THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: If (when?) Gonzaga and Baylor finally meet ...

Gonzaga and Baylor.

They’ve been going steady like a couple of teenagers.

If you believe the polls, the pundits and even a legendary coach who has faced both, college hoops’ Nos. 1 and 2 teams are right where they belong.

The only question, really, seems to revolve around whether or not the ranking should be reversed.

Hardly anyone, though, appears to have an argument with the notion that these are the top two teams in the country.

Unless there is a COVID postponement, the Zags and Baylor each will get a shot at proving the polls right or wrong in the NCAA tournament.

And the downer?

Well, if these two teams truly have separated themselves from the rest of the pack — which is still just opinion, not fact — then it’s a shame they can’t play a best-of-three, or some true test like that.

HERE IN the virus era, though, I suppose we should be thankful for whatever basketball gets played.

Now then…

No. 1 and No. 2.

We know plenty about Gonzaga in this neighborhood, but Baylor remains a bit of a mystery.

So, how good ARE the Bears?

Even more to the point, how would they match up with Gonzaga?

Kansas Coach Bill Self has seen the Zags and Baylor up close, absorbed a couple of defeats, and…

He chose not to rate the two teams against each other.

However, Self did suggest the polls are right and that — as ESPN’s Jay Bilas put it — Gonzaga and Baylor have created a tier of their own this season.

“I would be shocked if there’s a third (team) that fits into that category,” Self said on Monday night, just after his Jayhawks lost 77-69 in Waco.

The Zags beat KU 102-90 to open the season in Fort Myers, Fla.

KANSAS couldn’t stop Baylor star guard Jared Butler, who hit seven 3-pointers and bagged 30 points.

That was almost the opposite of the Bears’ previous game, when Butler was held scoreless until late in the fourth quarter — then made a couple of crucial shots in a 68-60 win at 12th-ranked Texas Tech.

That sort of thing is pretty typical of Baylor, though.

The Bears are “brutally physical” on defense (quoting Bilas), but as for finding points…

Within the eight or nine players Coach Scott Drew runs in and out, three regular interior contributors — Flo Thamba, Mark Vital and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua — are bruising defenders who also just hammer the boards.

None of the three, though, can shoot a lick.

They’ll smash home dunks off passes when guards penetrate, though, and follow missed shots with such force that you suspect someone will tear down a backboard.

One area that thus could tilt a head-to-head showdown with Gonzaga…

Officiating.

The Bears all want to knock you around, so a “let ‘em play” crew would really work against the Zags — much as we saw in the loss to North Carolina in the 2017 national title game.

BAYLOR gets most of its points from Butler, MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell.

Endless screens from the big guys free up Butler and Mitchell to shoot from deep (both hit around 45 percent of their 3-point tries), and they allow Teague into the lane for an assortment of drives and floaters.

Bench players Adam Flagler and Matthew Mayer have chipped in to add a combined 20 points per game or so, although a lot of that production came in non-conference action when Baylor was scoring at will.

It’s not all sunshine for the Bears, however.

They can be pretty loose handling the ball — 13 turnovers per game compared to 18 assists — and there’s some suspicion that a serious press might really bother this team.

Gonzaga’s one huge advantage against Baylor, though, would be the opportunity to avoid that big, powerful defense.

How?

Simply beat the Bears downcourt.

Nobody in the college game can handle and pass the ball like the Zags (“Every one of them is elite,” said San Francisco Coach Todd Golden) and things happen at top speed.

Not occasionally, but relentlessly.

TO NEGATE Baylor’s rugged half-court defense, the Zags would have a heck of a chance to bypass it entirely.

The Big 12 is a conference full of teams that play deliberately when they can, and that’s very much the Bears’ style, as well.

Self described KU’s experience as having Gonzaga “run it right down our throats,” and the Zags might apply that same non-stop heat to Baylor.

On the other side of things, Gonzaga would face some danger, as well.

Given Baylor’s depth, its active big men and those quality guards who can drive, Drew Timme would have to avoid foul trouble.

Anton Watson and Oumar Ballo might need to play critical roles against the Baylor bigs, making sure the Bears aren’t eating rebounds by the dozens.

The fascinating thing about a potential Zags-Baylor matchup is that these teams are completely different.

The winner would likely be the one to impose its style on the other.

Could Baylor keep up with the Zags?

Can ANYONE keep up?

Meanwhile…

Let’s just argue about it, and hope we get to see the Zags and Bears on a court somewhere.

How about at the Final Four?

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.

Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published each Tuesday.