If Baylor can get past #1 seed Duke later today at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, “the win would convey instant legitimacy to Baylor’s rise and send ripples across the country” promises the Dallas Morning News’ Chuck Carlton.  The equally enthused Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle considers the possibility of the Bears advancing to their first Men’s Final Four in 60 years and warns if such a result occurs, “there will be more stories about how (head coach) Scott Drew is dirty.”

UT’s Rick Barnes has all but called him a cheat, or at least hinted strongly that he lacks ethics. Bob Knight is said to have angrily confronted him during a Big 12 meeting. Bill Self didn’t like a stunt Drew (above) pulled before a Baylor road game at Kansas.

About all these coaches have not done is offer an ounce of proof. They whisper that they know what he’s up to. They’ll tell you they know, they really know, they absolutely know and they wonder why you can’t see it, too.
Proof? They’ve got none. Zero. Zip. Zilch. And while Barnes and Self are sitting home with their underachieving teams, Drew and Baylor are still playing.

What Drew has recruited aggressively, going after the best players, conceding to no one. He gets there first. He doesn’t take no for an answer. He has gotten close to a line or two, like when he hired a guy close to John Wall apparently hoping he might get Wall.

But he may have gotten Tweety Carter because he worked harder than anyone else and sold the kid on his vision of Baylor.

œI really didn’t get recruited by anybody else, really, Carter said.