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Monday’s Three Things To Know: Baylor keeps winning, Tar Heels stay surging and Bucknell caps a thriller

Texas Southern v Baylor

WACO, TX - DECEMBER 21: Head coach Scott Drew of the Baylor Bears leads the Baylor Bears against the Texas Southern Tigers at Ferrell Center on December 21, 2016 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

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1. BAYLOR BOLSTERS RESUME

It wasn’t even two weeks ago when Baylor was sitting in last place in the Big 12 with a 2-7 league record, the owners of a four-game losing streak and losers of six of their last seven. The Bears didn’t begin the season as Big 12 frontrunners or anything, but as January came to an end, they were undoubtedly the biggest disappointment in the conference.

That was then, though, and this is now, which happens to be a time when the Bears are squarely back in the NCAA tournament conversation after defeating Texas, 74-73 in double overtime, in Austin on Monday night to claim their-fourth straight win heading into a weekend matchup with No. 7 Texas Tech in Lubbock.

It’s been a stark turnaround for Scott Drew’s team, which look destined to languish at the bottom of the Big 12 standings and miss out on the Big Dance for the first time since 2013. Before February started, Baylor had zero road wins and only two top-50 KenPom victories to their name. Now? The Bears have wins at Texas and at Oklahoma State while doubling their KP top-50 wins. It’s a turnaround that borders on stunning given how quickly Baylor has played its way into tournament consideration. And West Virginia and Oklahoma still have to come to Waco, so the Bears will have ample opportunity to really build that resume without even leaving the Ferrell Center.

As big as the win was for Baylor, it’s equally distressing for Shaka Smart and the Longhorns, who have now lost three in a row and four of their last five. Now they’ve got back-to-back road games against Oklahoma and Kansas State on the docket, which threatens to turn this skid into a prolonged slide.

The Big 12 is a jumbled mess of parity right now. Rob Dauster does his best to parse the league in Monday night’s Bubble Banter.

2. TAR HEELS STAY SURGING

North Carolina has recovered nicely from the three-game losing streak it suffered to end January, and that resume rehabilitation continued Monday as the knocked off shorthanded Notre Dame, 83-66, with a late push that turned a tight game into a snooze.

The Tar Heels ended last month with losses at Virginia Tech and Clemson and a loss in Chapel Hill (in overtime) to NC State, but have since reeled off wins Pitt, Duke, the Wolfpack and now the Fighting Irish. No one is likely to catch Virginia in the ACC race, but North Carolina is doing its best to buoy its seed line in the regular season’s final month.

As for the close to the season for UNC, it’s, well, a bit of a killer. The Heels go to Louisville and Syracuse before hosting Miami and then hitting the road again to visit the Blue Devils in Durham to finish the regular season. It’s an absolute meat grinder.

3. BUCKNELL COMPLETES HUGE COMEBACK

A 10-point deficit with under 60 seconds ought to be an insurmountable obstacle. Don’t try telling that to Bucknell, though.

The Bison completed an amazing comeback in the game’s final seconds when Kimbal Mackenzie drilled a corner 3 as time expired to give Bucknell a one-point victory after staring defeat straight in the face just seconds earlier.

Click here for the blow-by-blow - and video of Mackenzie’s winner - of how the Bison mounted their comeback.