Pair of No. 2 Bears: Baylor men and women ranked AP No. 2
WACO, Texas (AP) — Baylor has a pair of No. 2s in The Associated Press polls, with both the men’s and women’s basketball teams ranked second.
The Bears and Lady Bears, both 13-1 overall, were also ranked in the top two at the same time in January 2017.
“It says a lot about both of our programs, both our coaches and the kind of players that they bring into the programs,” preseason AP All-America post Lauren Cox said Monday. “We both support each other. … We want to see the best for both teams.”
Baylor’s men moved up two spots in the new poll Monday, two days after the Bears’ first win ever at then-No. 3 Kansas that was their fourth win over a Top 25 team this season. The Bears, in their 17th season with coach Scott Drew, also won last week at then-No. 22 Texas Tech, last season’s national runner-up that had won 15 in a row at home.
The defending national champion Lady Bears jumped four spots in the women’s poll. They won at then-No. 1 UConn on Thursday night, ending the Huskies’ 98-game home winning streak.
Baylor, which has won three national titles in coach Kim Mulkey’s 20 seasons, now has the longest home winning streak at 47 in a row after beating Oklahoma State 94-48 in its Big 12 home opener Sunday.
There were three polls in January 2017 when both Baylor teams were ranked in the top two. The men reached No. 1 for the only time in program history on Jan 9, 2017, when the Lady Bears were No. 2. They were both ranked second in the Jan. 2 and Jan. 30 polls that season.