BBiigg 1122 BBaasskkeettbbaallll iinnvvaaddeess KKaannssaass CCiittyy March 5 - March 11, 2021 Vol. 19, Issue 27 www.sportspagdfw.com FREE 2 March 5, 2021 - March 11, 2021 | The Sports Page Weekly | Volume 19 Issue 28 | www.sportspagedfw.com | follow us on twitter @sportspagdfw.com Follow us on twitter @sportspagedfw | www.sportspagedfw.com | The Sports Page Weekly | Volume 19 - Issue 28 | March 5, 2021 - March 11, 2021 3 Mar. 5, 2020 - Mar. 11, 2021 AROUND THE AREA Vol. 19, Issue 28 LOCAL NEWS OF INTEREST sportspagedfw.com Established 2002 Baylor wins first Big 12 Basketball title Cover Photo: AROUND THE AREA remaining seeds will be announced follow- State (3-4), Kansas State (5-2), Louisiana (6-2), 4 ing the conclusion of all regular season Louisiana Tech (4-2), Michigan (0-0), Middle Tennessee (5-2), Oklahoma (4-3), Pittsburgh (6- RANGERS REPORT games on Sunday, March 7. 5 BY DIC HUMPHREY 1), Sacramento State (4-2), South Carolina Upstate (6-0), Southern Illinois (7-0), Southern GOLF, ETC Miss (4-3), Stanford (3-1), Stetson (9-0), Texas BY TOM WARD 6 A&M (4-4), Tulane (3-4), UC Irvine (4-2), UCF (3-4), UNCW (5-1), Wake Forest (3-4), THIS WEEK ON TOUR: ARNOLD 7 PALMER INVITATIONAL Washington State (7-1), West Virginia (4-3) BY PGATOUR.COM Baylor Captures First Big 12 Men’s Dropped Out: Florida State (19), Duke (25), West Virginia (27), Clemson (30). THE BOLDEST SHOTS EVER AT Basketball Title 8 THE ARNOLD Baylor has clinched the 2020-21 Big 12 By conference: BY PGATOUR.COM men’s basketball regular season champi- Arkansas Becomes Third School in SEC 11, ACC 8, Big 12 4, Pac-12 3, AAC 1, BIG 12 BASKETBALL TOURNA- onship, its first Big 12 title and the pro- Three Weeks to Top NCBWA Poll Big West 1, C-USA 1, Missouri Valley 1. MENT PREVIEW gram’s first conference crown since 1950 – The NCBWA continues its tradition of Rk School Record Pvs. 10 BY LEVI STEPHENSON a span of 71 years. NCAA Division I polls for the 24th year. 1 Arkansas 7-0 3 SMU REPORT After a 94-89 overtime win at No. 6 West Undefeated Arkansas leads the poll for the 2 Vanderbilt 6-1 2 12 BY DIC HUMPHRIES 3 Louisville 6-1 4 Virginia, the No. 3 Bears improved their first time in 2021. The Razorback joins fel- 4 Florida 6-2 7 low SEC stalwarts to hold down the No. 1 COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS AND league record to 11-1 and overall mark to 5 Miss State 5-2 6 13 NOTES 19-1 with two regular season games left to position in the early surveys. 6 Miami 3-3 5 BY BO CARTER play. BU hosts No. 17 Oklahoma State on There were also several big movers on 7 Ole Miss 5-2 1 16 DALLAS BAPTIST WINS LONE Thursday and No. 18 Texas Tech on the standings as Oregon State (with a 4-0 8 UC Santa Barbara 6-1 11 STAR CHAMPIONSHIP Sunday. Prior to the season, Baylor was week) climbed from receiving votes nine 9 UCLA 4-3 9 BY BO CARTER picked for the first time by league head places to No. 21. Arizona (also 4-0 last 10 LSU 6-1 10 AUTO REVIEW coaches to win the conference title. week) jumped seven sports from No. 29 to 11 Georgia Tech 6-1 17 17 BY KBB.COM Last night, the Lady Bears captured the No. 22 while Oklahoma State (going 4-0) 12 TCU 5-2 14 THE TICKET WINDOW women’s basketball regular season trophy moved up six place from No. 20 to No. 14. 13 South Carolina 6-0 16 14 Oklahoma State 6-0 20 18 ACC power North Carolina (was 2-1 in a as Baylor joined Kansas (1997) and Iowa 15 Texas Tech 3-3 13 RESTAURANT REVIEW State (2000) as the only three Big 12 insti- conference series against NC State) also 19 BY RICHARD POLLAK 16 East Carolina 6-1 18 tutions to win both in the same season. raised its ranking to No. 24. 17 Virginia 4-3 12 The Bears raced out to a 17-0 streak There have been 10 conferences repre- 18 Tennessee 7-2 15 before being sidelined with COVID issues sented in the first three standings of 2021. 19 Texas 3-4 21 Follow us on from February 3-22 during which they The 2021 poll voters come from among 34 20 Georgia 7-1 23 missed 18 days of practice. They returned college baseball writers and related media 21 Oregon State 7-1 RV Twitter & Facebook with a win on February 23 to set a school persons from throughout the nation. The 22 Arizona 6-2 29 record with an 18-0 start before falling at ’21 season will feature 298 NCAA DI 23 Alabama 7-1 26 24 North Carolina 6-1 RV baseball-playing schools. twitter.com/sportspagedfw No. 17 Kansas. BU was one of the last two 25 NC State 2-4 8 undefeated teams in the nation. Also Receiving Votes (alphabetically): 26 Florida Atlantic 6-1 RV facebook.com/sportspageweek- Baylor earns the No. 1 seed in the Arizona State (4-2), California (4-4), Charlotte 27 Auburn 6-2 22 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball (6-0), Clemson (3-2), Coastal Carolina (5-2), 28 Virginia Tech 5-1 UR Publisher Contact Us Championship to be played March 10-13 at Duke (3-4), Florida Gulf Coast University (6- 29 Boston College 5-1 RV Sports Page Publishing Group, Main Number (214) 683-1469 2), Florida State (2-4), Houston (6-1), Indiana LLC P.O. Box 820813 T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The 30 Dallas Baptist 5-2 28 [email protected] Dallas, Tx. 75382 www.sportspagedfw.com NCAA Basketball - Top 25 Coaches (Week 15) AP Dic Humphrey, Tom Ward, Bo WEEKLY CALENDAR Carter, Richard Pollak, Robert 1. Gonzaga 1. Gonzaga Cortinez. James McAnally 2. Baylor 2. Michigan 3. Michigan 3. Baylor MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH 4. Illinois 4. lllinois 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 5. Ohio State 5. 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Virginia Tech SportsPage Weekly may be distributed only by The SportsPage Weekly’s NEXTGAME authorized independent contractors or The SportsPage Weekly’s authorized 23. Oregon 23. Purdue March 12 distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of The 24. Wisconsin 24. Colorado vs SportsPage Weekly, take more than one copy of each SportsPage Weekly issue. 25. San Diego State 25. Wisconsin Grizzlies 4 March 5, 2021 - March 11, 2021 | The Sports Page Weekly | Volume 19 Issue 28 | www.sportspagedfw.com | follow us on twitter @sportspagdfw.com RANGERS WITH DIC HUMPHREY Rangers Spring Training - Week II essentially Nick Solack’s position to lose. pitchers. Rougned Odor is on the outside looking in. The addition of Ian Kennedy to the They also traded some lower level Rangers’ spring training camp last week prospects for first baseman Nate Lowe was not big news, but this under the radar leaving Ronald Guzman on the outs. signing could potentially have a big Rumblings out of training camp have impact. It has generally been thought that Odor not happy about the move. He appar- Jose Leclerc would be the Rangers’ closer, ently has the opportunity to win the third though he could be challenged by Jonathan base job but hasn’t shown much interest in Hernandez, last year’s Ranger pitcher of learning the new position. Ranger fans the year after a breakout season. However, likely remember how bad Michael Young Woodward has noted that he likes the idea looked at third base when the Rangers of a more experienced hand as the closer.