Today’s Events
- Men's Basketball, at Ole Miss, 5:00 PM, Watch, Listen
- Women's Equestrian, vs Georgia, 11:00 AM
- Men's Tennis, at Texas A&M, 2:00 PM, Twitter
Equestrian
No. 2 Baylor equestrian (7-2) will play host to the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs (4-3) on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Willis Family Equestrian Center. From Baylor Bears dot com.
The contest marks the first of three-straight top-5 home opponents for the Baylor squad, with No. 5 Oklahoma State (Feb. 4) and No. 3 Auburn (March 3) still remaining on the schedule.
The Bears are fresh off a crucial 11-9 road win over No. 9 TCU, improving to 2-1 in Big 12 play with a showdown with the Cowgirls in Waco up next.
Georgia finished the first half of the season with an overall record of 4-3 and went 1-2 against Southeastern Conference opponents. The team scored a crucial win over Auburn, the defending national champions, and secured a perfect 3-0 record at home. But they struggled on the road with a record of 1-3.
“I think we just need to get more practice on the road,” senior Hunt Seat rider Liza Finsness said. “You’re not sure what the draw will be or what horse you’ll end up riding. You get the four minutes [to warm up] with it, but you never really know how it will behave in the arena. When we’re home, we know our horses.”
Tennis
The 21st-ranked Baylor men’s tennis team continues its 2017 regular season by participating in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend hosted by Texas A&M University Saturday and Sunday in College Station, Texas. From Baylor Bears dot com.
Baylor (2-0) will be one of four teams competing at the Mitchell Tennis Center over the weekend. The Bears will first face 15th-ranked and No. 1 seed Texas A&M (1-0) at 2 p.m. Saturday. Prior to that match at 11 a.m., 23rd-ranked and No. 2 seed SMU faces third-seeded Mississippi. The winners of those two matches advance to the following day’s championship match at 2 p.m., while the two losing teams will square off in a consolation match at 11 a.m. Sunday.
The winner of both matches over the weekend will advance to next month’s ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va.
This marks the first year in which Baylor will not host the eve.nt while playing in it. Previously the Bears have competed in and hosted the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in six of the eight years of its existence, winning all 12 matches and advancing to the national event each year.
Basketball
Click on this related link to view Our Daily Bears Baylor-Ole Miss Preview, Prediction and Game Thread by Kendall Kaut:
The scheduled matchups for this weekend’s Big 12 vs. SEC Challenge were drawn up months ago, way too far ahead to properly seed the thing. But if there’s a mismatch in the bunch, it appears to be No. 5 Baylor traveling to play an Ole Miss team that’s trying to find it’s rhythm in SEC play. This AP Stats story from Fox Sports dot com.
"The last three years (the Big 12 has) been the best conference, RPI-wise," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Right now, we're not at the top and hopefully this challenge can help with that."
Baseball
Football
This is going to sound weird, but it's time to trust the Baylor football coach. From CBS Sports.
The reason mingled in the school's official suite last month during Baylor's Cactus Bowl game against Boise State. Matt Rhule was neither overbearing nor a wallflower. He also had no ties to the school, to the state or to its football culture.
And that's not even the hard part as Baylor's new coach finalizes his first recruiting class. An East Coast guy came to central Texas from Temple in December knowing full well the NCAA, the Department of Education and/or the courts could be administering the next dose of poison to Baylor.
That's not even the hardest part in terms of why the 41-year-old former walk-on linebacker for Joe Paterno is here in the first place.
That would be to use football as both an athletic and spiritual tool to help lift the school out of an ongoing sexual assault scandal.
"It was a calling," Rhule said at his introductory press conference.
It is a calling propped up by a seven-year contract because all indications Baylor's football renovation is going to take a while. It is a calling also because Rhule all but stared Phil Knight in the eye and turned down an offer from Oregon to come to Waco, Texas.