct. 29 and seven-point loss at Air Force in the season finale ended those plans.

The Price of Scandal

Baylor University’s sexual assault scandal could cost the school at least $223 million, according to “Bears for Leadership Reform,” a group of the school’s notable donors.

Jared Jordan, managing director of Austin law firm HSSK LLC, presented a financial analysis of the costs at a Tuesday press conference attended by Houston lawyer and prominent Baylor donor John Eddie Williams. From WacoTrib.

The analysis is based on audits, IRS Form 990s, Equity in Athletics Data Analysis, media reports, information from the child sexual abuse investigation at Pennsylvania State University, information related to settlements with sexual assault victims at other universities and information provided by the reform group, Jordan said.

“We sit here today with little transparency, no accountability, and it’s time for us to find out the true facts,” Williams said.

According to Jordan’s report, Baylor has spent or will spend almost $33 million in legal, consulting and public relations costs, $30 million in fines and sanctions and more than $24 million in settlements with former employees.

Other costs of sexual assault investigations, victim settlements, hiring of interim and new employees and Title IX compliance costs bring the total costs to $121.7 million.

He also projects $101.3 million in lost private contributions until 2019.

Bears for Leadership Reform paid for the analysis, Williams said.

Art Briles lawsuit against Baylor | Attorney Kenton Hutcherson discusses live on WBAP

Fired Baylor Athletic Staffer Thomas Hill is Suing Pepper Hamilton

A former Baylor athletic department employee who was fired in the wake of the investigation into the university's handling of sexual assault complaints has filed a defamation and negligence lawsuit against the law firm and attorneys who conducted the investigation. Paula Lavigne of ESPN has more on this story.

Thomas Hill, a former assistant athletic director for community relations and special projects, was fired in late May after 28 years at Baylor. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Waco, Texas, accuses Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton of negligence and defamation and asks for $60,000 in damages.

The lawsuit goes on to state that the attorneys failed to get all of the "pertinent and important facts" from witnesses, that they did not interview or interrogate several important witnesses and that they "did not perform their duties objectively and with an open mind." It states that negligence also led to Hill being libeled, slandered and defamed and, as a result, unable to get another job.