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Baylor basketball: 2019-20 season review and 2020-2021 early preview

By Mike Phillips

WACO, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 22: Jared Butler #12 of the Baylor Bears in the first half at Ferrell Center on February 22, 2020 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
WACO, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 22: Jared Butler #12 of the Baylor Bears in the first half at Ferrell Center on February 22, 2020 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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WACO, TEXAS – FEBRUARY 22: Davion Mitchell #45 of the Baylor Bears in the first half at Ferrell Center on February 22, 2020 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
WACO, TEXAS – FEBRUARY 22: Davion Mitchell #45 of the Baylor Bears in the first half at Ferrell Center on February 22, 2020 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

Baylor basketball rose from No. 16 in the preseason polls to No. 1 in the for several weeks. Recapping the Bears season and looking ahead at 2020-2021.

When the regular season began there weren’t huge expectations being place on the Baylor Bears. The AP poll had Baylor at No. 16 in the preseason, which is a solid rank but one that raised questions about the team’s ultimate upside.

The Bears did have an early stumble, losing by three against Washington to fall to 1-1, but that would spark an incredible run through the season for Baylor. After that game, Baylor tore through the rest of its non-conference schedule, scoring victories over ranked teams Villanova, Arizona and Butler.

Baylor also announced their intentions to dominate the Big 12 at the beginning of conference play, scoring consecutive road wins against Texas Tech and Kansas to put the league on notice. The victory at Allen Fieldhouse was the Bears’ first win at Kansas in program history, representing a monumental step forward in the legitimacy of Baylor basketball.

As a result of the torrid streak, Baylor climbed to the top of the polls, where they built a 23-game winning streak. That came to an end at the hands of the Jayhawks, who avenged their earlier loss by winning at three in Waco to pull into a tie atop the Big 12.

The loss sent Baylor into a mini-funk, dropping two of their last four regular-season games to cede the Big 12 title to Kansas. The Bears were still in the mix for a No. 1 seed at the time the season was canceled so we will never find out if Baylor would have been able to stabilize.