From August 12 to 15, the Baylor Bears participated in the Canadian Foreign Tour which began their pre-season, going 3-1 during the tour. The Bears concluded their pre-season against Abilene Christian University. The Bears began regular season play ranked #12 in both the AP and USA Today Coaches Pre-season polls.
Coaching
Scott Drew guided the Bears to school records in both conference wins and wins overall. It was his ninth season as head coach.
NCAA tournament
In the 2011-12 season, Baylor had one of its best seasons since 2008-09, going 27-7, with their highest ranking being #3. They also won the Continental Tires Las Vegas Classic. These efforts lead to a #3 seed in the South region of the NCAA Tournament. In Baylor's second-round game of the tournament, there were a number of stand out performances. Bears sophomore Brady Heslip, hit nine 3-pointers on the way to a new career high of 27 points. Heslip help lead the Bears to a victory over the 11th seed University of Colorado, which earned them a spot in the final 16 to face Xavier University. In the sweet 16 game vs Xavier University, Baylor shot out of the gate with a commanding 20-4 lead, only to have that lead cut to 7 at half time. The non-existent paint game of the Baylor Bears in the second and third rounds was finally existent in the game against Xavier. Quincy Acy's powerful dunks and paint game helped spark the Baylor bears throughout the game. Quincy Acy finished with a team high 20 points and 15 rebounds. Point guard Pierre Jackson added 15 and Perry Jones III had 14 points. Burlington, Ontario's Brady Heslip helped clinch the victory by knocking down 4 crucial free throws in the last minute. On Sunday, March 25, 2012, the Baylor Bears played The University of Kentucky in an Elite 8 match up to see who would advance to The Final Four in New Orleans. The Bears were unable to match the size and athleticism of the Kentucky players. Kentucky dominated the first half and led by 20 points going into half time. Kentucky managed to absorb a 9-1 Baylor run midway through the second half and got back to playing their up-tempo game, leading them to the 82-70 victory over the Bears. Unfortunately for the Bears, their season came to an end in this Elite 8 match-up. "Kentucky are the most athletic team in the country; they forced us into turnovers and tough shots. They converted in transition and really showed their athleticism and sped the game up. They defended well too." Quote from Brady Heslip. One of Baylor's four senior's, Quincy Acy, had an outstanding year as a Small Forward not only in the Final Four tournament but the regular season, and pre-season. He scored double-digits in the points column in a number of games, including setting a career high in blocks with 6 in a single game. Acy was named the Big 12 "Best Athlete" by Sporting News. Quincy will be graduating this year and is an eligible prospect for the upcoming NBA Draft. While Baylor will be losing a strong player and leader, they have a number of junior's and sophomore's with the talent and ability to step up into a leadership role for the 2012-13 season.
Roster
Source
Gary Franklin, who transferred from California after the 2010 fall semester, became eligible to play for Baylor in the 2012 spring semester.
Logan Lowery transferred from Centenary after the 2010–11 season. Because Centenary had reclassified to the non-scholarship Division III, Lowery was allowed to immediately play without sitting out a transfer year, but chose to redshirt instead.
Rankings
On December 5, Baylor moved into sixth in the AP Poll and seventh in the Coaches Poll, achieving the highest ranking in school history.
