Baylor joins the fray of even teams for next year

[thebigabd]

Wow, this conference is gonna be crazy next season.

1.) Kansas
2.) Texas A&M
3.) Kansas State
T4.) OU, OSU, Baylor, Tech, ISU, Missouri, Texas

PG: Pierre Jackson (5'10'' 175)-Averaged 19 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals per game for College of Southern Idaho, who won the junior college national championship.

SG: Deuce Bello- #43 player in 2011 class.

SF: Anthony Jones: Averaged 8.5 points and 5.3 rebounds as a junior.


PF: Perry Jones III: First player in program history to earn three or more Freshman All-American honors. PJ3 finished the season as the Big 12 freshman leader in scoring (13.9), third in rebounding (7.2), fourth in FG percentage (.549) and fifth in blocked shots (0.90). Named to the NABC All-District 8 second team, All-Big 12 second team (coaches, Yahoo! Sports, The Dallas Morning News), All-Big 12 honorable mention (AP) and was a unanimous Big 12 All-Rookie selection by the league's coaches.

PF: Quincy Acy- Averaged 12 and 8 last year for Baylor as a junior.

 

[sperry]

Baylor also has the number 5 player in the class of '11 coming in, Quincy Miller.

 

[j2d2]

I dont recall any OU coach that could recruit nearly as well as Drew. What's the charm????

 

[IntenseDefense]

I dont recall any OU coach that could recruit nearly as well as Drew. What's the charm????

 

[bocabull]

Why is Kansas State #3? They lose all their production and don't have much coming back.

 

[NickZepp]

If Frank Martin comes back KSU will compete.

 

[NickZepp]

As long as Scott Drew is at Baylor they will continue to fail expectations for the most part. I wouldn't be shocked if we beat them both times we play them next year. And I'm still not sure we'll be that good.

 

[Dave4OU]

:clap:clap:clap:clap:clap

As long as Scott Drew is at Baylor they will continue to fail expectations for the most part. I wouldn't be shocked if we beat them both times we play them next year. And I'm still not sure we'll be that good.

 

[JHop71]

Baylor also has the number 5 player in the class of '11 coming in, Quincy Miller.

Any news on his knee?

Baylor SHOULD finish in the top three in the conference next year...we'll see.

 

[thebigabd]

Why is Kansas State #3? They lose all their production and don't have much coming back.

I think Rodney McGruder is gonna step up and be a guy who averages 16-18 a game this year. He has a lot of experience and seems like the natural progression "passing the torch" kind of situation for him.

PG: Will Spradling (6'3'' 175) - Angel Rodriguez
SG: Rodney McGruder (6'4'' 205) - Nino Williams
SG: Omari Lawrence (6'4'' 190) - Shane Southwell
PF: Jamar Samuels (6'7'' 220) - Thomas Gipson
C: Jordan Henriquez (7'0'' 245) - Adrian Diaz

McGruder was the 2nd leading scorer on the team, and is a 3pt gunner. It's his team now. Spradling played in every game as a true freshman at point guard, and I would bet his numbers go up to 10ppg or so (from 6) and he is a very good shooter as well.

Omari Lawrence went to St. Johns out of high school, transferred, redshirted, and has just been waiting to go to KSU since.

Like their team a lot if Spradling, McGruder, and Henriquez take that natural progression and Omari Lawrence or Nino Williams can handle the small forward spot.

 

[bocabull]

If all that happens KSU will be equal to OU at best.

People are really underestimating the roster OU has. It is complete and talented and Kruger will get even more out of them than I expected Capel too.

Didn't you hear Sam Groom's comments on Osby after playing with the team? That he was a stud who was really going to surprise people.

Osby and Clark are elite athletes. KSU does not have a single elite athlete.

 

[sperry]

Any news on his knee?

Baylor SHOULD finish in the top three in the conference next year...we'll see.

IDK, but it happened in early December so I would guess he'd be ready for the season.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Any news on his knee?

Baylor SHOULD finish in the top three in the conference next year...we'll see.

The SHOULD have finished much higher than they did this year, too.

 

[DFWHoopster]

Any news on his knee?

Baylor SHOULD finish in the top three in the conference next year...we'll see.

Quincy Miller says his knee is 85%- should be 100% in June.

Baylor is loaded and balanced- if they don't finish top 3 next year it will be a gigantic disappointment to me.

The frontcourt is crazy good with:

Bobo Morgan- probably won't play big minutes but he's a big body who is long. He gives them a low post threat and shot-blocking. He has to get a lot tougher or he will sit the bench. He was the #25 recruit in 2008 so talent is there.

Quincy Acy- ultimate trash guy; very active; motor always running (rare for Baylor bigs)

Quincy Miller- he's a very confident player. I expect a bigger impact from him all-around as a freshman than Perry Jones. His numbers might not be as big just due to Baylor's overall frontcourt talent. But he is active- with the mouth and body.

Anthony Jones- solid player and extremely long; shooting numbers improving every year- last year 53% from field; 40% from 3 and 82% FT. Good defender in the zone with his length.

Cory Jefferson- I don't know how much he'll play but I can tell you the coaches absolutely love this guy. They say he approached his redshirt year the way Udoh did his transfer year at Baylor. Cory went from 180lbs to 220lbs. He was a 5-star Rivals recruit at one point- he slipped to around 50 in the final rankings. He is defensive minded like Udoh. He has a strong mid range game. And a very smart, active player.

Perry Jones- I'm not his biggest fan on the court; but who can deny the talent. Coaches are hoping he takes Derrick Williams (Arizona) like steps from freshman to sophomore year. Williams had numbers like Perry as a freshman and then exploded his sophomore year- improving dramatically in foul shooting; 3 pt shooting and just overall basketball IQ. Arizona went from winning from a 16-15 team to 30-8 due in large part to the maturity of Williams.

Fred Ellis- senior; solid role player

The backcourt is a complete unknown. AJ Walton is a JT Tiller type- good defender, but certainly wasn't ready to run the show like I thought he would be this past year.

Bello is athletic but lacks strength- probably similar to Cameron Clark in a lot of ways. I bet he plays limited minutes.

Gary Franklin is a transfer from Cal- he started at Cal averaging 8 pts and 25 minutes per game as a freshman. He was a good recruit- around 80 nationally. Smart player and a bigger body. Has drawn comparisons to Nolan Smith from Duke who started his career at Duke slow but came on as an upper classman.

Brady Heslip is the typical Tyrell Reed type outside shooter.

Pierre Jackson is the key to Baylor's season. I saw him play 4 games in the Juco championships where he led his team to a championship and averaged 24 pts and got to the line 15 times per game. He shoots 90%. He is small but stocky. I first thought he played like Drew Lavender. But I would say he is more like Devan Downey from South Carolina. If he's the PG that I saw in those championships, Baylor is going to be really good. If is he is a bust, then it may be a slightly prettier version of last year's disaster with a better trade of Quincy Miller, Cory Jefferson and Gary Franklin for Lace Dunn.

With that depth, Drew is crazy if he doesn't get after people defensively and try to force a more up tempo game. I love Drew and think the results last year were mostly due to terrible guard play, soft interior defense and one outside shooter- Dunn. I think all three of those have been addressed but we'll see...

 

[soonermule]

Now if Drew could coach a lick they would be pretty good.

 

[DenverSooner]

If all that happens KSU will be equal to OU at best.

People are really underestimating the roster OU has. It is complete and talented and Kruger will get even more out of them than I expected Capel too.

Didn't you hear Sam Groom's comments on Osby after playing with the team? That he was a stud who was really going to surprise people.

Osby and Clark are elite athletes. KSU does not have a single elite athlete.

I thought OU had a great coach with no talent?

I personally hope you are right about this but your optimism is off the chart. OU had a losing record last season and lost its best player. Perhaps Osby is better than Cade Davis but even if that is the case OU is only marginally better than last year unless the other guys improve substantially.

 

[thebigabd]

If all that happens KSU will be equal to OU at best.

Ya, its close.

Osby and Clark are elite athletes. KSU does not have a single elite athlete.

They have good athletes with Samuels, McGruder, Lawrence, etc. They also have a 7'0'' shot blocker who is pretty athletic in Jordan Henriquez. The guy played 13 minutes a game and blocked 43 shots. If he stays on the floor for 20-25 minutes a game he could be a guy who blocks 100 shots or more on the season.

Didn't you hear Sam Groom's comments on Osby after playing with the team? That he was a stud who was really going to surprise people.

Osby is gonna be a stud, no question. So will Clark and Grooms. If Newell comes back the player I think he can be, OU will be fighting for that 3rd spot. Everyone is REALLY even right now 3-10.

 

[RCHoopla]

Thinking OU will sniff 3rd in the conference is blind homerism at this point.

 

[Mutron76]

Thinking OU will sniff 3rd in the conference is blind homerism at this point.

I certainly think we can find some old threads that clearly indicate ABD suffers not from blind homerism.

 

[sys]

Baylor is loaded and balanced- if they don't finish top 3 next year it will be a gigantic disappointment to me.

extremely talented frontcourt, but that's a lot of pressure to put on four point guards that have never proven themselves in the big 12.

just the fact that baylor wanted four pgs on the same roster would tend to indicate that drew doesn't have much confidence in any of them - with the possible exception of the last one added to the mix.