Kansas City, Mo. — Oh, how expectations can lift the lowly and bring down the mighty.
Baylor goes into the week with two Big 12 Conference wins, leaving Scott Drew as a real candidate for coach of the year. Missouri, meanwhile, has won four Big 12 games and looks like a train wreck of a team, which may have coach Quin Snyder wondering if he'll keep his job.
Behind the 33-year-old Drew, Baylor is rising above a rash of terrible distractions, including last summer's murder of a player and allegations of NCAA violations. They also are adjusting to the loss of three players who were allowed to transfer amid the chaos without paying the usual penalty of sitting out a year.
"I think it's a situation where the crowd gets behind us at home, and the team playing as hard as we've played at home," said Drew, who replaced the disgraced Dave Bliss. "It gives us a chance to make something special happen. It's more a tribute to the work everybody's put in and the support we've had at home."
If the players who left still were in Waco, the Bears might even be close to contending. Among those who left: John Lucas, who has energized Oklahoma State and might be the best point guard in the conference.
Lucas scored a team-high 21 points in the Cowboys' 80-60 victory against Kansas University Monday in Stillwater, Okla.
How good could the Bears have been?
"I've been asked that numerous times," Drew said. "But we've got a team, and that's all we can focus on."
The same NCAA enforcement staff that's looking at Baylor also is investigating Missouri.
The talented and experienced Tigers were voted preseason favorites in the coaches' poll. But typical was Saturday's 78-62 loss at Nebraska, which dropped Snyder's team to 9-10 overall and 4-5 in the league.
"We're going to continue to come together as a group," Missouri assistant coach Marcus Perez said Monday. "We're not going to give up. We're not going to stop teaching. We're not going to stop working. Our guys are not going to quit competing. There's no quit in our players. There's no quit in our staff, and we have confidence there's no quit in our fans."
Next up for the troubled Tigers is a midweek home game against Colorado, which beat Missouri by double-digits earlier this season in Boulder.
"It's hard to win ballgames when you have to deal with a lot of off-the-court distractions," said Colorado coach Ricardo Patton. "It's hard to keep your kids focused. From that standpoint, it's not as much a surprise."
The Bears went to 7-14 and 2-6 Saturday with a 72-64 victory over Texas A&M, which fell to 0-8 in the league.
"We knew they had some talent," Aggies coach Melvin Watkins said. "Their top three particularly are pretty good players. You've got to give them credit for the job Scott has done."
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