Same Old Baylor

[JustOkSooner701]

Is Player X being grown in some government lab right now to become the perfect point guard?

Athletic like Derrick Rose, shoots like Steve Nash, reads the court like Chris Paul, built like Magic Johnson?

if he is we should order one

 

[oSuJeff97]

DFW - serious question here...

I don't think anyone disputes that Scott Drew can bring in the talent. He's clearly been doing that.

And yes I know Baylor went to the Elite Eight last year, but I'm wondering if that was the exception, and not the rule, given the exceptional collection of talent on that particular team.

Two years ago, a team comprised of most of that same talent failed to make the NCAA tournament.

This year's team, while not as talented as past years, clearly had talent and failed to make any post-season tournament. I'm not saying that they *should* have made the NCAA Tournament, but that team missing the NIT was inexcusable, IMO.

So don't you think that there may be something to the notion that Scott Drew is more of a great recruiter than someone who can "coach up" available talent?

 

[Jason]

Baylor has a men's team?

 

[Max Power]

Baylor has a men's team?

That Just Happened

 

[DFWHoopster]

OSUJeff- very fair question. Here are my thoughts:

Drew does a really good job running a program. He's had one major incident on his watch- Lace domestic issue. He's had 18 guys use up their eligibility and 18 have graduated. The former players say that he:

1. Cares a lot about the kids who play for him.
2. Shoots straight with them about expectations on and off the court.
3. Does a good job preparing them for real life- during their time at Baylor and after. Baylor does something similar to North Carolina in their leadership academy where players learn to not say stupid stuff on twitter; represent the school well, etc...

Those are very underrated aspects of running a program. The best X and O guys might run off their players routinely and fail because of it- Gillespie at Kentucky.

Evaluating Drew on his ability to attract talent... Obviously he has a great reputation as a recruiter. Anyone honest would say the Baylor staff works their butts off on recruiting. Drew always says that recruiting is like shaving, you miss a day and you start to look like a bum. I think recruiting is the lifeblood of any good college basketball program. 85% of winning is getting players. 15% X and Os in my opinion.

Before Drew landed Ekpe Udoh, he struck out on quality bigs for the most part. He had a promising freshman- Acy- who at 6'6" is an undersized big but can jump out of the gym. He had Lomers- who suffered terribly from asthma and couldn't move well. And Kevin Rogers- a talented but mentally soft big who liked to play more of a finesse game. So Drew loaded up on guards because he couldn't land quality bigs. The guards were good and in college basketball, you can win a lot of games with good guards. But Baylor's results were inconsistent.

2009-2010 was the perfect storm of a well balanced roster; low expectations; a premier defender as a big- Udoh and a quality senior PG- Carter.

This past year, Baylor should have been a borderline NCAA team/ NIT lock with the talent they had. And honestly, I think they got screwed on the NIT. They were 6-2 against the NIT field. But that is besides the point. They were less attractive as an NIT team without Perry Jones.

They were planning on Brady Heslip a Boston College transfer being eligible but his waiver was denied. A coach I talked to for Baylor thought Baylor would struggle with only one consistent perimeter threat- Dunn- and he was right.

I think Drew does a good job game-planning. I have traveled with the team and seen that first hand. They have a contract with Ken Pomeroy to break down every weakness in their opponents that they can find. They do a good job with things like out of bounds plays.

But I can't dismiss what my eyes saw last year. They were a terrible pick setting team. The effort was lacking a lot. The basketball IQ was low. Some of that is on personnel in my opinion. I was not a huge Perry Jones fan. Perry is a super kid and an immense talent. But he's never won at any level. His basketball instincts are awful in areas. He wasn't alone- there were others who shared the lack of basketball IQ.

So the jury is still out. I really like Drew and his staff. They work hard and I believe they will figure out what needs to get fixed. I believe next year has the potential to be like 2009-2010 for them because they have upperclassmen leadership- Walton, Acy, Anthony Jones and a potential superstar- Quincy Miller- and a lot of complementary talent. So they should make a deep NCAA run next year. If they don't, it would be a major disappointment in my book. I'm saying they are a 12-6 big 12 team next year.

Last year, I went into the season saying 9-7 and they finished 7-9 in conference.

Baylor's problem this year can be attributed to a terrible recruiting class in 2009. They had 6 scholarships to give. They brought in a top 25 class on paper. But only one guy contributed last year- Walton.

Sekelja- bust
Crump- transferred to Fresno State
McLaughlin- transferred to Seattle; baby in Washington
Dennis- had seizures and inner ear problems; transferred to Detroit
Walton- great defender; not the answer at PG
Jefferson- came to Baylor at 6'9" 180lbs. Should have been redshirted as a freshman but wasn't. Was redshirted last year- is now 225 lbs.

Walton and Jefferson out of 6 scholarships left Baylor scrambling for transfer help- Gary Franklin (Cal) and Brady Heslip (BC). To me that 2009 class was the biggest problem for Baylor. They were a ball-handling nightmare because Dennis and McLaughlin- two highly rated guards- did not pan out.

 

[oSuJeff97]

Good stuff, DFW.

Agree with most of what you said there.

Next year will be a big year for Drew, IMO. (Same for Travis Ford, BTW)

 

[MichSooner]

I duuno. As long as Scott Drew roams the sidelines we and many others will have a chance against a very talented Baylor squad.

 

[CarlWeathers]

I'm sorry DFW but the lace incident is beyond outrageous and I will not let it go. It clearly happened and waco's citizens decided to collectively sweep it under the rug.

 

[sys]

But I can't dismiss what my eyes saw last year. They were a terrible pick setting team. The effort was lacking a lot.

every once in a while you'll find a player that is so competitive that they'll train & play extremely hard on their own. but for most players, the strongest motivator is fear. i don't think baylor's players fear drew.

you can decide for yourself why that is. i personally think pat knight hit the nail on the head.

 

[DFWHoopster]

every once in a while you'll find a player that is so competitive that they'll train & play extremely hard on their own. but for most players, the strongest motivator is fear. i don't think baylor's players fear drew.

you can decide for yourself why that is. i personally think pat knight hit the nail on the head.

what did the former coach of the Red Raiders say about Drew? I must have missed it. Fear is a motivator. And I am all in favor of Baylor hiring a hardass on the staff. Drew is an encourager by nature. It is probably not in his DNA to get in someone's face and explode. And that is okay by me. You just need to learn to manage around your weaknesses and exploit your strengths.

Part of that in my mind is to that Baylor must recruit ballers to go with athletes. Ekpe was a baller. Tweety was a baller. Cory Jefferson is a baller. Brady Heslip is a baller. They didn't have enough ballers this past year that were eligible to play.

I would agree that you must have players that have mental toughness and the will to win. But I believe you recruit that. A coach can only do so much. Plenty of good coaches get stuck with talent that don't have that in any given year.

 

[Tony]

http://twitter.com/#!/goodmanonfox/status/57552398159319040

Perry Jones is staying in school, FWIW

 

[okcsooner83]

Surprised Jones is staying, he would have been a top 10 pick.

 

[Sooner_In_MI]

Wowzers, good for Baylor.