KANSAS CITY (Ocotber 17, 2012) -- Baylor was ranked No. 18 nationally in the preseason USATODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Top 25 Poll, released Wednesday. The Bears were participating in Big 12 Media Day as Sprint Center in Kansas City when the poll was announced.
This marks the third consecutive season the Bears have been ranked in the preseason coaches’ poll. Baylor was No. 14 prior to the 2010-11 season and No. 12 in the 2011-12 preseason rankings. BU was ranked in every coaches poll released last season, climbing as high as No. 3 and never dropping lower than No. 14.
Baylor is coming off a school-record 30-win season and its second Elite Eight appearance in the last three years. The Bears return their entire backcourt, including Pierre Jackson, the Big 12 Conference Preseason Player of the Year.
Baylor opens the 2012-13 season by hosting an exhibition against Abilene Christian at 7 p.m. on Oct. 25 at the Ferrell center.
Head coach Scott Drew was joined by seniors A.J. Walton, Jackson and J’mison Morgan, as well as freshman Isaiah Austin at Wednesday’s Big 12 Media Day. The Baylor contingent took questions from various media outlets for nearly five hours at the site of the 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship.
