Season over... New Beginning

First off, congrats to the Baylor men's basketball team. Since I have been following the team (or for Baylor sports period) there hasn't been something this exciting happen since probably the come from behind win against Tulane in the CWS 5 years ago. The energy at both the Sweet Sixteen game and the Elite Eight game were like no other. Coach Drew and the Bears have brought a buzz around Baylor athletics that we haven't had in a long time... and to say the least, it has been awesome.

Now, on to what everyone is focused on right now: what will Ekpe Udoh do?

In general opinion, he is gone. As a fan, we need him back. This guy has so much potential to improve on his stats next year and boost his draft status from possibly top 15 to top 5 with the another year under Drew. He averaged a near double-double this year and if he stays he will improve his ppg, rpg and bpg significantly. I really feel like he could be a 15-11-5-3 guy, especially when you throw in a guy like Perry Jones, someone I will discuss later on.

Projected stats for 2010-2011 season (I will be as objective as possible):


Starters (with Udoh)

C- Udoh- 15 ppg 11 rpg (please come back Udoh)

PF- Acy- 12 ppg 7 rpg (he could do MUCH more than this)

SF- P. Jones- 13 ppg 5 rpg (obviously he has the potential to do more, but be objective)

SG- Dunn- 20 ppg 5 rpg (he could average more points than this with ease, but balance on offense even more than this year will probably cause only slight increase)

PG- Walton- 6 ppg 5 apg 4 rpg (as much as I love Tweety, Walton will be the best true pointguard we've had since Drew has been here)


Starters (without Udoh)

We have so many ways to plug people in if Udoh leaves it is crazy. Drew has recruited players who are very diverse and athletic enough to play multiple positions.

C- Acy- he will be very undersized here, but in a 2-3 zone this will be covered up, especially with the length we will continue to have at every position. Quincy is the only one on our team with experience starting down there and that will cause him to start the season down there. Dragan Sekelja has shown how light-footed he is for someone his size, but he needs to tone up and learn to play with his back to the basket. I think he will get 5-7 minutes a game due to our lack of a true center.

PF- this is where things get a little blurry. As much as I like Perry Jones athletic ability, I don't think he is a true powerforward, but I do think he will start here. Think of a Harvey Thomas type player. Very athletic, runs well, jumps well and can shoot. But he is much more of a SF. If Corey Jefferson can give us a a Acy type improvement from freshman to sophomore year I could see Corey starting here with P-III making the move to SF. Quincy Acy will also see time here, but thats expected.

SF- Anthony Jones length got him a lot of time here this season and it was very effective defensively. But next year he will have to prove to be consistent offensively to keep his spot. Perry Jones will bring offense to the table at the 3 for the first time in Drew's era. You can claim that Dunn did that his sophomore year, but he was not playing his natural posistion.

SG- Dunn. Dunn. Dunn. You can figure this one out... the only question is if what if he decides to leave too? Well Perry Jones ball handling is very good for a 6-11 guy, but I wouldn't mind seeing some Stargell Love here as a starter. He will be freshman with athletic ability compared to Jones but is only 6-1. But more than likely Dunn will return and its obviously his position. Also, Dennis looked very slow in the games he played in later in the season. He has a lot of promise and if he can improve his ball security and his jump shot I could see him being Dunn's backup and making our backcourt deep.

PG- AJ Walton for the reasons I stated above. And Stargell Love will play a lot at the point much like AJ did this year, especially if he proves he can adjust to the speed of the game and be a steady ball handler in the early non-con games. These two guys will give us 3 and 4 years of good PG play.



Now, lets look at our length.

We were LONG this season. Long as in 2nd tallest team in the nation behind Kentucky.

Next year we could see lineups of 6-11 (Udoh), 6-7(Acy), 6-10 (A. Jones), 6-10(P-III) and 6-1 (Walton) and 6-11, 6-11, 6-10, 6-4, 6-1. We will not see any drop of in length. In size losing a big banger like Lomers will hurt us, but our 2-3 zone should not lose its effectiveness. Walton's defense for 30+ minutes (compared to 17+ this year) will be much better than anything we threw our there defensively at guard this year... and Tweey was not a bad defender by any means. Walton just brings an energy defensively that Tweety used on offense and a length that Tweety didn't have.



So, Perry Jones, how good will you be as a freshman?

If you haven't checked out any of Perry Jones youtube video's you are missing out.

Here are a couple worth watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukwyJs7jt9M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quxsxSe1YTo&feature=related


Now, I realize everyone says that Jones' motor is that of a rowboat at times, but lets face it, if I was a potential #1 overall pick playing on a high school team full of guys who didn't know how to get me the ball or had a coach who didnt run an offense thru me... I would get frustrated and bored at the high school level. There is a reason that watching him playing AAU ball compared to watching him play high school ball are two different stories. His potential is crazy and once he gets into a system that runs set plays for HIM to get the ball and to showcase his abilities, he could very well be better than advertised.

Last night's McDonalds All America game was painful to watch. A lot of guys out there with egos who are planning on being "the" player on their respective teams. Jones came in at the first media timeout of the first half and looked very passive. Active word= looked. Jones was out there looking to set up an offense and didn't shoot the ball everytime he had the chance like a lot of those guys. Granted its an all-star game and thats expected, it really showed me something. He got the ball to the PG every time he touched the ball and went to post up and was setting screens everytime down the court. He wasn't a center running around shooting up 3s (something I saw Sullinger do a couple of times). He never took shots unless it was in the flow of the game and was never out of control. He made one 18 foot jumper, blocked a few shots and had two dunks that showed his potential. He is a team player.... and will fit in perfectly to the nucleus we have returning next year.

I'm ready to get this guy on campus.


Show me some Love

I don't know a lot about Stargell Love except that he was lightly recruited all thru high school until he emerged over the last 6-8 months. He went from being unrated to being ESPN top 100 with a 94 ranking (Perry Jones is a 97). If you like Curtis Jerrells' ability to get to the rim, you will love this kid. The only difference is this kid can finish with authority in traffic. He's 6-1 with a 44' verticle. He can flat out ball. If I had to compare him to anyone, I would say he has John Wall's athletic ability and Henry Dugat's type build.

Just see for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VewPEBwMMng



If you're looking for a team who will be deep and talented then Baylor's 2010-2011 club will be one you want to follow. Before the emergence of Ekpe Udoh anchor defensively and Tweety Carter's ability to lead, next season was the one everyone was looking at for being a break out year. But now, it will be the follow up year. With what the Big12 loses this year, Baylor could be the preseason favorite to win the Big12. And that is regardless of what Ekpe Udoh decides to do. Coach Drew has become a much better coach every year he has been at Baylor and I expect him to be that much better of a coach next year.








Sic' em Lady Bears!

Sweet 16/ Aggies/ Saint Marys

It's Sweet Sixteen time and I finally have decided to get this rolling. Baylor fans everywhere are drooling to get the opportunity to make it to Houston this weekend to catch their Bears in action; most will probablybe watching for their first time this season.

There have been 47,000 announced tickets sold so far and because Baylor is playing in it's back yard, I will go out on a limb and say that a lot of those tickets were bought by Aggies and Bears with the difference being the Aggies are now looking to unload theirs and the Bears are buying them.

Which brings me to my first question. Why are all the Aggies whining about Baylor having an easier route to the Sweet 16? Was Baylor not the higher seed? Don't higher seeds usually have an easier route? Once the brackets were said most Bears were envious of Turgeon's Aggies road to the Sweet Sixteen. With Utah State and a crippled Purdue team, A&M should have been able to sweat their way to "sweetness." But they did just the opposite. With their 1st team all-Big12 guard Donald Sloan choking away his final game in maroon (4-17 shooting), Texas A&M is starting to look like Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma football team; can't win the big game in crunch time. Sure they have made it to the NCAA tournament 5 years in a row and won their first game all of those years, but with the talent they have had on their recent teams (Acie Law, Junior Elonu, Josh Carter, Bryan Davis, Joe Jones, Deandre Jordan and even Antanas Kavaliauskus), they have done very little with it come Dancing time. It's like the Cowboys making it to the playoffs this year; no one really cares that they made it... win something! For starters, your game in the round of 32!

Now, on to the next one. Omar Samhan. If you haven't heard some of this guys comments, just get on his Twitter (http://twitter.com/OmarSamhan). He is becoming the Charles Barkley of the new millenium... except with hardly the credentials. But he is getting them fast. He is averaging over 30 points in two games in the NCAA tournament (Richmond and Villanova), and is the main clog in his Saint Mary's team that can shoot it well from deep. However, I do not feel he will have his way with the Bears like he did with the previous two teams. He was the biggest player on the court in both games and was able to bully his way around on smaller counterparts. Baylor can roll three guys out there who are bigger and longer than he is (Udoh, Lomers and Sekelja) with two of the three getting significant playing time. Throw in lenghty 6-10 Anthony Jones and a 6-7 superior athlete in Quincy Acy into that 2-3 zone and I think you have a matchup that favors Baylor down low.

The biggest key to the game will be shutting down SMC's three point shooters. Through Baylor's first two NCAA games the teams have combined for 12-44 (27%). Baylor's backcourt has superior athletes compared to SMC, but Baylor's zone's main weakness is covering the 3-point shooter and around the free throw line. Baylor might even extend their zone and leave the middle open and let the Gaels have the shot from the freethrow line due to the fact their team shoots over 40% from deep. Anthony Jones and Quincy Acy will probably be the key for the Bears in that area with their athletic ability and length. Dunn, Carter and Walton really need to have active hands and deny any pass towards the middle of the court. If there was a time for Baylor to run their match up 2-3 zone as tight as possible, this would be the game.

Lomers has held his ground all season long, not letting players similar to Samhan like Pittman from Texas and Aldrich from Kansas, back him down and push him around. It's one way Lomers has learned to use his size. Baylor won't have to double team him very much due to our zone being able to collapse, but like stated above, active hands are key. They need steals and deflections on every possession.

RUN. Saint Mary's is not athletic and they are not deep. Get Samhan winded or in foul trouble and they become one dimensional. Baylor has the athletes to bang down low or run it full speed ahead.

Sic 'em Bears to the Elite Eight!

See you in Houston!