Baylor takes the NCAA men’s tournament title by defeating Gonzaga

Jared Butler and their powerful back pitch hit their first five points and never cooled off. Big underwear Mark Vital brought as many headaches as scratches. Their bench was very good, they were going up a notch, their game plan was irreverent and the training of Scott Drew during the crowning of his long construction career in Waco, Texas.

The result has been an amazing 86-70 number 1 total total men’s first soccer title in school history.

Butler, who does everything for All-American, led the way with 22 points, surpassing Gonzaga’s recent impression on Jalen Suggs on a meeting of Prime Minister’s point guards. Butler hit four of the 3 bowlers, repeatedly dismantling the Bulldogs in that dribble and, when they were able to stop him, collected seven assistants by finding someone else very open.

Or was it Vital, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound basketball back. He had three offensive tackles before the game was 3 minutes old, finished with six points and 11 boards and made life difficult for Gonzaga midfielder Drew Timme.

The teams were due to play in December in Indianapolis, but an outbreak of COVID-19 within the Gonzaga program forced the game to be suspended. Both teams spent most of the regular season placing 1-2 in the AP survey, and were topped by the unique NCAA Tournament co-ops that played perfectly in central Indiana.

Although there were only 8,000 fans in the crowd, most of them dressed in green and gold, there was a sensation of excitement in the game – probably still long since the Final Four, when Suggs hit a buzzer-beat-3-pointer over time to beat UCLA in one of the most notable finals for the NCAA Tournament.

In any case, the Bears roared at a 29-10 lead in the middle of the first half, the biggest failure Gonzaga had been facing all year, and threatened to turn that much-anticipated controversy into a national television explosion.

Baylor v Gonzaga

Jared Butler # 12 of Baylor Bears drives the basket against Anton Watson # 22 and Jalen Suggs # 1 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

BRETT WILHELM / NCAA GETTY PICTURES

The Bulldogs somehow reached between 47-37 at half-time, and Suggs burned at the start of the second half, allowing them to crack slightly due to their lack. But that’s when the team’s long-term stability in experience – Baylor starts with three juniors and two adults – provided a kind of emphatic response that proved that the so-called outrage was not a bad thing.

Gonzaga’s Andrew Nembhard finally reduced the odds of single digits by 14:22 when Vital turned Baylor on the other side. Butler added two free throws and after Timme’s bucket, Teague hit a shiny, circular object, Vital fired a shot from Corey Kispert and Adam Flagler (13 points) and buried another 3-pointer.

In just over a minute, Baylor’s lead of 58-49 rose to 16 points again. It hit 20 minutes a few minutes later. And the Bears had to line up the last five minutes to celebrate the national title for nearly two decades in construction.

The program was disgraced when Drew arrived 18 years ago. The killing of a player at the hands of a colleague was still fresh in the minds of fans, as was the cover-up attempts made by Drew, Dave Bliss, and the NCAA sanctions that made Baylor’s program the biggest rebuilding project in history. in sports.

But after a few years, Drew had built up a big rival for the Big 12. The Bears started challenging Kansas and other blueblood programs. And they finally broke through with their first conference tournament since 1950 earlier this season.

That was one of their goals. Another was to bring their first national tournament.

On Monday night, they came to the man.