Baylor

[DenverSooner]

So what do some of you know about Baylor.

I don't know much other than Baylor is 14-3 with losses to Oregon (67-74), A&M (61-80) and KU (74-102). All of those losses were on the road.

Baylor beat OSU, ISU, TCU and Tech. Tech and ISU were on the road. Baylor also beat Vandy and New Mexico State. The rest of their wins don't look to impressive. According to Yahoo they are 23 in the RPI. They are 1-3 against teams with a 1-25 RPI, 1-0 26-50, 1-0 with teams 51-100 and 4-0 with teams 101-200.

 

[tmeyer3307]

Stop Prince!!
Must Rebound!!

 

[oudna]

I saw all 3 of their losses. The 2 blowouts surprised me, as I figured their D would keep them close.

 

[Zimwillett]

I've watched a few of their games. They love their "junk" defenses. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them try Box & 1/Triangle & 2 type stuff to keep Buddy in check. Our veteran guards need to be able to make them pay for that.

Offensively, Prince is a potential mismatch problem, but he tends to disappear for long stretches. OU needs to frustrate him if possible. Freeman and Medford are a solid guard combo, but no better than what OU has faced so far in conference play. As always, you've got to keep Gathers off the glass as much as possible. As good as he is, I think this is a much more comfortable matchup for Spangler than ISU's bigs.

I do think Baylor's record, both in and out of conference, is a little inflated. Three of their four conference wins are against the bottom 4 Big 12 teams. Their win @ Hilton was impressive, but I think they'll come back to the pack once they start hitting some of the tougher teams in the Big 12.

 

[Soonerinkc]

So what do some of you know about Baylor.

I don't know much other than Baylor is 14-3 with losses to Oregon (67-74), A&M (61-80) and KU (74-102). All of those losses were on the road.

Baylor beat OSU, ISU, TCU and Tech. Tech and ISU were on the road. Baylor also beat Vandy and New Mexico State. The rest of their wins don't look to impressive. According to Yahoo they are 23 in the RPI. They are 1-3 against teams with a 1-25 RPI, 1-0 26-50, 1-0 with teams 51-100 and 4-0 with teams 101-200.

TT game was a 3 with time running out...literally buzzer sounded as ball went through net.

Prince is their main guy (14ppg)...athletic and long. He'll be a match-up issue. Gathers is a beast down low..BIG.

only avg home att about 7 K...

scoring 80 def is 66

not a great 3 pt team, 36%

I think they'll be dangerous, BUT good news is the guys have the week to rest up. This last 5 games was a killer. 3 on the road, 2 of the top teams, wv at home...brutal.

Hope spang gets fixed whatever is ailing him.

 

[AdaSooner]

Baylor's has a formidable front court with Prince, Gathers and Motley. Containing Prince and keeping Gathers off of the offensive boards are definitely keys to beating them in Waco. Prince can step out and hit shots from beyond the arc, so our defenders will have to know where he is on every possession or he will have a career night.

Freeman is their best shooter from deep. Beyond that, the Bears have a couple of guards who are more streak shooters. What Baylor doesn't have this year is another Kenny Chery. If OU can come out of their funk on defense and get more than two or three players back on track offensively, I don't see why we can't come out of Waco with a W.

 

[Zimwillett]

only avg home att about 7 K...

After some of the crowds OU has faced early in this conference season, Waco ought to feel like they're playing at a neutral court.

 

[chuckb]

I've watched a few of their games. They love their "junk" defenses. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them try Box & 1/Triangle & 2 type stuff to keep Buddy in check. Our veteran guards need to be able to make them pay for that.

Offensively, Prince is a potential mismatch problem, but he tends to disappear for long stretches. OU needs to frustrate him if possible. Freeman and Medford are a solid guard combo, but no better than what OU has faced so far in conference play. As always, you've got to keep Gathers off the glass as much as possible. As good as he is, I think this is a much more comfortable matchup for Spangler than ISU's bigs.

I do think Baylor's record, both in and out of conference, is a little inflated. Three of their four conference wins are against the bottom 4 Big 12 teams. Their win @ Hilton was impressive, but I think they'll come back to the pack once they start hitting some of the tougher teams in the Big 12.

Agreed. I'd be surprised if they didn't play something strange against us. They'll definitely play some zone. They're big and athletic. We're definitely going to have to rebound better Saturday than we did last night in order to win.

 

[DenverSooner]

I am going to the game. It should be fun. I think OU wins by 12.

 

[TheMont]

They switched to box and 1 midway through their game AT Iowa State and ISU could not adjust to it and the game was completely changed and Baylor won.

 

[AdaSooner]

They switched to box and 1 midway through their game AT Iowa State and ISU could not adjust to it and the game was completely changed and Baylor won.

Wish OU had tried some junk defenses and even a zone in last night's game. I can't see how it could have hurt considering the easy shots ISU was getting?

 

[Soonerinkc]

After some of the crowds OU has faced early in this conference season, Waco ought to feel like they're playing at a neutral court.

No doubt...looking at their attendance for past games....the big ones, 12k, 16k...were the ku isu games...unfortunately for them...they were away games. Lol

 

[stormspencer]

Prince is a still a good scorer and they are physical/good on the inside. But their guard play isn't near as strong this year as in years past. Like others, I expect them to "junk it up" against us on defense. The win @ISU is certainly impressive, but they've looked pretty bad in a couple losses as well.

 

[slappy in OP]

Huge game which might get bigger based on some of the other games this week. We definitely need to come ready to play. Rebounding may be key. Boomer Sooner!

 

[chuckb]

Huge game which might get bigger based on some of the other games this week. We definitely need to come ready to play. Rebounding may be key. Boomer Sooner!

Gathers is a monster on the boards and both Prince and Motley are tall and athletic. Our bigs will have their hands full.

They'll need to play zone or junk in order to stay with our shooters. Prince and Motley on the wings could give our shooters fits with their length.

 

[StatGeek]

They switched to box and 1 midway through their game AT Iowa State and ISU could not adjust to it and the game was completely changed and Baylor won.

We need to be ready for that then because OU w/Buddy is a prime Box & 1 candidate.

 

[Zimwillett]

After watching them more closely last night, I definitely think this is a game OU can win with any sort of decent performance. Baylor's length could bother OU a little, but if OU moves the ball they'll get plenty of open looks vs. their zone. I'm not overly concerned by Baylor's offense.

Also, I know Baylor is 1st in the Big 12, but 4 of their 5 conference wins came against the bottom 4 teams in the league. As I said above, I think their record is inflated.

 

[DFWHoopster]

should be a good game. OU is better but Baylor has been good at home in the last 3 years- won 32 of their last 34. Should be a sell-out or very close to it.

KenPom predicting OU 76-75

 

[DenverSooner]

should be a good game. OU is better but Baylor has been good at home in the last 3 years- won 32 of their last 34. Should be a sell-out or very close to it.

KenPom predicting OU 76-75

You think at 11:00?

When you say that and assuming it is a sell out, do you think tickets will be available out front? I am planning to go to the game and get tickets out front. If you attend games and think this is risky, I would appreciate your opinion.

 

[DFWHoopster]

You think at 11:00?

When you say that and assuming it is a sell out, do you think tickets will be available out front? I am planning to go to the game and get tickets out front. If you attend games and think this is risky, I would appreciate your opinion.

Hard to know for sure. There will probably be reasonably priced scalpers floating around. On the Baylor website, only tickets left were high corners as of this morning.

Baylor usually does well on attendance for weekend games because they rely so heavily on alumni from DFW, Austin, Houston, SA, etc... to fill it up. They usually suck on weekday games because they don't draw locals consistently.

Probably wise to try and secure tickets beforehand to be sure. I know on Baylor message boards, demand is outstripping supply for this one.