He said, “With a whole new group of guys, they didn’t have the monkey of years on their back. That was really hard for me.”īutler took control and changed things. Butler said, “The year before, just going into Allen Fieldhouse, everybody on the team didn’t believe we could win. Despite dropping 31 points in Allen Fieldhouse in 2019, the Bears lost. And on January 11, 2020, Butler excised the mentality that haunted Baylor’s past forays in Lawrence, Kansas. History remains constant until it doesn’t. Kevin Durant scored 25 points in the first half there, and still, Texas lost too. Buddy Hield dropped 46 points while playing for the country’s top ranked team and walked out of Allen Fieldhouse a loser. Kansas has been one of the country’s premiere programs. But whether it was a call that didn’t get made, or Baylor didn’t make that one final stop or the Bears didn’t hit one big shot, Baylor went into Kansas’ arena 14 times and left with 14 losses. And they had plenty of instances where they experienced what one of the 20th Century’s great thinkers, Viktor Frankl, called “Delusions of Reprieve,” which is a belief just before someone is doomed that things are about to actually turn in their favor. They’d had solid leads with two minutes remaining and perished. The Bears had led at halftime and fallen. To the chagrin of Baylor’s basketball fans, Allen Fieldhouse had been where Baylor’s best teams go to lose. We all knew: who gets a stop?” Baylor managed to hold off the Wildcats and continue a winning streak that would top out at 23 games the longest in the 24 year history of the Big 12. It comes down to who is going to be the tougher team. Butler finished with 22 points to lead Baylor to the victory. The Bears made 57% of their 3-point attempts. In the Myrtle-Beach Invitational, Villanova and Baylor may have played the most enjoyable game of the season. Put us on track to where we needed to be and took us down from cloud nine.” Macio Teague told me last month that, “Jared might have been the only person that played well.” Butler noted the loss was “probably the best thing that happened to us. But the Bears blew a double-digit lead to Washington in early November. Their strong performance in Italy led plenty of us to hype last season’s squad. (We) spent 10 days in a foreign country with so many things to do. Italy was amazing as the team, it really helped us bond a lot. Butler said, “It was a great experience for individuals living in the U.S. And that trip changed the tenor for the team. Jared Butler scores a bucket while defended by Marcus Garrett Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sportsīefore COVID-19 would preclude American entry in Europe, the 2019-2020 Bears played a four game series in Italy. To understand how Butler came to his decision and understand his game, it’s helpful to look back at his rise over the last year. Last week, Butler spoke with me about his sophomore campaign, the NBA Draft process and his decision to return to Baylor. But with Jared Butler-the almost guaranteed pick for Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, and an assured selection as Preseason First Team All-American-back, the Bears begin the season No. In the 113 year history of Baylor basketball, the program has never opened a season ranked higher than No.
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