The Baylor Bears men's basketball team has set a news school record for wins in 2011 and they are facing the Xavier Musketeers in the Sweet 16 on Friday evening. Still, for some reason they have been looked down upon by multiple analysts all season long.
The Bears are still confident, though, and they believe they have made it this far in the tournament because they deserve to be where they are and they're just as capable of winning the championship as any other team.
Perry Jones III says that the Bears are looking to prove to everybody that they belong with the best teams in the NCAA and that they're a tough team.
"We're playing for the national championship … we weren't expected to be here now," sophomore Perry Jones III said Thursday in Atlanta. "We want to show everybody that we are a basketball team that's capable of winning the championship, capable of winning games.
"A lot of guys question our toughness, our toughness inside, our toughness outside, everything. We just want to show everybody we're a tough team, and we can play with the best."
The winner of the Baylor-Xavier game will face the winner of the Indiana-Kentucky game in the Elite 8. As far as Baylor and Jones are concerned, they're moving on and nobody can stop them.
For more on the Bears, head to Our Daily Bears, and for more on Baylor's trip through the NCAA tournament, follow SB Nation Dallas' StoryStream.