Hoops:

I wrote about Baylor’s victory over Texas Tech:

It was only fitting a Big 12 game had a perplexing ending. Baylor led Tech by two with seven seconds left. Texas Tech attempted a 3-point shot, which Ish Wainright blocked as cleanly as a fed up person on Twitter. Yet, a whistle blew. It seemed a foul had been called, and Baylor was about to be the victim of one of the worst calls imaginable. Given this is the Big 12, a review followed. We all waited. Would this call cost Baylor a vital game? As the minutes and anticipation turned to anger, the refs returned to inform the world the whistle was inadvertent, and Baylor would have the ball out of bounds. Two Al Freeman free throws later, the Bears walked away with the victory. That sequence may never happen again, and hopefully the Bears will never shoot this poorly again.

Baylor has the #4 KenPom defense. That’s much higher than it’s ever been. Tim Watkins of Baylor Scout has this story about how Baylor’s done it:

How are the Bears so good defensively? It doesn't start with Acuil, but it he is a big reason why. The biggest however as been the Bears ability to seamlessly switch between their man and zone defenses. Scott Drew's defense now has even more looks, from two full court presses (one that slows the game down and one that traps and tries to force turnovers), a half-court trapping wrinkle to the zone defense, a traditional man-to-man defense, and their ever changing and adjustable zone defense.

Only one other program in the nation attempts to play as many different types of defenses in a single game, Louisville under Coach Rick Pitino. The Cardinals have an elite defense this year, ranking 2nd in the nation, and Pitino is known as one of the best defensive coaches in the game. Since 2011, the Cardinals have not ranked lower than 5th in the KenPom defensive efficiency metric, a staggering amount of success on that side of the court.

Here’s audio of Scott Drew after the game. From ESPN Central Texas:

The Lady Bears won easily, as that amazing team so often does. The AP notes:

Alexis Prince scored a career high 25 points to help No. 2 Baylor rout 25th-ranked Kansas State 91-49 on Wednesday night.

Prince had 17 of her points in the first half, outscoring the Wildcats by three in the opening 20 minutes.

Baylor (20-1, 9-0 Big 12) led 7-5 before scoring the next 21 straight points to blow the game open early in the first quarter. Prince got the run started with a 3-pointer and Lauren Cox capped it.

Recruiting:

We’ve mentioned all these guys being on Baylor’s radar, but Steve Wiltfong of CBS provides some potentially good news and insight about them:

Three of my latest 247Sports Crystal Ball forecasts are in favor of Baylor.

Tuesday night I put one in for the Bears to flip Houston defensive end commit Chidi Ogbonnaya.

Wednesday morning I did the same for Colorado receiver/cornerback commit Chris Miller from Denton (Texas) High and former Florida State commit DeMarco Artis from Seminole (Fla.) High. There has been a lot of recent buzz around Miller and Artis being Baylor leans. Artis just decommitted from Florida State following this past weekend's official visit to Waco.

Matt Rhule and company are sitting on 20 commits after having just one when they were hired in early December.

I also expect the Bears to receive good news from running back target Johnathan Lovett, who also visited this past weekend. The Burlington (NJ) Cherokee athlete is considered a heavy Baylor lean.

Bryson Jackson had a home visit with the staff:

Connor Wedington tweeted about his official visit. Wedington is a brilliant guy and pulling him away from Stanford appears to be tough, but the Baylor staff appears to be doing their best:

A day after DeMarco Artis announced he’s split ways with Florida State, the Baylor staff paid him a visit:

And Colt Barber of SicEm365 had this news:

More Baylor:

Softball will have 15 televised games. From baylorbears.com:

Baylor Softball 2017 TV Dates

Feb. 22 vs. McNeese State at 4:00 p.m. on FOX Sports Southwest

Feb. 22 vs. McNeese State at 6:30 p.m. on FOX Sports Southwest

March 14 vs. UTSA at 6:00 p.m. on FOX Sports Plus

March 29 vs. Abilene Christian at 6:00 p.m. on FOX Sports Plus

March 31 vs. Texas Tech at 6:30 p.m. on FOX Sports Plus

April 1 vs. Texas Tech at 1:05 p.m. on FOX College Sports

April 7 vs. Iowa State at 6:30 p.m. on FOX Sports Plus

April 8 vs. Iowa State at 12:05 p.m. on FOX Sports Southwest

April 9 vs. Iowa State at 12:05 p.m. on FOX Sports Plus

April 18 vs. Houston at 4:00 p.m. on FOX Sports Southwest

April 18 vs. Houston at 6:30 p.m. on FOX Sports Plus

April 29 vs. Oklahoma State at 2:00 p.m. on FOX Sports Southwest

April 30 vs. Oklahoma State at 12:05 p.m. on FOX Sports Plus

May 5 vs. Texas at 6:05 p.m. on FOX Sports Southwest

#SicEm

Kaz was seen helping out the football team, which is a good sign for those of us that are happy to see him still at Baylor. From SicEmSports:

And here’s some video from baylorbears.com:

Have a great Thursday and Sic ‘Em!