For the first time in Drew's tenure the Bears are actually playing defense. They are definitely a NCAA Tourney team barring a slew of injuries.
Udoh will be gone to the NBA after this season. Some of you may laugh or argue with this, but come June this will be the case. Also, the main reason that Udoh chose Baylor over OU is that Ryan Wright was sitting out his transfer year at the time his decision was being made. Looked like alot of bodies, and his handlers obviously thought Wright would turn out to be more productive than he has. Can't really blame him for the decision, as once you transfer you are pretty much locked in and need to go where you know you are going to play alot. Udoh also played AAU for a Dallas area team coached by Mitch Malone after his senior HS season (and not A1), and there was a big push by Malone to get him to BU when he left Michigan.
not to beat a dead horse but Drew has been unfairly criticized in the past for not being a good coach. His teams appeared to be soft (they were) and didn't play solid defense. As someone who attended multiple Baylor practices, this was never due to a lack of emphasis and coaching. Baylor had to get the best possible players to recover from the disaster that Bliss left. Most of those players happened to be smurf guards that could score but were not genetically wired to be great defenders due to their size and strength (Bruce, Dugat, Jerrells).
Drew realized this and tried desperately to convince athletic bigs and longer guards to come to Waco. He mostly struck out: Palacios (Louisville); Weems (Arkansas); Arthur (Kansas); Griffin (OU); James (UT), Davis (A&M), etc... He did sign Rogers which was a quality big but always had the reputation for being a finesse guy and that never changed in college despite the staff's efforts to change it.
Lately, Drew has been winning some of those recruiting battles and convincing long athletic guys to play at Baylor- Acy, Anthony Jones, Udoh and Cory Jefferson (who Drew now has the luxury of making him wait his turn). That kind of length suddenly makes a coach look like he knows what he is doing on the defensive end/rebounding. But in reality, Drew has known what needs to be done all along. It just takes time to build a program and get the right personnel in place.
I do agree that Udoh will go pro. He's projected a mid first round pick next year in mock drafts and he will graduate in May. It is possible that Udoh has a disappointing big 12 season offensively and his NBA draft stock falls. I think he is a solid offensive player but not great against better competition. He's a difference maker on defense, rebounding and just overall basketball IQ.
If Udoh stays, Baylor has the potential to be ranked in the top 10 next year with a nucleus of Udoh, Dunn, Acy, Jones, Dennis, Walton, Jefferson and Perry Jones/Stargell Love coming in. They may also land the kid from Marquette (Jeronne Maymon) who transferred out and will be available 2nd semester next year. He's a Singletary (Tech) type and I think that is a piece that is missing from Baylor's team. He had chosen Marquette over Baylor and is deciding between Iowa St, Tennessee and Baylor to transfer.
