Mythical March Madness Preview: Baylor Regional
STILLWATER – We’re just a little over 24 hours away from the start of the left side of the Pokes Report Mythical March Madness bracket! Robert Allen completed the right side earlier this week, and those games are being played Thursday afternoon. So, we’ll know who’s advancing out of the Gonzaga and Dayton Regionals in just a few short hours.
For those of you who haven’t seen or heard, Pokes Report used the most current KenPom and NCAA NET rankings to come up with our own ‘Mythical March Madness’ tournament. Our games are being played at historical sites such as Allen Fieldhouse, Moody Coliseum, The Palestra, McArthur Court and the Municipal Auditorium. Also, keeping with the current times, all of our games will be played in empty auditoriums other than essential team and game staffs.
Other than Oklahoma State being on the right side of the bracket, I’m pretty excited about the left side. We’re going to be highlighting some of the match ups and have already previewed the upper left-hand side of the Kansas Regional.
I was going to be doing a preview video for this article, but for whatever reason, my computer won’t upload the video. So, I apologize for you having to watch the Kansas Regional preview.
Now, we’re going to be taking a look at the lower left-hand side of the bracket: the Baylor Regional.
Baylor is one of our four No. 1 seeds in our tournament and will be facing off against No. 16 Robert Morris. Baylor finished the season No. 2 in the Big 12 rankings with a 26-4 overall record and 15-3 in conference play.
The Bears are led by Jared Butler. Butler started in all 30 games for Baylor and had a monster season. He averaged 16.0 points per game on 42% shooting from the field, as well as averaging 3.2 rebounds per game. They also had great play out of MaCio Teague, who averaged 13.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
As for Robert Morris, they finished second in the Northeast Conference with a 20-14 overall record and a 13-5 record in conference. The Colonials were led by guard Josh Williams and AJ Bramah; Williams posted a team-high 13.6 points per game, while Bramah got better as the season progressed. By the end of the year, Bramah was averaging 13.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. He also posted 16 blocks, second on the team, and 30 steals.
It’s going to be a tough one for Robert Morris playing the Bears just a short distance up the road from Waco, but they’ll come prepared.
Another Big 12 match up in this side of the bracket is No. 6 Texas Tech and No. 11 Providence. Tech finished tied for third in the Big 12 with an 18-13 overall record and 9-9 in Big 12 play. They actually finished the season on a four-game losing streak, but had a decent chance of getting some revenge on in-state rivals Texas in their first game of the Big 12 tournament before it was cancelled.
The Red Raiders were led by freshman guard Jahmi’us Ramsey, who was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Ramsey started in every game for Tech this past season and averaged 15.0 points and 4.0 rebounds on 43% shooting from the field. Should Ramsey return for the upcoming semester, he’s going to be a major problem for everyone that has to play them.
As for Providence, the school with one of the most terrifying mascots in all of sports, they finished the season with a 19-12 overall record, and a 12-6 conference record.
Despite the dominance of Ramsey, this should be a fun game. They’re led by Alpha Diallo, who averaged 14.1 points on 41% shooting, and hauled in 7.8 rebounds. They also had great play from David Duke and Luwane Pipkins, who averaged a combined 22.8 points per game, while hauling in 7.1 rebounds per game.
No. 1 Baylor takes on No. 16 Robert Morris
No. 2 San Diego State takes on Prairie View A&M
No. 3 Creighton takes on No. 14 Little Rock
No. 4 Villanova takes on No. 13 North Texas
No. 5 Houston takes on No. 12 Liberty
No. 6 Texas Tech takes on No. 11 Providence
No. 7 Colorado takes on No. 10 Virginia
No. 8 Illinois takes on No. 9 St. Mary’s
