I made a bigtime mistake earlier this week when I wrote that, other than Louisville and Wichita State [which play Saturday in the NCAA Final Four at Atlanta], Iowa was playing the best collegiate basketball in the nation in early-April. No way, Jose. Put Baylor on that short list, too. The Bears of the Big 12 Conference administered an old-fashioned butt-whippin' on Iowa, 74-54, in the championship game of the National Invitation Tournament Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. What I'm wondering now is how the hell the NCAA selection committee avoided putting Baylor in the Big Dance. What a miscarriage of justice that was. And, by the way,hats off to Iowa State. The Cyclones somehow beat Baylor during the regular season--not once, but twice. Iowa State won at Ames, 79-71, and in beautiful downtown Waco, Texas, 87-82. And Iowa beat Iowa State. Go figure. The Bears were sensational against Iowa, thoroughly dominating the Hawkeyes every which way. Face it, Hawkeye fans. Baylor was the better team. Far better. Iowa couldn't shoot all night, but it wasn't that Devyn Marble and everyone else suddenly had their arms amputated. Baylor's size had a lot to do with Iowa's inefficiency. Clearly, the Hawkeyes were intimidated by the Bears. Baylor shot 54. percent, Iowa 26 percent. Marble, who had been playing so well late in the season--especially in the earlier rounds of the NIT--was a non-factor for Iowa. He connected on only three of 12 shots, was 0-for-4 from 3-point range and scored just six points. Freshman guard Mike Gesell, a non-starter, led the Hawkeyes with 13 points. Baylor was a high-flying, slam-dunking, in-your-face sensation of a team. The Bears led at halftime, 27-22, and any hope Iowa had of getting into the game vanished quickly in the last half. No way could the Hawkeyes keep pace with Baylor. Cory Jackson's 23 points led the Bears. Frankly, Baylor made it look so easy in the game that the most entertaining part of the telecast on ESPN was listening to former Indiana and Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight rattling on with his commentary. The best thing about Knight's jabbering was that he kept the microphone away from Bill Raftery, who talks too much whenever he's doing commentary work. Baylor's NIT chamiions. Photo courtesy of Baylor Bears on Twitter.

I made a bigtime mistake earlier this week when I wrote that, other than Louisville and Wichita State [which play Saturday in the NCAA Final Four at Atlanta], Iowa was playing the best collegiate basketball in the nation in early-April. No way, Jose. Put Baylor on that short list, too. The Bears of the Big 12 Conference administered an old-fashioned butt-whippin' on Iowa, 74-54, in the championship game of the National Invitation Tournament Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. What I'm wondering now is how the hell the NCAA selection committee avoided putting Baylor in the Big Dance. What a miscarriage of justice that was. And, by the way,hats off to Iowa State. The Cyclones somehow beat Baylor during the regular season--not once, but twice. Iowa State won at Ames, 79-71, and in beautiful downtown Waco, Texas, 87-82. And Iowa beat Iowa State. Go figure. The Bears were sensational against Iowa, thoroughly dominating the Hawkeyes every which way. Face it, Hawkeye fans. Baylor was the better team. Far better. Iowa couldn't shoot all night, but it wasn't that Devyn Marble and everyone else suddenly had their arms amputated. Baylor's size had a lot to do with Iowa's inefficiency. Clearly, the Hawkeyes were intimidated by the Bears. Baylor shot 54. percent, Iowa 26 percent. Marble, who had been playing so well late in the season--especially in the earlier rounds of the NIT--was a non-factor for Iowa. He connected on only three of 12 shots, was 0-for-4 from 3-point range and scored just six points. Freshman guard Mike Gesell, a non-starter, led the Hawkeyes with 13 points. Baylor was a high-flying, slam-dunking, in-your-face sensation of a team. The Bears led at halftime, 27-22, and any hope Iowa had of getting into the game vanished quickly in the last half. No way could the Hawkeyes keep pace with Baylor. Cory Jackson's 23 points led the Bears. Frankly, Baylor made it look so easy in the game that the most entertaining part of the telecast on ESPN was listening to former Indiana and Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight rattling on with his commentary. The best thing about Knight's jabbering was that he kept the microphone away from Bill Raftery, who talks too much whenever he's doing commentary work.

Baylor's NIT chamiions. Photo courtesy of Baylor Bears on Twitter.