Scott Drew's Baylor Bears Introduced to the World as No. 3 Seed

This time around will be different for the Baylor Bears basketball team.

Two years ago, Scott Drew’s young Bears finally garnered a berth to the NCAA Tourney, only to fall in the first round.

Last year, Drew’s Bears made a surprising run in the NIT Tournament to close out their season on a high note.

Then, the Bears entered the 2009-10 season under the radar and made a lot of noise in the highly-touted Big 12 (most notably by sweeping the Texas Longhorns in both the regular season as well as the conference tournament) before grabbing the No. 3 seed in this year’s NCAA bracket.

And as stated before, this year will be different for Drew and his green and gold Bears.

This year, the Bears appear Sweet 16-bound at the very least, and they very well may be headed for an Elite Eight showdown with Duke at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

With the leadership of senior Tweety Carter, the hot hands of sharp-shooting junior LaceDarius Dunn, and the athletic high-rising ability of junior Ekpe Udoh (not to mention many, many other talented players on Baylor’s deep team this year), the Bears are no doubt contenders for the Final Four.

For years now, I have looked up to Duke Basketball and Coach K as the pinnacle of all things great in college basketball.

Now, the Baylor Bears have a chance to meet those same Dukies—and they actually have a chance to beat them as well.

Let the madness begin. I can’t wait for Thursday’s opening-round game between Baylor and Sam Houston State.

The Baylor Bears are a damn good team this year, and thankfully the NCAA bracketing committee realized that.

Watch out, world—Drew’s Bears are about to make some noise in this year’s March Madness…

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at [e-mail]