The 1-3-1 March Madness Edition: Baylor (19-12) vs Alabama (20-10)

Baylor found themselves waiting longer than usual on Selection Sunday to hear their names called, and when it was the landing spot wasn’t exactly ideal. The Bears will enter their 19th consecutive NCAA Tournament trip as the seventh seed in the Seattle 3 region, which sends them to Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut.

Up first for Baylor (19-12) is 10th-seeded Alabama (20-10), in what will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Tip-off between the Bears and Tide is set for 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and will be televised on ESPN 2.

The Tide are currently riding a four-game skid and finished in the middle of the pack in the SEC, as they were tied with Mississippi State and Georgia at 9-7 in conference play.

Here is the 1-3-1 on the Tide.

One Player:

Baylor will need to focus on All-SEC First Team Guard, Brittany Davis. The grad student leads Alabama in scoring with 17.3 PPG, and has scored in double figures in all but two games this season, including ten 20-point performances.

Davis (9-points, 7 boards) didn’t play up to her standards as the Tide were ousted by Kentucky 71-58 in the second round of the SEC Tournament. Expect her to come out firing against the Bears on Saturday.

Three Nuggets:

●      Baylor is making its 19th-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, which is the fifth-longest active streak in the country behind Tennessee (41), Stanford (35), UConn (34) and Notre Dame (27), and 21st appearance overall.

●      The Crimson Tide's deepest run came in 1994 with the team advancing to the Final Four.

●      The Bears are 54-17 in the Big Dance and have made 15 trips to the Sweet 16.

One Quote:

The elephant in the room, besides Big AL, is the fact that the winner of Saturday’s game between Baylor and Alabama will likely see the heavy favorite and hometown team UCONN in the second round. 

Head coach Nicki Collen knows her team is under a microscope heading into March, but if they can focus on a few basic elements of the game, then they can beat anyone on any given night.

 "People are going to say we're not Baylor anymore," Collen said. "We're not the dominant Baylor, but we're good enough to go beat anyone... From our perspective, that's who we need to be. Because we're not bigger than anyone, we're not stronger than anyone. We have to be focused on rebounding, we've got to be focused on defending and let the rest take care of itself."

News and Notables:

There have been a few roster announcements over the course of the week for Baylor, with one player hitting the portal and another returning via their Covid eligibility.

Kendra Gillespie has missed a majority of the season with “personal issues” and announced via Twitter earlier this week that she would be entering the transfer portal.

Jaden Owens let it be known before the team left Waco that she will be back next season, to which Bella Fontleroy replied “We wouldn’t let her leave anyway”.