When Scott Drew took the head coaching job at Baylor back in 2003, there was no blueprint for success. He took over a program in shambles, a program overwhelmed by tragedy and crippled by sanctions, and it was up to him to build something from scratch, and rise from the ashes.
During his introductory press conference all those years ago, Drew laid out his visions and goals, vowing to one day win a national championship.
At that time, Drew's words certainly sounded far-fetched. But on Monday night, he finally fulfilled his promise to the Baylor community, and completed one of the most miraculous turnarounds in the history of college basketball.
The Bears vehemently denied Gonzaga's bid for perfection, as their efficiency on offense and aggressiveness on defense helped them win their first national title game in convincing fashion, 86-70, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
And at the forefront was Drew, who defied the odds and helped write the final chapter to Baylor's redemption story.
"Scott's an elite basketball coach, X's and O's guy," Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades told The Zach Gelb Show on Tuesday. "He's a student of the game, and continually getting better. And I think that's the beauty of him -- he hasn't reached his ceiling yet. He knows that and understands that. Scott is a much better coach today than he was 18 years ago. And again, the great thing about Scott is, five years from now, I think he's going to be a better coach than he is today, because he's humble, and wants to learn, and wants to get better. And not for himself, but for his players and for his staff. He's still evolving as a coach, which is a really, really cool thing."
Baylor's style of play overwhelmed Gonzaga from the opening tip until the final buzzer. They scored the game's first nine points in under three minutes, and led by 19 midway through the first half. The Bulldogs had no answer for the Bears' trio of sharp-shooting guards, as Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell, and Macio Teague combined for 56 total points with 12 assists and 11 rebounds.
The heavyweight clash that most fans and pundits hoped for never transpired. Instead, the game was simply lopsided. Perhaps the outcome would've been different if the pandemic hadn't cancelled Baylor's regular season matchup with Gonzaga back in December.
"I'm not going to say [the blowout win] surprised me, because I don't want to discredit our team," Rhoades said. "Again, I think there was a great belief, I think we all felt like we were going to win, but not necessarily by that margin... When you think about model programs, you think about Gonzaga, and just high-character, do it the right way, really good kids. We were just really good. And I think not playing [Gonzaga] on Dec. 5 probably helped us. For Gonzaga to not play us and maybe not fully realize just how we can guard when we're locked in and when we want to guard right and just the athleticism of our guards... Complete team effort..."
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Baylor became the first team to win the national title game without trailing since UConn in 2014, and just the fifth team to ever win both Final Four games by 15-plus points.
The entire conversation between Rhoades and Gelb can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.