Wrapping Up Baylor Basketball
WOMEN’S – The Bears won their first match against Grand Canyon University on Friday at Foster Pavilion, ending the Lopes’ nation-leading 30-game winning streak. Unfortunately, their luck ran out on Saturday, falling 69-63 to Ole Miss in the second round and ending the Baylor women’s March Madness run.
Plus, hear about the push toward greater support of women’s sports at Baylor from student producer Marissa Essenburg at KWBU.
MEN’S – The men’s team held off the Mississippi State Bulldogs to win 75-72 in the first round, but fell to Duke–guard Jeremy Roach’s former team–in the round of 32.
According to On3, junior guard Langston Love entered the transfer portal and freshman forward Jason Asemota has plans to following the end of the team’s March Madness run. Plus, the Cinderella team McNeese State hired the Bears’ assistant Bill Armstrong to be head coach next season.
Need a recap of the teams’ seasons? Hear it straight from the Voice of the Baylor Bears, John Morris.
Taking Sports Off the Field
The University hired Adam Stanley–a lead developer of the national esports powerhouse team at Brewton-Parker College–to be Baylor’s first esports director and coach.
Baylor in December hosted the Texas Esports League Fall Finals, including more than 500 competitors, and in February the Bears competed in the first Big 12 Conference-sanctioned esports tournament.
According to a university release, “Stanley will build on this momentum with the development of a University-sponsored competitive esports team, which will regularly participate in national tournaments, actively recruit esports student-athletes and offer scholarships for top talent.”
You may be wondering what the heck esports is. No worries–stay tuned for The Baylor Line’s upcoming coverage of Baylor’s entrance into the novel field of collegiate esports.
On Campus
The 2025 senior class selected Professor Don Carpenter, clinical associate professor of accounting and business law in the Hankamer School of Business, as the recipient of this year’s Collins Outstanding Professor Award. He will receive $10,000 and give a special lecture at 4 p.m. on Monday, April 14 at Moody Memorial Library on “Tulip Bulbs and Squirrel Pelts: What Creates Value.”
Several more faculty members within the College of Arts and Sciences were granted tenure and promotions this week.
Three finalists were selected for Baylor’s $250,000 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching:
- Dr. Lendol G. Calder, professor of history at Augustana College
- Dr. Melissa Gross, associate professor and Behavioral Biomechanics Laboratory director at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology
- Dr. Jamie Rankin, university lecturer in Princeton’s German department and the inaugural director of the Princeton Center for Language Study.
Each finalist receives $15,000, as well as $10,000 for their home departments, and will present a series of lectures at Baylor during fall 2025. The award recipient will receive $250,000, an additional $25,000 for their home department, and will teach in residence the following year.
The campus won its own award this week, earning recognition as a Tree Campus Higher Education institution by the Arbor Day Foundation. Read our story about what it takes to earn such recognition here.
