Top 10 Baylor Moments of 2017: Part I
10. Baseball back on the rise
The last three years of Steve Smith’s campaign with Baylor were a struggle, placing in the bottom half of the conference each season. Steve Rodriguez came along in 2016, immediately shifting the trajectory.
Baylor finished 6th in the Big 12 his first year as the skipper but turned the ship around as promised in 2017. The team finished fourth in the conference and finished with a 34-23 record (the team high since 2012’s Big 12 title) as Rodriguez won Coach of the Year.
The season didn’t end as hoped, losing twice in the conference tournament followed by a loss to Texas A&M and thrashing from Houston in the NCAA tourney. But the program has seen fewer finer moments than the Bears’ opening stretch, climbing to a No. 10 ranking as Big 12 first-teamer Aaron Dodson helped lead the team to a 15-2 start.
9. Clint Lewis scores
Charlie Brewer and Zach Smith were responsible for the most touchdowns over 70 yards in the nation but there may not have been a more important or memorable score all year than Clint Lewis’ touchdown in the team’s Spring game.
It wasn’t televised and it didn’t count on the scoreboard, but it was as big a moment as they come for Lewis.
A longtime team staffer and fan, Lewis who was born with Down Syndrome took a handoff following a screen pass and ran the rest of the way for a 29-yard score. He was joined by the team the team for a “Jump Around.”
He’s at the front of the line for every home game, but the 41-year-old’s touchdown was quite the way to ring in the Matt Rhule era. Rhule said after the game he was “really excited” to see how much that moment not only meant for Lewis but for the players as well. For a team that was being dragged through the mud the past 15 months, it was one of the first true moments of light.
8. Women’s Soccer makes first Elite Eight
It’s not often that Baylor soccer is discussed. In November, that all changed. Yes, football was starting to get tiresome and basketball was still a week away from starting. But any win over TCU is worth talking about, so the win over the Horned Frogs to close Big 12 play was big.
Oh, yeah that last game was the conference championship too.
That conference title clinched the Bears their first NCAA tournament bid in five years, avoiding the pains of an at-large bid their 4-4-1 conference record would have kept alive.
Coach Paul Jobson wasn’t done with his team led by tournament MVP Aline De Lima, though. The team would go on to the Elite Eight after climbing through the first rounds, even getting a shoutout during the final home football game to announce the team’s Sweet 16 bid against Notre Dame.
The Cinderella run finally came to an end against North Carolina but it was a proud moment to be a Bear.
7. Scott Drew wins 300
What Scott Drew has done in Waco is nothing short of a miracle. Dave Bliss left the program in shambles. A complete shame of the sport. But Drew came in all the same with sanctions and penalties to last years, not to mention the aftertaste that’d come with “Baylor University” for the foreseeable future.
Ask someone back in 2003 if Drew would win 100 games with Baylor, that’d probably say no. 200? Laugh. 300? See yourself out the door and never show your face again.
On Nov. 17, Drew did the impossible and got that 300th ‘W’ and only continues to extend his lead as the program’s all-time winningest coach. He’s now taken Baylor to seven NCAA tournaments, produced a handful of NBA players, and has had a ranked team for 11 consecutive seasons.
After the milestone win, Drew put all the thanks on his players and coaches. It’s never been about him, it’s about them. He still hasn’t lost sight of that.
6. Charlie Brewer’s in the building
It really wouldn’t be accurate to say the moment Charlie Brewer set foot in McLane everyone knew he was something special. His first play came six weeks into the season and was a - 1-yard run. His performance against West Virginia the next week is another story.
Zach Smith had his own moment in a near-win against Oklahoma but Brewer coming in to replace Smith was the closest the Bears had to a win all season. In the 38-36 loss, Brewer completed 62 percent of passes for 109 yards and 2 touchdowns, virtually all in the fourth quarter as the team stormed scored 16 of the 18 needed points for a comeback. Had that turned into a win, you can bet that game would have been No. 1 and would have knocked the 61-58 TCU win off the throne.
He also had the help of another freshman phenom as Tristan Ebner had two back-to-back touchdowns of 40 yards or more. But it was Brewer that took home co-Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors thanks to his remarkable 68.1 percent completion rate and 11 to 4 TD to INT ratio. His redshirt may have been burnt to the dismay of half the fanbase but Brewer’s early experience is proving invaluable.