Baylor hosted a ranked team on Saturday and won again without issue. The opponent was West Virginia. The final score was 70-59. So, the Bears are now 23-1 overall, 12-0 in the Big 12, 9-0 in Quadrant 1 opportunities, 14-1 in Quadrant 1/Quadrant 2 opportunities and off to the best 24-game start in school history. With a victory at Oklahoma on Tuesday, they'll extend their winning streak to 23 games -- which would replace Kansas' 22-game winning streak in the 1996-97 season as the longest winning streak in Big 12 history.
"I think it's a tribute to the players, their belief," Baylor coach Scott Drew told reporters after Saturday's double-digit win. "We've been operating under joy -- focusing one game at a time. And we'll keep doing that."
Seems like a sound strategy. It's undeniably working.
Baylor remains No. 2 in Sunday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings -- behind only Gonzaga. But, as I've said and written many times, that should not be interpreted as a slight of Baylor. It's just that I moved Gonzaga to No. 1 on Dec. 30, 2019, and all the Zags have done since is win 13 straight games by an average of 22.5 points. And, in the simplest of terms, I'm not going to punish Mark Few's team when it's winning without exception and generally dominating the competition.
So Gonzaga is No. 1.
But Baylor is awesome.
Both of those things can be true.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Filip Petrusev finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 89-77 victory over Pepperdine. The Zags' 18-game winning streak features 14 double-digit wins. | -- | 27-8 |
| 2 |  | Jared Butler finished with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists in Saturday's 70-59 victory over West Virginia. The Bears' 21-game winning streak also includes wins over Kansas, Villanova and Butler. | -- | 24-11 |
| 3 |  | Matt Mitchell finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds in Tuesday's 82-59 victory over New Mexico. The Aztecs are 25-0 for the first time in school history. | -- | 26-11 |
| 4 |  | Marcus Garrett finished with 24 points, seven assists and five rebounds in Saturday's 87-70 victory over Oklahoma. The Jayhawks will take a 10-game winning streak into Monday's game with Iowa State. | -- | 23-11 |
| 5 |  | Obi Toppin finished with 19 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 71-63 victory at UMass. Both of the Flyers' losses are losses in overtime to schools also ranked in the Top 25 And 1. | -- | 25-8 |
| 6 |  | Anthony Cowan made five 3-pointers and finished with 24 points in Saturday's 67-60 win at Michigan State. The Terrapins will take an eight-game winning streak into Tuesday's game with Northwestern. | -- | 16-17 |
| 7 |  | Tre Jones finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists in Saturday's 94-60 victory over Notre Dame. The Blue Devils will take a seven-game winning streak into Wednesday's game at NC State. | -- | 27-9 |
| 8 |  | Patrick Williams finished with 17 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 80-77 victory over Syracuse. The Seminoles are alone in third in the ACC standings with an 11-3 league record. | 1 | 17-16 |
| 9 |  | Lamar Stevens finished with 23 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 77-61 victory over Northwestern. The Nittany Lions will take an eight-game winning streak into Tuesday's game with Illinois. | 1 | 16-17 |
| 10 |  | The Tigers missed 16 of the 17 3-pointers they attempted in Saturday's 85-73 loss at Missouri. Auburn played without freshman star Isaac Okoro, who missed the game with a hamstring injury. | 2 | 27-8 |
| 11 |  | Ty-Shon Alexander finished with 24 points and eight assists in Saturday's 93-64 victory over DePaul. The Bluejays are 7-1 in their past eight games with the lone loss in that stretch coming at Providence. | 1 | 25-10 |
| 12 |  | Immanuel Quickley finished with 17 points and three assists in Saturday's 67-62 victory over Ole Miss. The Wildcats are 8-1 in their past nine games with the lone loss in that stretch coming at Auburn. | 1 | 23-10 |
| 13 |  | The Pirates finished with 15 turnovers and just 10 assists in Saturday's 74-71 loss at Providence. Seton Hall is 2-3 in its past five games with losses to multiple unranked opponents. | 2 | 25-12 |
| 14 |  | Jeremiah Robinson-Earl finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday's 72-71 victory over Marquette. The win snapped Villanova's three-game losing streak. | 1 | 18-16 |
| 15 |  | Markus Howard became the Big East's all-time leading scorer in Wednesday's 72-71 loss at Villanova. Marquette is 6-2 in its past eight games with the only losses in that stretch coming at Butler and at Villanova. | 1 | 27-10 |
| 16 |  | Will Richardson finished with 21 points and nine rebounds in Thursday's 68-60 victory over Colorado. The win snapped Oregon's two-game losing streak. | 2 | 24-12 |
| 17 |  | Tyler Bey finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds in Saturday's 69-47 victory at Oregon State. The Buffaloes are the only team besides Kansas to beat Dayton this season. | 3 | 26-11 |
| 18 |  | Jordan Nwora only made one shot and finished with just five points in Saturday's 77-62 loss at Clemson. The Cardinals have dropped consecutive Quadrant 2 games. | 4 | 8-24 |
| 19 |  | The Mountaineers didn't have a field goal in the opening nine minutes of the second half of Saturday's 70-59 loss at Baylor. West Virginia is 4-5 in its past nine games. | -- | 9-23 |
| 20 |  | The Bulldogs missed 23 of the 32 3-pointers they attempted in Saturday's 73-66 loss to Georgetown. Butler is 4-6 in its past 10 games with three losses in that stretch coming to unranked opponents. | 3 | 18-15 |
| 21 |  | Eli Brooks made four 3-pointers and finished with 18 points in Wednesday's 79-54 victory at Northwestern. The Wolverines are 4-1 in their past five games and remain the only team that's defeated Gonzaga. | 2 | 8-24 |
| 22 |  | Tyler Haws finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 72-71 victory at San Diego. The Cougars are 13-2 with Yoeli Childs in the lineup. | 3 | 23-11 |
| 23 |  | The Hawkeyes allowed Indiana to shoot 52.4% from 3-point range in Thursday's 89-77 loss at Assembly Hall. Iowa is 2-3 in its past five games with multiple losses to currently unranked opponents. | 3 | 19-15 |
| 24 |  | The Cougars missed 22 of the 31 3-pointers they attempted in Saturday's 73-72 overtime loss at SMU. The Cougars are tied with Cincinnati and Tulsa in the loss column atop the AAC standings. | 2 | 32-5 |
| 25 |  | Kyle Young finished with 16 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 68-52 victory over Purdue. The Buckeyes are 5-1 in their past six games with the lone loss in that stretch coming at Wisconsin. | NR | 22-14 |
| 26 |  | The Tigers allowed Kira Lewis to score 27 points on 18 shots in Saturday's 88-82 loss at Alabama. LSU is 1-3 in its past four games with multiple losses to unranked opponents. | 5 | 17-16 |
IN: Ohio State
OUT: Michigan State
