Teagle was such a badass here with a really nice career in the golden era of the NBA.

A Baylor legend in the house for the Texas Tip Off tour!

🤝 Terry Teagle#SicEm | #CultureofJOY pic.twitter.com/uGA0QKzcDy

— Baylor Men’s Basketball (@BaylorMBB) October 3, 2023

Big12Bear said:

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Teagle was such a badass here with a really nice career in the golden era of the NBA.

A Baylor legend in the house for the Texas Tip Off tour!

🤝 Terry Teagle#SicEm | #CultureofJOY pic.twitter.com/uGA0QKzcDy

— Baylor Men’s Basketball (@BaylorMBB) October 3, 2023

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Not sure who I would place as the GOAT for Baylor MBB, but Terry is definitely on the short list.

Still the best pure shooter to ever wear a Baylor uniform. #Legend is right

Back then the Tournament only had 24 teams until 1974, expanded to 32 teams in 1978, then to 40 teams in 1979, 48 teams in 1980, and finally 64 teams in 1985. That was a tough tourney to make back then; the SWC was basically a one bid league for most of those years. Starting late 70's, sometimes 2 teams made it when they added at large bids. Houston, Arkansas, & Texas were the top teams back then that ate up any bid the SWC got.

DanaDane said:

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All of you old guys talk about Teagle and Vinnie Johnson in glowing terms, so I have to believe they must have been pretty special. But, why did their teams never qualify for the NCAA tournament? Was the supporting cast just really bad? Was the coach just really bad?

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I think there are a number of factors involved. I think Jim Haller did a fine job keeping the program going after the previous coach resigned in the middle of the 76-77 season. A couple of our forwards stepped away about that time as well. What I remember (which is imperfect!) the story was there was some expectation by players/coaches of a new basketball venue to replace HOT. I don't know how much that setback in the 70s hurt the program, but it sure didn't help it.

We had great guards in that era, but I don't recall our being that strong up front--no one over 6-8. Vinnie was a microwave, but when the microwave wasn't cooking, we usually took the L. Defense wasn't good enough to overcome shooting slumps. Finally, Arkansas, Houston and Texas got a whole lot better in the era. Arkansas in 79 with Moncrief was the best team and player--except for Larry Bird and Magic, some kind of talent year! Our best chance in the Teagle years was his Senior year, which coincided with the rise of Phi Slamma Jamma.

Back then:

No money
No arena
No TV
Fewer teams in the post season
SWC had no respect in basketball other than UH and Arkansas, and that was occasional. Only one team from the SWC normally was invited.

We occasionally had some great players, but the supporting cast and the lack of facilities overwhelmed the greatness of Vinnie and Terry and Michael Williams, et al. We actually had the occasional outstanding player in the 60's....William Chatmon is but one example. Just not enough.

Bill Menefee had ONE assistant coach, who also coached the freshman team...Carroll Dawson.

Basketball was an afterthought. When I was at Longview High School in the mid to late 1960's, if you didn't play football, with rare exceptions, you were not allowed to play other sports. Basketball in those days in Texas for the most part (other than perhaps inner city Houston, Dallas, etc.) was an afterthought and something to keep the football players in shape in the off season.

DanaDane said:

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All of you old guys talk about Teagle and Vinnie Johnson in glowing terms, so I have to believe they must have been pretty special. But, why did their teams never qualify for the NCAA tournament? Was the supporting cast just really bad? Was the coach just really bad?

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I could drone for at least an hour about how nuts it was when Vinnie materialized in bleak late 70's Waco, in the horse barn we played in, and just lit people up. Waco had never seen anything like it. Very, very similar to the RG3 phenomena. Teagle was phenomenal as well. But I'll cast off my boomerism and give Davion the best in school history award.