Baylor, which spent the early part of the century as a men\u2019s basketball hellscape crawling with skulduggery and worse, spent Monday night as a brilliant, kinetic credit to its sport. It became the 37th different college to win a national championship, and it carved out a starring presence in future discussions about who has made the highest climbs from the lowest depths.<\/p>\n
Baylor\u2019s 86-70 win \u2014 which followed a fast start with leads of 9-0, 23-8 and 35-16 \u2014 cemented an NCAA men\u2019s tournament in which it never really had to hyperventilate. Baylor (28-2) gave the record books some editing. They placed Gonzaga (31-1) as the third team to go all the way to the final night unbeaten and then lose just once \u2014 after Ohio State in 1960-61 and Larry Bird\u2019s Indiana State squad in 1978-79 \u2014 and they prevented the Bulldogs from becoming the first team since Indiana in 1975-76 to spend a season free of losing.<\/p>\n
Jared Butler, who had 22 points in the final, has been named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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