With the addition of Harvard grad transfer Chris Ledlum, St. John's is now a consensus Top 25 team to begin next season.

The Red Storm check in at 23 in the ROTHSTEIN 45.https://t.co/b69WWVatkQ

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 19, 2023

22. Baylor
Projected Starting 5:
G RayJ Dennis
G Ja'Kobe Walter
G Langston Love
F Jalen Bridges
C Jonathan Tchamwa-Tchatchoua
Projected Bench: Dantwan Grimes, Josh Ojianwuna, Caleb Lohner, Jayden Nunn, Yves Missi, Miro Little
Key Newcomers: Miro Little, Ja'Kobe Walter, Jayden Nunn (VCU), Yves Missi, RayJ Dennis (Toledo)
Key Losses: Keyonte George, Flo Thamba, LJ Cryer, Dale Bonner

Key losses…just Cryer.

I still have nightmares watching Cryer guard Miles

Rephrasing, the only name from the list under "key losses" is Cryer. Agree, he was very one dimensional.

IowaBear said:

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Cryer was a ridiculous 3 point shooter. But aside from that his game sucked. The dude couldn't defend worth a ***** I've seen 60 year old guys at the Y in Ames play better D than he did

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I don't think I've ever seen two players play worse D and loaf as much in a single game as Cryer and another player (I shall not name because he stayed loyal to the program) did in the Marquette game. Cryer is a phenomenal 3 point shooter when he gets his feet set, but beyond that his ball handling skills were awful particuarly against good defenders, his passing was marginal, his rotation was slow and his D was often non-existent. I still laugh every time I think of the posts from a few years ago when we actually had people in this forum talking about how Cryer was gonna be a great PG.

I would love to have LJ as a 3 point bombing role player off the bench, kinda like a Brady Heslip type role. There's no denying he's an auto scoring machine when hot from the outside. But as far as him taking up one of our starting 5, I'd just as soon have a more all around player such as Dennis, Walter, Love or Nunn.

Spot on!! Houston better surround him with 4 ELITE defenders otherwise their defense is taking a gigantic step backwards.

Their other (Temple) transfer guard isn't a good defender either. Their pg is really solid but small so will be interesting.

Big 12 Official Stats:

LJ Cryer 2 point FG % -- 35-86 (40.6%)

wongobear said:

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gobears20 said:

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Key Losses: Keyonte George, Flo Thamba, LJ Cryer, Dale Bonner

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Wow, Bonner on the list before Flagler

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Gross oversight

Yup certainly "isn't near 50%" no sour grapes here. His film speaks for itself. Elite 3 point shooter. Piss poor pretty much everywhere else, especially on the defensive end. Show me a B12 guard worse than LJ on the defensive end? Don't care how good someone is offensively when they're easily the worst defender on the court on a nightly basis

Dana, those might be just conference stats. I pulled stats for the full season here: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/baylor/men/2023.html

LJ shot 49.7% from 2 on 167 attempts

Flag shot 45.4% from 2 on 194 attempts

Key shot 42,4% from 2 on 184 attempts

LJ was our most efficient scorer from inside the arc of our guard trio with a similar volume of attempts. He was not just a one-dimensional three point specialist. LJ was also the most efficient scorer from downtown of this trio, shooting 41,5/% compared to Flag's 40% and Key's 33.8%.

We will miss the scoring punch from our starting backcourt, despite how horrific they were collectively on the defensive end. We gotta hope Dennis and Walter can make the transition to big 12 play on the offensive end. I also expect Bridges to step up his scoring responsibilities; I believe he is capable and I suspect that was probably part of our recruiting pitch to convince him to return. Nunn also may be a sleeper to add some scoring (we already know he will have a huge impact defensively).

Agreed was a solid scorer. But I wouldn't say he could get to rim consistently. Had a nice runner though. Struggled with ball handling and athleticism. Wasn't a talented passer and didn't have great feel. Great shooter off the catch. Would fit much better with next year's team so we will miss that punch at times

And have to consider three defenders had to be glued to their man on every possession as Flag and George were the top two priorities for other teams.

At Houston they can crowd him and hone in as the other guards aren't great offensive players. If teams can focus on him as priority one on the game plan will be interesting to see how he handles it

All good point especially regarding defenses honing in on Key and Flag. That explains a lot why Key's fg% was so awful with all the defensive attention he wasn't quite ready to handle. Then the ankle injury pretty much sealed the deal.

I would correct myself here and even say a tier above solid. Was a good to very good scorer with solid efficiency.

But needs guys to open up the floor for him. Has many exploitable weaknesses