They're an awful defensive and rebounding team. The guards can't make up for that. They're ripe to be upset early. I want to be wrong about this.
Creighton is 1.5 point favorites. If I’m Scott Drew, I’m printing that up and telling the team they should have a problem with that. BTW, I picked Creighton to win that game…but still, you need to use that.
I told ya. It’s ok, I have a natty I never thought I’d have! I think you guys know I coach a tournament team with my older son (the UH kid). We preach defense and rebounding. Other teams hide their kids in 2-3 and just work on offense. We spend weeks teaching them to play man / help defense. It kills me to watch a team play this way. They’re way too talented to lose these games. I hate soft teams, and Baylor was soft all year. You have to have a Mark Vital somewhere. You’re spoiled with a Mitchell who is a lock down defender who can also score…but you don’t have to recruit a 4 star kid to find a Vital. FIND ONE! Build a culture where everyone cares about defense and rebounding. You’ve done it before, so you can do it again. It’s not hard to find talented kids who just wanna win and be a part of something bigger than themselves. You’ve done this before. We’re about to get a great new arena right off the river downtown. We’ve been spoiled by recruits who are NBA prospects. I’d rather bring in guys we turn into NBA prospects (like Sasser at UH) because we coach them up. The way Mitchell went from being a transfer to a lottery pick..and look at him now. I love Baylor basketball. I grew up in a UT family and chose Baylor for myself over UT because it just felt like home to me. Home away from home at least. I love what Scott Drew has done for this program and for the University. I’m insanely spoiled honestly to be disappointed by multiple tournament appearances and a National Championship tonight NOW LET’S GO COOGS!!!!!!!!!! I can promise you Scott Drew will be rooting for Kelvin. UH was my dad’s school…the source of my first sports heartbreak in 1983 when I was 8..where I went to law school…and where my kid committed to when he was about 15.
Gutsy win over a tough Auburn team. Shoutout to Aden Holloway, who's looking like Trae Young style PG. JaKobe Walter put in work and made a strong first impression. Came up big in the second half. The first thing that pops is the shooting touch. His free throws and jump shots rip the net. Flashes of off-ball movement and motion shooting. NBA range makes too. Defense was a mixed bag, but mostly a positive IMO. The effort and tools are there. He's not Keyonte George that's for sure. Didn't create much space and separation on his drives. The handle doesn't look advanced, and the explosiveness looks closer to average. Made some nice passes to beat Auburns trapping on ball screens. He wasn't great around the rim, but a few of his 10 FTs came on drives where he forced the issue. Even if he isn't a explosive high flying athlete or shifty ball handler, he's still 6'5, decent frame, with a ~6'10 wingspan. Can see him being more effective relying on strength rather than speed. Still too early to say where the draft stock is, but looking forward, I'm interested in seeing how his responsibilities split between on/off ball. I think there's an obvious path of a classic play finishing SG, but there might be opportunity to develop into a legit combo guard.
Walter had a great game in its entirety. It wasn't just the 2nd half. He was the reason Baylor was in the game in the 1st half as well. He had like 13 at halftime and missed like 1 or 2 shots. I didn't know much about him before last night. Damn his shooting touch is super nice though.
I only caught the second half, so good to know his impact was from start to finish. I knew going in that he was a two-way guard with top 10 pick potential, but that's about it. Trying not to read any "professional" scouting reports until I see a few games worth of tape myself. Overall a great debut that lived up to the hype.
Watching now. Playing Kansas City so you can’t win. It’s college hoops so you could totally lose (ask Michigan State vs James Madison) and if you win well of course you should have! Impressed though by guys diving on the floor and working hard to rotate. I’ve seen some soft Scott Drew teams and I’ve seen some dogs win a natty. Pleased so far with HOW the Bears are playing in terms of effort.
Didn't expect Yves Missi to be contributing this early, let alone be named a starter. He's still very raw and learning the game, but he's flashing NBA talent. A little leaner, but more mobile than Clint Capela..doesn't look as mobile as someone like Nic Claxton, but I think being somewhere in between those two on the size-speed scale is notable. Shows decent touch and a shooting form that is pretty good considering his experience and archetype. Still too early to say if he's a 2024 draft pick, but definitely someone to keep an eye on.
You don’t have to go back far in this thread to see I’m often critical of Baylor hoops because I have high expectations. Having said that, what I’ve seen so far this season looks very good all the way around.
May not want to talk about Baylor Basketball today... 45-17 at the half? good lord, what is happening in there?! Aurora Borealis? Ah- Aurora Borealis?! At this time of year, at this time of day, on national television, localized entirely within your kitchen?! Yes.
Yikes. I’m hoping it’s such an extreme outlier that it’s a throw-away game and that’s that. We’ll see soon enough, I guess.
