Let R be a commutative local noetherian ring. We prove that the existence of a chain of semidualizing R-complexes of length (d+1) yields a degree-d polynomial lower bound for the Bass numbers of R. We also show how information about certain Bass numbers of R provide restrictions on the lengths of chains of semidualizing R-complexes. To make this article somewhat self-contained, we also include a survey of some of the basic properties of semidualizing modules, semidualizing complexes and derived categories.