Baylor Bears Men's Basketball: The Feel Good Sports Story of 2008?

It's very early in 2008 but so far the feel good story in the sports world is the Baylor Bear's men's basketball team. The Baylor Bears were once a dormant basketball program and are now contending in the Big 12 conference.

The Baylor Bears haven't had a great men's basketball program in recent years. During the 2001 - 2002 season and the 2002 - 2003 season the Baylor Bears basketball team went 11 - 23 in conference and 27 - 29 overall to finish third to last in the Big 12 both seasons. Baylor was a struggling basketball team but things would get a lot worse before they would get better.

In 2003 the Baylor Bears men's basketball was in the news for all the wrong reasons. One of Baylor's basketball players, Patrick Dennehy, was found dead. After a long investigation it was discovered that Patrick Dennehy was murdered by one of his teammates.

Later there was an investigation on Baylor's coach Dave Bliss. It was revealed that Bliss had been making improper financial payments to players and planned to cover it up by accusing the deceased Patrick Dennehy of being a drug dealer. Dave Bliss was forced resign, Baylor put itself on probation, limited themselves to 7 scholarships for two years and imposed a postseason ban for one year. The NCAA didn't think the punishment was enough and banned the Baylor Bears men's basketball team from non-conference games in 2005 - 2006 and extending their limited recruiting.

The Baylor Bears men's basketball team would go 3 - 13 in the Big 12 and 8 - 21 overall in 2003 - 2004. The following year the lack of scholarships turned the Baylor Bears men's basketball team into a 1 - 15 team in the Big 12 conference and 9 - 19 overall. The following two years the Baylor Bears would go 4 - 12 in the Big 12.