Baylor Men's Basketball Drops Out of AP Poll for First Time Since Early 2023

Baylor Men’s Basketball dropped out of the AP poll on Monday for the first time since January 9th of 2023 when Scott Drew, Keynote George and company lost three straight games to open Big 12 play.

This year’s drop comes courtesy of the Bears losing two out of their last three games, specifically a neutral site blow-out to now No. 1/1 Tennessee and back-to-back but reeling champs No. 18/20 UConn.

To complete the comparison the losses in 2023 were to Iowa State, TCU and Kansas State. Iowa State ended the year receiving votes, TCU finished at No. 22 in the AP and Kansas State checked in at No. 15 with an Elite Eight appearance.

So Scott Drew has seen some hard times before and rebounded to finish fourth in the Big 12, just two games back of the champs. 

Interestingly though, the Big 12 is having a rougher than typical time in non-conference matchups.

The Kansas Jayhawks fell from the top spot in both the AP poll and USA Today Coaches poll to No. 10 in both thanks to a loss to their rival Missouri.

Cincinnati dropped from No. 14/14 to No. 22/23 after a loss to an okay Villanova team.

The Houston Cougars rebounded from a rough week with a win over Butler and a move from No. 17/18 to No. 15/13.

Iowa State now sits as the highest-ranked Big 12 team at No. 3 in both polls. The Cyclones jumped Marquette in both polls and Kentucky in the AP poll on top of Kansas’ tumble.

Baylor did remain ranked in the Coaches poll — sitting at No. 25 — six points above the first team out, Mississippi State.

Big 12 teams receiving votes in the AP were Baylor, Arizona State and West Virginia. In the Coaches poll, Arizona State, West Virginia and Texas Tech received votes for the Big 12.

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