WACO, Texas - Baylor and Waco will be college basketball's epicenter for one night, as ESPN announced Wednesday that College GameDay Driven by State Farm is coming to Central Texas for the Bears' March 5 contest against long-time rival Texas. The longest-standing basketball rivalry for both Baylor and Texas will tip off at 8 p.m. CT.
Baylor will be one of eight universities to host College GameDay in 2011, which will begin its seventh season on Jan. 15. Other host sites for the show include a men's/women's doubleheader at Tennessee (Jan. 15), Purdue (Jan. 22), Kansas (Jan. 29), Kentucky (Feb. 5), Villanova (Feb. 12), Michigan State (Feb. 19) and Virginia Tech. (Feb. 26). Baylor becomes the sixth school from the Big 12 to host the event, joining Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas.
"Baylor-Texas is emerging into one of the nation's top basketball rivalries," Baylor Director of Athletics Ian McCaw said, "and the presence of ESPN's College GameDay will add a great deal to the festive environment in the Ferrell Center. We are looking forward to College GameDay meeting `Baylor Nation' on March 5th."
The college basketball Gameday show will debut a new format for 2011. It will feature two hours of live coverage on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. CT. In all but one week (Jan. 15), ESPNU will carry the 9-10 a.m. hour, with ESPN picking up the coverage from 10-11 a.m. The primetime hour (starting at 7 p.m. CT) will continue on ESPN as in past years.
"It doesn't get any bigger or better than ESPN College GameDay coming to your campus," Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. "What a tremendous privilege, honor and compliment to `Baylor Nation' and everyone in Central Texas."
It will mark the first time College GameDay has made an appearance in Waco for either basketball or football. The regular-season finale with Texas will be one of at least 16 national television games on the ESPN family of networks for the 2010-11 Bears. In addition to the ESPN clash with the Longhorns, Baylor will also make two appearances on Big Monday (Jan. 17 vs. Kansas, Jan. 24 at Kansas State) as well as ESPN's College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon against La Salle on Nov. 16.
"Baylor's campus and the Ferrell Center will be rocking come March 5th," Drew said. "On a personal note, it's going to be tough to get any sleep that week, knowing that College GameDay is going to be in the Ferrell Center!"
A spin-off of its successful college football version, College GameDay made its debut on Jan. 22, 2005. Host Rece Davis is joined on the program by former Notre Dame head coach Digger Phelps, former Duke player and assistant coach Jay Bilas, former North Carolina standout Hubert Davis, college basketball's all-time winningest coach Bobby Knight and college basketball writer Andy Katz.
Baylor returns two starters and eight letterwinners from a 28-8 squad that finished tied for second in the Big 12 in 2009-10 and advanced to the Elite Eight in Houston. The Bears finished the season ranked No. 10 in the final ESPN/USA Today Top 25 - the highest season-ending ranking in program history. Projected to be a preseason top-15 team for the first time, the Bears are led by senior All-American candidate LaceDarius Dunn, who is on pace to break both the Baylor and Big 12 career scoring records. Dunn, who has 1,739 career points, needs 451 points to pass Terry Teagle (2,189) as Baylor's all-time leading scorer.
Season tickets for Baylor's Ferrell Center record-tying 18-game home schedule are on sale now. Fans can order tickets several ways: online at www.BaylorBears.com, in-person at the Baylor Athletics Ticket Office in the Ferrell Center or by calling (254) 710-1000.
ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY AND SATURDAY PRIMETIME SCHEDULE
Date Site Game
Jan. 15 Knoxville, Tenn. Vanderbilt at Tennessee (M/W)
Jan. 22 West Lafayette, Ind. Michigan State at Purdue
Jan. 29 Lawrence, Kan. Kansas State at Kansas
Feb. 5 Lexington, Ky. Florida at Kentucky
Feb. 12 Philadelphia, Pa. Pittsburgh at Villanova
Feb. 19 East Lansing, Mich. Illinois at Michigan State
Feb. 26 Blacksburg, Va. Duke at Virginia Tech
MARCH 5 WACO, TEXAS TEXAS AT BAYLOR (8 P.M. CT)
BAYLOR BASKETBALL HISTORY ON ESPN
- Baylor is 31-20 in nationally televised games.
- Baylor has played 42 total games on ESPN platforms, including 12 on ESPN.
- Baylor is 6-6 all-time in games nationally televised on ESPN.
- Since 2003-04 (Scott Drew's first as head coach), Baylor has made 37 ESPN network appearances.
- Baylor has made 33 ESPN network appearances in the last three seasons (5 in 2007-08, 18 in 2008-09, and 10 in 2009-10).
- Baylor is scheduled to play 16 games on the ESPN family of networks in 2010-11 - the most regular-season ESPN contests in school history.
- Baylor will appear twice on ESPN/Big 12 "Big Monday" platform in 2010-11, hosting Kansas on Jan. 17 and traveling to Kansas State on Jan. 24.
- Seven of Baylor's nine postseason games in 2009 (four Big 12 Championship games, five NIT games) were on eight ESPN or ESPN2, including both the Big 12 Championship and NIT title games.
BAYLOR-TEXAS SERIES HISTORY
- Longest-standing basketball rivalry for both schools, Texas leads the all-time series, 155-79.
- Baylor has won the last four meetings, including wins in the 2009 and 2010 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship.
- Baylor swept the regular-season series in 2009-10 for the first time since the 1997-98 season.
- Baylor has been ranked in the last three series meetings with Texas.
- Baylor snapped 12-game losing streaks to UT in both Austin and Waco last season.
- In last season's finale in Waco, Quincy Acy scored a career-high 24 points, including 10 highlight-reel dunks. Acy earned the top two spots on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 plays for the weekend.
QUOTES
Baylor Director of Athletics Ian McCaw
"Baylor-Texas is emerging into one of the nation's top basketball rivalries and the presence of ESPN's College GameDay will add a great deal to the festive environment in the Ferrell Center. We are looking forward to College GameDay meeting `Baylor Nation' on March 5th."
Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew
"It doesn't get any bigger or better than ESPN College GameDay coming to your campus. What a tremendous privilege, honor and compliment to `Baylor Nation' and everyone in Central Texas. Baylor's campus and the Ferrell Center will be rocking come March 5th. On a personal note, it's going to be tough to get any sleep that week, knowing that College GameDay is going to be in the Ferrell Center!"
Bear Pit President Kaitie Kerr (Junior from Denton, Texas)
"Coming from the Bear Pit point of view, it will be the most exciting event of the year. We're expecting our membership to hopefully double this year, get a lot more people on the court and try to make the Ferrell Center as loud as possible. We want to make College GameDay's Baylor experience a memorable one. As officers, we're all extremely pumped for this upcoming season and turn down the entire Ferrell Center upside down."
Baylor University Student Body President Michael D. Wright (Senior from Houston, Texas)
"The student body and the entire `Baylor Nation' are very excited for Coach Scott Drew and the Bears that ESPN College GameDay has chosen Baylor as the center of the college basketball universe on March 5th. We are so energized from the Bears' thrilling run to the Elite Eight, and we plan to pack the Ferrell Center all season long. When we play our long-time rival Texas, all of us in the `Baylor Nation' are ready to rise up on national television and show the entire country the tremendous fan support we have here at Baylor for our team, our coaches, our university and our community."
WACO, Texas - The Baylor Bears and Arizona State Sun Devils will meet Thurs., Dec. 2, in the Ferrell Center as part of the 2010 Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, the Big 12 Conference announced Wednesday. Game time and television information will be released at a later date.
Baylor, which has won the last two meetings, leads the all-time series, 3-2. Last season, Baylor defeated the Sun Devils, 64-61, in Tempe, Ariz., to take the first contest in the two-game series. In Nov. 2008, the two teams squared off in the semifinals of the 2008 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif. Baylor's 87-78 win over then-No. 14 Arizona State propelled the Bears into the AP Top 25, where they would remain for seven consecutive weeks.
The series will be in its fourth year after starting competition during the 2007-08 season. The Big 12 held a 9-3 advantage in Hardwood Series contests last season and leads the three-year series, 20-16. In 2009, the 12 contests drew more than 110,000 fans. In the three years of the event, more than 355,000 fans have come through the turnstiles.
2010 BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES
Sat., Nov. 27
USC at Nebraska
Thurs., Dec. 2
Missouri at Oregon
UCLA at Kansas
Arizona State at Baylor
Fri., Dec. 3
Kansas State at Washington State
Sat., Dec. 4
Oregon State at Colorado
California at Iowa State
Texas Tech at Washington
WACO, Texas - Baylor head men's basketball coach Scott Drew announced Monday the addition of former UCLA center J'mison Morgan (pronounced: Jay-mis-son) to the Bears program. The 6-foot-10 center will sit out the 2010-11 season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules and will retain two seasons of eligibility.
A native of Dallas, Texas, Morgan played two seasons (2008-09 and 2009-10) for the Bruins, averaging 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds while appearing in 40 contests without making a start. He averaged 7.0 minutes per game as a sophomore, shooting 46.1 percent (35-for-76) from the field in two seasons.
"J'mison is someone we as a Baylor coaching staff are familiar with since we recruited while he was in high school at South Oak Cliff," Drew said. "His size, strength and shot-blocking ability will fit into our system nicely. We are excited to have him join our Baylor family."
Morgan was a four-year varsity basketball letterwinner for South Oak Cliff High School and helped the Golden Bears win four consecutive state championships (2005-08). During Morgan's freshman season in 2005, the Golden Eagles were led by former Baylor All-Big 12 performer and 1,000-point scorer Kevin Rogers, winning their first of four straight Texas boys' 4A state championships
NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOLS RANKINGS (CLASS OF 2008)
No. 3 center and No. 23 overall prospect - Scout.com
No. 4 center and No. 25 overall prospect - Rivals.com
No. 2 center - Streetball
No. 4 center - BasketballPreps.com
No. 32 overall - RISE
MONUMENT, Colo. - Baylor men's basketball freshmen A.J. Walton and Cory Jefferson are two of 10 NCAA Division I student-athletes selected for a one-week competitive tour in Katowice, Poland, with Athletes In Action.
The AIA team is one of nine Athletes In Action international-touring men's and women's basketball teams this summer. Last summer, sophomore power forward Quincy Acy played on the 10-day Athletes In Action tour that also played in Poland.
Walton and Jefferson both just completed their freshmen seasons with the Bears, helping guide them to a school-record 28 wins and their first Elite Eight appearance in the modern tournament era. Walton, a point guard from Little Rock, Ark., was one of six Bears to play in all 36 games in 2009-10. He played more minutes (634) than Baylor's other five freshmen combined (420), averaging 3.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and nearly 2.0 assists in 17.6 minutes per contest.
Jefferson played in 21 games as a reserve power forward, averaging 1.3 points and 1.2 rebounds in 4.6 minutes per contest. The all-time leading shot blocker in Killeen (Texas) High School history, Jefferson was named to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll for the Fall 2009 semester.
Walton and Jefferson will be joined by Wichita State's Garrett Stutz and Toure Murry, Utah State's Preston Medlin, Colorado's Levi Knutson, Missouri State's Kyle Weems, Purdue's Aleksandar Marcius, Illinois' Joseph Bertrand and Indiana State's R.J. Mahurin. Missouri State assistant coach Kent Williams will coach the 10-player team.
The team will depart May 29 and begin a four-day training camp in Katowice, Poland, May 31. The 10-player squad will play two games against the U23 Polish national team and two games against other pro teams. The team returns to the United States June 7. The goals of this tour are to provide a rich cross-cultural experience for each team member and for team members to grow in their personal faith.
Athletes In Action, a Christian sports organization, is active in 75 countries, on nearly 125 U.S. college campuses and with 35 U.S. professional sports teams. To learn more about Athletes In Action, visit their website at www.AthletesInAction.org.
WACO, Texas - Central Texas residents are invited to join in celebrating the 2010 Baylor men's and women's basketball seasons Monday, April 19, in a special event coordinated by local community mayors. The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. CDT in the Ferrell Center.
Both men's and women's basketball coaching staffs and players will be on hand for autographs and photo opportunities. Fans are asked to come dressed in green and gold to the event, which is free and open to the public.
The Baylor Bears advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in the modern tournament era, finishing the season with a 28-8 overall record and 11-5 mark in Big 12 play. The Lady Bears advanced to the NCAA Women's Final Four for the second time in five seasons and ended the year 27-10 overall.
