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Tweety Carter knew he was taking a risk when he committed to Baylor.
The Bears were reeling, recovering from a murder and scandal that shook the school like nothing in its history.
``I was taking a chance by coming here not knowing what I was getting into,'' Carter said.
Carter, at the time the highest-scoring U.S. prep player ever, is now a senior point guard in his second NCAA tournament. The Bears are in the round of 16 and will play Saint Mary's on Friday night in Houston.
The Baylor program was ravaged in the summer of 2003 by the killing of a player by a teammate, and the aftermath caught former coach Dave Bliss in a tangle of lies and financial misdeeds.
That happened the year before Carter, as a junior in high school, said he'd play for Baylor. New coach Scott Drew could offer only ``an opportunity and a vision of what the future could be'' with no promises of success.
Then the NCAA took away Baylor's non-conference schedule after first considering a full-season ban. The Bears went more than 300 days between games before going 4-13 in the Big 12 during the 2005-06 season, when Carter was finishing his prep career.
But Carter and LaceDarius Dunn, two of the top high school players in Louisiana and being recruited by other established programs, still came to Baylor.
``I wanted to be part of something special,'' said Dunn, a junior guard and Baylor's leading scorer (19.4 points a game).
Carter played six varsity seasons at a small Christian school and became the first McDonald's All-American to go to Baylor.
``This is a blessing for me to be a part of this program and be in this situation,'' Carter said.
The Bears (27-7) have set a school record for victories and have their third consecutive 20-win season. They won more than 20 games only three times in the 101 seasons before that.
``It is one of the most significant success stories in America,'' former longtime Bears football coach Grant Teaff said.
Said Dunn, a two-time Louisiana prep player of the year: ``Nobody would have ever thought it would come off the ground this fast.''
``Taking it from where it was when I committed my sophomore year in high school to where we are right now, it's unbelievable,'' he said.
Baylor, the No. 3 seed in the South Regional, beat Sam Houston State and Old Dominion last week in New Orleans. The only times the Bears have been this far in the NCAA tournament came when there were eight-team fields in 1946, 1948 and 1950.
To understand the significance of what Baylor has accomplished, you have to know just how bad things got nearly seven years ago.
Patrick Dennehy's body was found six weeks after he was reported missing. Carlton Dotson pleaded guilty to shooting his teammate twice in the head and is serving a 35-year prison term for murder.
The death sparked a scandal that led to the resignation of Bliss, who on tapes secretly recorded by an assistant coach tried to portray Dennehy as a drug dealer. School investigators already had determined Bliss improperly paid up to $40,000 in tuition for Dennehy and another player and solicited money from boosters.
Drew faced rebuilding with school-imposed penalties such as reduced scholarships and recruiting visits. Plus, the team's top three scorers were allowed to go to other schools under relaxed transfer rules.
Teaff, who as president of the American Football Coaches Association works in an office just off the edge of the Baylor campus, said the penalties and transfers ``totally devastated'' the Bears.
``It was in such a state that a lot of folks that I deal with nationwide from other conferences honestly didn't see how it could be resurrected,'' Teaff said. ``Sort of related to the death penalty by SMU (football), that was 20-something years ago and just now are they appearing to be recovering from that.''
When hired, Drew had been a head coach only one season, winning 20 games at Valparaiso after nine years there as his father's assistant coach.
With an unbridled enthusiasm and optimism, Drew's plan then was the same as it is now: build an elite program at the world's largest Baptist university and only private school in the Big 12.
``He had a bold vision,'' said athletic director Ian McCaw, hired by Baylor a few weeks after Drew. ``It seemed a long way away in 2003. It doesn't seem so far away today.''
Baylor went 8-21 with five scholarship players Drew's first season, followed by 9-19 before that unprecedented half-season. The Bears were 15-16 Carter's freshman season, then made the 2008 NCAA tournament, their first in 20 years.
``At that point, I think people start to look at you in a different light,' Drew said.
Yet, each success still prompts questions about what happened in the past.
``We always remember the past, but we won't dwell on it,'' Drew said.
