Did I really hear Lace Dunn say, "They wanted it more than us tonight?"

I was in the post-game press conference following Baylor's 9-point loss to Texas Tech.

You could sense the tremendous disappointment in the voice and words of head coach Scott Drew.

Going into that game, I felt (along with probably many others) the Bears HAD to win no less than 3 of their last 5 games to become NCAA Tournament eligible. In my opinion, 9-7 in the Big 12 would get them.

Well, now the Bears are on NCAA Tourney life-support after Saturday night's loss. Now, they must win three of their last four, and those four include, @ Missouri, vs. Texas, @ Oklahoma State, vs. Texas A&M. They going to win three of those four?

Where? It's going to be difficult and losing to Tech, an under .500 team makes me wonder if they won't have to sweep the final four regular season games.

But, back to the post-game press conference.

I interviewed Lace Dunn following Tuesday's win against Wayland Baptist and asked him, "When does your team realize the clock is ticking on their chances?" He responded with, "We have to start playing better." I responded with, "But haven't you guys been saying that for over a month?"

I can answer for Dunn and his teammates, "Yes."

But, following their loss to Tech, I heard Dunn say, "They (Tech) wanted this more than we did tonight."

Huh?

How can that be possible?

How can a team knowing their NCAA Tournament lives depend on a win, allow a sub-.500 team to beat them and control the game after the first 2-3 minutes?

I think, "they wanted it more than we did," is a cop out and Dunn isn't the only player whose ever said it.

It's become an any-player or coach or media or fan cop out line.

We'll discuss this more in-depth on Monday's show.

Have a great weekend everyone!

David Smoak