Can Scott Drew Keep Baylor Among the Big 12 Elite in 2025?
The 2021 national championship banner hangs in Foster Pavilion, but Baylor fans know the program lives or dies by what comes next. Scott Drew is back on the recruiting trail and combing the transfer portal to reload a roster that must match the defensive intensity and unselfish ball movement that made that title team special. Big 12 expansion has made the conference gauntlet deeper than ever, meaning there are fewer margin-of-error nights on the schedule. The question the entire college basketball world is watching: can a private Christian university in Waco sustain a top-ten program without the built-in recruiting pipeline of a flagship state school? Every signing, every portal add, and every non-conference result will be scrutinized through that lens.
Sic 'Em: Why Foster Pavilion Is One of the Loudest Buildings in the Big 12
The Baylor Line student section sets the tone from tip-off, and the chants of 'Sic 'Em Bears' rattle off the walls of Foster Pavilion in a way the old Ferrell Center never quite matched. The 10,284-seat arena is a legitimate recruiting weapon — prospects walk in and feel the gold and green energy immediately. Floor rushes after signature wins aren't just tolerated here, they're expected and celebrated. The 2021 title run converted casual fans into true believers, and that generation now shows up to every home game treating it like an NCAA Tournament must-win.
Baylor vs. Kansas: The Best Rivalry in Big 12 Basketball Right Now
No game on Baylor's schedule carries more weight than the matchup against Kansas. The rivalry reached its peak when the Bears beat the Jayhawks in the 2021 national championship game in Indianapolis, ending any debate about which program had the better team that year. Since then, every regular-season meeting between Waco and Lawrence carries conference title implications and a chance to rewrite the hierarchy. Kansas brings blue-blood tradition and recruiting power; Baylor answers with a hungry chip-on-the-shoulder identity that Scott Drew has carefully cultivated. When these two meet, Big 12 seeding and national rankings shift — it's the measuring-stick game of the conference.
Bears Fans Have Too Much to Track — Scoutcast Cuts Through the Noise
Baylor basketball moves fast: portal targets emerge overnight, recruiting commitments flip without warning, and Big 12 standings shift every Tuesday and Saturday. Baylor fans are already anxious about whether Drew can sustain championship-level recruiting against Kansas, Kentucky, and Duke — the last thing you need is to miss a roster move because you didn't have time to dig through beat writer threads. Scoutcast delivers a personalized Baylor Bears audio briefing built around exactly what you care about: portal news, recruiting updates, game previews, and Big 12 standings — all in a two-minute listen on your commute. No scrolling. No noise. Just Bears intel, every morning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Baylor enters 2025 with championship expectations firmly in place, navigating a deeper Big 12 field after conference expansion. Scott Drew's roster construction via recruiting and the transfer portal will determine whether the Bears contend for a conference title and earn a top seed in March.
Scott Drew and staff have focused recruiting efforts on Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina — traditional hotbeds for Baylor targets. The Bears are competing directly with blue-blood programs for elite prospects, using Foster Pavilion's modern facilities and the 2021 championship legacy as centerpiece selling points.
Drew builds Baylor teams around suffocating team defense, ball movement, and a faith-and-culture foundation that emphasizes player development over flashy individual talent. His program rebuilding story — from NCAA probation to national champion — is itself a recruiting pitch that attracts players who want to be part of something bigger.
Baylor and Kansas have become Big 12 basketball's defining rivalry, culminating in the 2021 national championship where the Bears beat the Jayhawks convincingly. Every regular-season meeting since has carried title-race stakes, with both programs consistently fighting for the top spot in the conference standings.
The transfer portal has become essential to Baylor's roster strategy under Drew, who uses it to fill specific positional needs around his recruiting class each year. Portal volatility is one of the biggest concerns for Baylor fans — key contributors can depart or arrive with little notice, reshaping the team's ceiling overnight.
Foster Pavilion holds 10,284 fans and opened as a significant upgrade for the Baylor program, giving Drew a modern recruiting showpiece in the heart of Waco. On game nights, the Baylor Line student section and gold-and-green crowd create an atmosphere that ranks among the most intense in the Big 12.
Baylor is consistently in the NCAA Tournament conversation under Scott Drew, and the fanbase now expects nothing less than a deep run after 2021. Bracketology watch starts in February in Waco — Bears fans treat every February road game as a resume-builder or resume-buster.