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No. 1 Seeded Baylor Bears to Open the NCAA Tournament Against No. 16 Norfolk State

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Basketball

Baylor men's basketball has been awarded an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed for the second time in program history. The Bears were the top seed in the East Region in the 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket announced Sunday on CBS.



Baylor (26-6, 14-4 Big 12) will open the 2022 NCAA Tournament on Thursday against No. 16 seed Norfolk State (24-6, 12-2 MEAC) at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth at a to-be-determined time. The winner of that game will then play a second-round matchup on Saturday against the winner of Thursday's first-round game between No. 8 North Carolina and No. 9 Marquette.



Tip-off times and TV networks and are to be determined. The East Regional semifinal and final will be held in Philadelphia, with the Final Four to be held in New Orleans, La.

BAYLOR NCAA NOTES:
• Baylor has earned No. 1 seeds in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. The Bears were also projected to be a No. 1 seed before the 2020 NCAA Tournament was cancelled – BU would've become the 11th team all-time to earn three-straight No. 1 seeds in that scenario.
• Baylor is 20-14 in 13 previous NCAA Championships trips, including a 17-8 record in the Scott Drew era.
• Baylor is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in the last eight tournaments.
• Baylor is appearing in the NCAA postseason for a school-record 10th-consecutive time (8 NCAA, 2 NIT).
• Baylor is making its 11th NCAA Tournament appearance in the modern tournament era. BU's first three NCAA Tournament appearances in 1946, 1948 and 1950 were in an eight-team bracket.
• Baylor is 40-22 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last 14 seasons.
• Baylor has played in three Final Fours (1948, 1950, 2021). The first two Final Four appearances were when it was an eight-team bracket.
• Baylor has played in two National Championship games (1948 lost to Kentucky, 2021 defeated Gonzaga).
• BU is 9-4 against the 2022 NCAA Tournament field – No. 1 seed Kansas (1-1), No. 2 seed Villanova (1-0), No. 3 seed Texas Tech (0-2), No. 6 seed Texas (2-0), No. 6 seed Alabama (0-1), No. 7 seed Michigan State (1-0), No. 9 seed TCU (2-0) and No. 11 seed Iowa State (2-0).
• Baylor and Norfolk State will be meeting for the 3rd time, and Baylor is 2-0 in the series. The Bears won 86-58 in Waco on Nov. 13, 2009 and 92-51 in Waco on Dec. 30, 2014.
• If the Bears advance to the second round, they will either play North Carolina for the first time or Marquette for the third time.
• Baylor is 1-1 all-time vs. Marquette – a 74-64 loss in Milwaukee on Dec. 19, 1998 and a 72-68 overtime win in Waco on Dec. 11, 1999.