UNDATED (AP) — The Baylor women's basketball team has been a Big 12 powerhouse for years, but the Bears are facing a whole lot of competition these days. TCU has won the last two regular-season titles, and West Virginia is the current Big 12 Tournament champion. Oklahoma State is the preseason favorite, thanks to key transfers like Audi Crooks and Liv McGill. Baylor, led by Taliah Scott, is picked third in the Big 12 coaches' preseason poll. Kansas has a top freshman class and could play into the title chase, while UCF made the only coaching swap since last season, hiring Gabe Lazo to replace the fired Sytia Messer.
UNDATED (AP) — Baylor interim coach Joe Klanderman hopes to provide a jolt of energy that he believes is desperately needed for the Bears. Klanderman, their defensive coordinator, is the interim coach after long-embattled coach Dave Aranda was fired Sunday with a 40-40 record over 6 1/2 seasons. The Bears are 4-3 this season but 26-31 overall since a school-record 12 wins in 2021 that included a Big 12 Conference title and Sugar Bowl victory in Aranda’s second season. Meanwhile, Robert Griffin III, Baylor's only Heisman Trophy winner, says he's interested in being the coach of the Bears.
UNDATED (AP) — No. 1 Miami is the only team to hold its spot in The Associated Press Top 25 after another wild week of college football. Idle Ohio State moved up to No. 2 in the wake of BYU’s loss at UCF and subsequent fall to No. 8. Georgia, Indiana and Notre Dame round out the top five after three more top-10 teams went down to make it 10 in the last three weeks. Miami, Utah and UCLA are the only remaining unbeaten Bowl Subdivision teams. Sportradar says that's the fewest at this point in a season since there were three left in 1977.
UNDATED (AP) — Three unbeaten teams remain in the Football Bowl Subdivision. That's the fewest at this point in a season in 49 years. A lot of teams will be in desperation mode from here on out in the race for College Football Playoff spots. Revenue sharing, NIL money and the ease of transferring have caused talent to be more widely distributed and narrowed the competitive gap on the field. This season is on the way to being the most chaotic since the Year of the Upset in 2007.
UNDATED (AP) — Michigan’s national title defense represents a second chance for new Wolverines coach Mike Boynton. Boynton coached Oklahoma State to a 119-109 record and one NCAA Tournament berth over seven seasons but got fired after a 12-20 finish in 2023-24. He spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach on Dusty May’s staff at Michigan. He's the new Michigan head coach now that the Dallas Mavericks have hired Boynton away. Michigan’s transition after winning the NCAA Tournament represented the biggest move of the offseason coaching carousel.
UNDATED (AP) — Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman wasted not a single second blaming a clock glitch for his team’s loss at BYU. Instead, he spent the bye week focused on mistakes to get the Fighting Irish back on track. While Big 12 officials acknowledged last week that the refs erred by not putting 1 second back on the clock, giving Notre Dame another play to keep its 15-game winning streak alive. Instead, they allowed time to expire and the Irish wound up losing 28-24 to the then eighth-ranked Cougars.
UNDATED (AP) — Georgia and Indiana would receive first-round byes in the College Football Playoff as top-four seeds on the bracket based on The Associated Press Top 25. Notre Dame’s one-rung slip to No. 5 and BYU’s loss to UCF and subsequent six-spot drop to No. 8 brought adjustments to the bracket. Miami remained the No. 1 seed and is followed by Ohio State, Georgia and Indiana. First-round games would be No. 9 seed Kentucky at No. 8 BYU, No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 10 Alabama at No. 7 UCLA and No. 11 Texas at No. 6 Utah.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Duke and Kansas faced off in a rare on-campus basketball matchup on Sunday. The last time Duke played at Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse was in 1988. These high-profile exhibitions offer teams a chance to compete at a high level without affecting their records. They also generate significant revenue, with games often sponsored and broadcast by major companies. Kansas coach Bill Self emphasizes the importance of these games both on and off the court. Despite not counting toward official records, such games carry pride and legacy for both teams, especially Kansas, which recently lost an exhibition to Louisville.
