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The first men's basketball AP poll of 2017 has been released and your Baylor Bears have now ascended to their highest ranking in program history, coming in at #2 behind Villanova. Baylor's previous program record came during the 2011-2012 season when the Bears spent three weeks at #3 in the country. BU is the first team since Miami in 2013 to reach the top 2 of the poll after starting the season unranked.
This comes on the heels of Baylor's 76-50 win on Friday night at Oklahoma, which was the Sooners' worst home loss since 1963. The win was already Baylor's 7th win of the season against an opponent in the KenPom top 100. The Bears will have plenty of opportunities to add to that total as well as each of the remaining 18 games of the regular season will be against current top 100 opponents. Baylor's resume continues to look better with age after Oregon knocked off previously unbeaten UCLA last week and Louisville took down Indiana on a neutral court on Saturday.
At this point, I should probably remind you that the Baylor basketball program went nearly FORTY YEARS without making an appearance in the AP poll before Scott Drew first cracked the poll for the first time in 2008. The Bears have since become regulars in the poll, being ranked at some point in every season since that breakthrough 2007-2008 campaign. But never before has Baylor basketball reached the heights of #2. It speaks to the resume that Baylor has compiled in the first few weeks of the season and to the consistency of the program that Drew has built in Waco. The man can coach. No, really.
Baylor will take the court as the #2 team in the nation for the first time on Wednesday night in the Ferrell Center against Iowa State. I know that the students are not back in town yet and that weeknight games are tough on fans coming in from out of town. But if you have any opportunity to get to Waco at 7:00 on Wednesday, please take advantage. This team deserves to have a fantastic home court advantage like many of our Big 12 brethren enjoy.