Keeping Up with Baylor Basketball
WOMEN’S – In its last game of the regular season, the No. 17 Baylor women’s basketball team fell 48-51 to No. 10 TCU, ending a nine-game winning streak since its previous matchup with the Horned Frogs. The loss brings the team’s record to 25-6 overall, 15-3 in Big 12 Conference play, heading into the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship. The team ended its second-place Big 12 run earning seven all-conference yearly awards.
The second-seeded Bears sat out the first two rounds of the championship, which started Wednesday. They’ll play Iowa State in the quarterfinal at 5:30 p.m. today. If they win, they’ll play in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, then in the final at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
MEN’S – The men’s team has one more game before the start of the men’s Big 12 Championship next week, facing Houston on Saturday at Foster Pavilion. The team is coming off of its fifth-straight road win over TCU on Tuesday. Where Bears are seeded next week will depend on Saturday’s outcome, as Sports Illustrated predicts it’ll be a six-team race for seeds 6-11, with five teams (including Baylor) holding a 9-10 record in conference play.
And mark your calendars – selection Sunday for both men’s and women’s March Madness is next week, March 16.
Football Fix
If you’re anything like my fiancé (shameless plug–husband, as of tomorrow), you’re itching for the return of college football. Me, I could wait a few extra months. Nonetheless, I’m here to write the news.
On Tuesday, TCU spiced up our rivalry by hiring former Baylor defensive coordinator Brian Norwood and former Baylor wide receiver Corey Coleman to its coaching staff. For those of you following along at home, it’s not the first TCU-Baylor swap of the preseason, with TCU’s Paul Gonzales joining the Bears this season as passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach.
Also on Tuesday, the College Football Playoff added six new members to its selection committee and promoted Baylor’s Mack Rhoades–vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics–to committee chairman.
Spotlight on Acrobatics & Tumbling
Unsurprisingly, the No. 1 acrobatics and tumbling team is off to a four-match win streak. This weekend, the Bears will face … also the Bears at Missouri State in my hometown, Springfield, Mo. I can’t overstate how impressive it is what these women are able to do–check out this highlight video if you’re not convinced.
And–cuteness overload–the team will host a baby race at its meet against Iona on March 22. No worries if your baby hasn’t honed their tumbling skills yet–the only qualification is that they must be crawling, not walking.
Black Gospel Archive featured on NPR
I know we featured the Black Gospel Archive in last week’s brief, but its praises continue to be sung across the nation. Last week the collection was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered.
Dreaded DST
Sadly we’ll all lose an hour of sleep this weekend, with daylight saving time starting at 2 a.m. on Sunday. There’s no evolutionary purpose for the time change–in fact, research shows it actually causes a rift between the body’s natural time-keeping system and the actual time and can have all kinds of acute consequences.
Drs. Chenlu Gao and Michael Scullin reported this week to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine “that relative to non-observing states, the transition into DST was associated with a relative increase in malpractice claim payments, indicating that mistakes were perceived as more severe following mild sleep loss. … Fortunately, there was no evidence of medical professionals making more severe mistakes following the spring DST transition.”
Bears on a Mission
What’s more Baylor than going on a mission trip for spring break? Next week, more than 100 students, faculty, and staff members will serve with Baylor Missions in Costa Rica, Amsterdam, the Dominican Republic, and beyond.
