Top 25 Voter Pod Waco Tribune-Herald

• The Baylor men are a 3 seed in the South Region vs. UC Santa Barbara, and they're headed to Denver. The winner gets Creighton or N.C. State, a 6-11 matchup. Could this be a favorable road to the Sweet 16 for the Bears, do you think?
• As for the Baylor women, they're a 7 seed — better than the 8/9 some projected, largely on the strength of their wins. They get to play Alabama in Storrs, Connecticut, on Saturday, and then the winner will likely get UConn, a 2 seed. Is there any chance the Bears can pull a big upset of the host and face the second weekend?
• The brackets are set and prognostications are flying everywhere, it seems. Who do you like to win it all, on the men's and the women's side? 
• Hitting the road for Denver and Connecticut for the NCAA Tournament: John and Brice talk food, attractions and more as they get out of town for a few days (and hopefully not just one weekend).
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• The Baylor men lost both games to Iowa State in the regular season by 15 points, and that's who they get Thursday morning to open the Big 12 tournament in front of a hostile crowd that will be packed with Cyclones fans. Is Kansas City a fair setting for Texas teams? What do the Bears need to do to get over that gold-and-red hump, and how do you peg their odds to win the tourney?
• Meanwhile, the Baylor women will also see some partisan crowds with a Friday night game vs. Iowa State. The Bears and Cyclones split their regular-season series with an early win up in Ames for BU and then a heartbreaking double-OT loss in Waco for Baylor. What do they need to do to pull off a win, and how do you see them going?
• Let's talk NCAA Tournament: With Selection Sunday just days away, what are your final predictions for the Baylor men and women, and how far do you see each of them going?
• In addition to being Top 25 pollsters, Brice and John get to vote for All-America teams, too: Here are their picks for those teams, as well as Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.
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• It's Senior Day at the Ferrell Center on Saturday, as the Baylor men host Iowa state and the women welcome in West Virginia. Let's talk about those seniors and what they've meant to these programs — Adam Flagler, Flo Thamba, Caitlin Bickle, Ja'Mee Asberry and others, fuzzy COVID eligibility or not. 
• That win over Texas in Austin last week was certainly Nicki Collen's best coaching job at Baylor, as Brice wrote in a recent column. She seemed to push all the right buttons in a nothing-to-lose situation and thwart the Longhorns' title hopes with a 63-54 win. And now her team could end an up-and-down year on a four-game win streak. 
• The Baylor men won't 3-peat for the conference title as Kansas has it sewn up, but could the Bears, who were injury-riddled are much healthier than a year ago, wind up going much deeper in the NCAA Tournament this year after bowing out last year in the second round? This team seems to have a deeper bench, is healthy and could go pretty far if they can overcome some streaky shooting. 
• Who are your Big 12 Player of the Year and Coach of the Year picks? Teams in the state of Kansas should sweep the men's awards, it seems, while the bests on the women's side are a bit of a toss-up — especially after Rori Harmon's eyebrow-raising comments after Texas' loss to Baylor last week. 
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Special guest Kelly Hines (@KellyHinesTW), veteran sportswriter of the venerable Tulsa World, joins Trib sports guys John Werner and Brice Cherry for some Big 12 and Top 25 basketball talk.
• Houston moved back to No. 1 this week for the fifth week this season, which has seen several different teams holding the top spot. That indicates may indicate there's no clear-cut favorite to win it all, but as of today, who's most likely to cut down the NCAA nets in April? Does that team come out of the Big 12 for the third year in a row? What about four Texas teams getting to the Final Four?
• On the flipside of the college basketball powerhouse that is Texas is what's happening with Oklahoma's Big 12 teams, which is ... not great. OU is in something of a rebuilding mode with second-year skipper Porter Moser; meanwhile, while OSU is in the bottom half of the league, it looks fairly likely to make the NCAAs this year, and Mike Boynton has only taken the Cowboys there once before. What's the feeling among the faithful north of the Red River? Heck, Oral Roberts may be the best team in the state.
• No. 1 South Carolina continues to reign on the women's side. Consider this: Dawn Staley's team's last six NCAA finishes are national champs, Elite Eight, Sweet 16, COVID-19 (with a 32-1 record), Final Four and another natty last year. Have the Gamecocks supplanted UConn as the premier program in women's college basketball? Parity is on the rise.
• John's back from a quick trip to Manhattan, Kansas, aka the "Octagon of Doom," which looked pretty great on TV. We've made trips to Allen Fieldhouse and other cool places in Big 12 play over the years, but what's the best basketball venue Kelly and John have ever been to, and what's on your bucket list?
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• There's a big game Saturday in Lawrence, as the Baylor Bears face Kansas in a Top 10 matchup. BU won the first round by 6 in Waco last month. Can the Bears do it on the road, where they've only one once all-time?
• The Baylor men have now won 10 out of 11, with the last 4 by an average of 13 points — coinciding ing with the return of Everyday Jon, incidentally. They're tied for the conference lead at 9-4, with Texas and Kansas, with five games left to play. But they've got by far the toughest schedule of the three. What are their chances of pulling off a third straight Big 12 title?
• Meanwhile, the Baylor women are bordering on a dumpster fire — they've lost three straight (two incredibly lopsided) for the first time since 2000-01 (i.e. Mulkey's first season). And they allowed 60% shooting against Oklahoma, which hadn't happened since the Sonja Hogg era. What are the issues here?
• NCAA seeding is just about a month away. What seeds do you see Baylor's men and women getting? Is it possible the the women miss the tournament entirely?
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• Everyday Jon returns to a huge ovation from the Baylor faithful. What does his return from injury, unexpected as it is, mean for these Bears?
• It's a jumbled Big 12 race out there with Texas holding a narrow lead and then four teams in a logjam behind then. With Tchamwa Tchatchoua back, how do you see the race shaking out? Does Baylor have a shot?
• Meanwhile, the Baylor women blew a 12-point lead in the second half and a 5-point lead with 24 seconds left on Tuesday, somehow managing to lose at home in overtime. How does that even happen? How big of a blow is that to the Bears' title hopes?
• There's a big game Sunday: Not that one, but the Super Duper Women's Basketball Bowl with No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 3 LSU. Both teams are undefeated, which is great to see this late in the season. Who you got, and what do you think about Kim Mulkey's Dawn Staley comments? (Plus, stick around for a pretty good Geno Auriemma story.)
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