Would be amazing if he realized he's not going to get opportunities at the next level right now unless he elevates his game. If he came back it would be awesome. I know he won't though.

boognish_bear said:

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I haven't seen anyone here saying they want to see him gone. I've seen the opposite....wanting him back.

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I think most people on these boards have a better understanding of the sport

I can't tell you how many casuals I follow on instagram that were bashing him

BigGameBaylorBear said:

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boognish_bear said:

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I haven't seen anyone here saying they want to see him gone. I've seen the opposite....wanting him back.

---

I think most people on these boards have a better understanding of the sport

I can't tell you how many casuals I follow on instagram that were bashing him

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That's really disappointing....but not surprising with social media I guess.

IvanBear said:

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boognish_bear said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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boognish_bear said:

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I haven't seen anyone here saying they want to see him gone. I've seen the opposite....wanting him back.

---

I think most people on these boards have a better understanding of the sport

I can't tell you how many casuals I follow on instagram that were bashing him

---

That's really disappointing....but not surprising with social media I guess.

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It's a little hard to blame a causal though, he's an overhyped player. He hardly ever lived up to his billing, and while he was key in keeping us in some big games it's hard to point to a performance of his that pushed us over the top in a big game. Only Auburn comes to mind. Instead casuals tune in see Fran talk about how he's a top ten draft pick and see a guy shooting sub 30% from 3.

I can't remember the last time the best freshman in the big twelve was shut out of the all conference roster.

His attitude should never be called into doubt but anyone thinking he lived to to his billing is crazy. I think that's where some of the online hate on say Instagram comes for. And he deserves a lot of flack for his defense and shot decision making but not him personally, personally he seems like one of the greats it sucks one of our highest character teams ever was one of our most disappointing teams.

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anyone expecting a freshman to not have freshman moments is a fool

Just an observation because I agree with you, but even Durant lost in the 2nd Round to USC back in 2007.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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He never took bad shots, they just didn't drop for him. Never once did he try to force anything or play hero ball.

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He shot 29% from three in conference play. Early on I would agree he didnt' try to force things, and only a handful of games he really tried to force shots when he shouldn't have. His real problem was he was dreadful at shot selection, which meant he took a lot of bad shots. Many times he passed on taking the assisted 3 attempt instead of catching the ball dribbling around and then taking a contested three.

It also got to the point near the end of the season people stopped respecting him as a 3 point shooter. Which is why he got a lot of open looks, his shot wasn't falling bait him into taking a shot he is most likely going to miss. He took a lot of 3's he should have been driving to the basket instead to try and draw contact or developing a mid range jumper.

I appreciate he wasn't a ball hog like George, but he unfortunately became the same kind of player a volume shooter, but with a worse shooting percentage. Less of his shots were forced, but also less of his shots went down, so it's hard to argue it was better.

And here's the problem with all of this, the script was 100% different when he was not playing a power conference team. He was a significantly worse player when real defensive pressure was applied to him as opposed to mid major level pressure. So it's hard to argue that his shooting woes were his shot just turning bad. Because it sure didn't look bad against Colgate at the end of the season, the level of competition really played a factor in his ability to shoot.

I do appreciate he largely avoided playing hero ball. He is very much a team player.

I don't think anyone hates Walter. What I don't like is continually recruiting players who leave after one year. This type of situation very rarely produces deep tournament runs, regardless of who the freshman is. If anyone is to blame, it is Hall Of Fame coach Scott Drew for not being more developmentally focused. As long as he relies on 2 freshman starters every year, there is a huge probability of no deep runs.

True Grit said:

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Just an observation because I agree with you, but even Durant lost in the 2nd Round to USC back in 2007.

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My point exactly. Kevin Durant was far and away the best offensive player I ever saw as a Freshman (actually before that year--watch his McDonalds Game out of HS). He is about the same defensively now as then. The problem isn't the Freshman players, it is teams relying way too much on the Freshman to carry them. Texas relied on Durant so much I thought some of his teammates should have paid admission.

TWD 1974 said:

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True Grit said:

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Just an observation because I agree with you, but even Durant lost in the 2nd Round to USC back in 2007.

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My point exactly. Kevin Durant was far and away the best offensive player I ever saw as a Freshman (actually before that year--watch his McDonalds Game out of HS). He is about the same defensively now as then. The problem isn't the Freshman players, it is teams relying way too much on the Freshman to carry them. Texas relied on Durant so much I thought some of his teammates should have paid admission.

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Perhaps his weakest half of basketball that season was the first half of the big 12 tourney quarterfinal game we played against the Longhorns. He was a virtual no-show for that half and we went to the locker room with a big lead - almost to the point of appearing to have the game already wrapped up at that point. Boy, did he ever flip the switch in the second half, however, and he ended up virtually single-handedly winning the game for the whorns in the end.

Johnny Bear said:

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TWD 1974 said:

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True Grit said:

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Just an observation because I agree with you, but even Durant lost in the 2nd Round to USC back in 2007.

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My point exactly. Kevin Durant was far and away the best offensive player I ever saw as a Freshman (actually before that year--watch his McDonalds Game out of HS). He is about the same defensively now as then. The problem isn't the Freshman players, it is teams relying way too much on the Freshman to carry them. Texas relied on Durant so much I thought some of his teammates should have paid admission.

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Perhaps his weakest half of basketball that season was the first half of the big 12 tourney quarterfinal game we played against the Longhorns. He was a virtual no-show for that half and we went to the locker room with a big lead - almost to the point of appearing to have the game already wrapped up at that point. Boy, did he ever flip the switch in the second half, however, and he ended up virtually single-handedly winning the game for the whorns in the end.

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I remember that game. Mamadou went nuts, finishing with 14 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. It was the best game he played in his life.

I was hoping it would be a sign of things to come. But unfortunately, it was just a fun flash in the pan.

parch said:

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Every mock draft I've seen as of today has him floating somewhere between pick 8-15 in the 2024 draft. As much as I think he could use another year of development, in terms of his future he would be a moron to stay.

I feel the opposite about Missi. He's a late first round projection right now, but he's still only 19 and extremely raw. If he keeps developing at pace and stuck around another year, he could get lottery pick $ in 2025. I'm sure he'll go too, but he shouldn't.

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FWIW

.@DraftExpress has #Baylor F Yves Missi 20th and #Bears F Jalen Bridges 57th.

Link:https://t.co/QtxeNX14T9 https://t.co/CFNnzTvI69

— Michael Haag (@MichaelHaag_) March 26, 2024

IvanBear said:

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boognish_bear said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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boognish_bear said:

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I haven't seen anyone here saying they want to see him gone. I've seen the opposite....wanting him back.

---

I think most people on these boards have a better understanding of the sport

I can't tell you how many casuals I follow on instagram that were bashing him

---

That's really disappointing....but not surprising with social media I guess.

---

It's a little hard to blame a causal though, he's an overhyped player. He hardly ever lived up to his billing, and while he was key in keeping us in some big games it's hard to point to a performance of his that pushed us over the top in a big game. Only Auburn comes to mind. Instead casuals tune in see Fran talk about how he's a top ten draft pick and see a guy shooting sub 30% from 3.

I can't remember the last time the best freshman in the big twelve was shut out of the all conference roster.

His attitude should never be called into doubt but anyone thinking he lived to to his billing is crazy. I think that's where some of the online hate on say Instagram comes for. And he deserves a lot of flack for his defense and shot decision making but not him personally, personally he seems like one of the greats it sucks one of our highest character teams ever was one of our most disappointing teams.

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Likely it's just people venting frustration that a guy were renting for a year when, in the 8 or so games we lost by 5 or less points, went 4/15 or so from the floor give or take

Sure it can't be blamed jist on him and he did many things amazingly well. His stats for a freshman weren't bad but few freshman are gonna get that many shots off just because of potential and he benefitted from chucking up a ton of shots.

I'd have never guessed he'd have bricked us out of a sweet 16 basically just from the free throw line (not that that the only reason but if he makes 83% of his shots when it mattered most from the line, likely Clemson buckles and we win.

Fre3dombear said:

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IvanBear said:

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boognish_bear said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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boognish_bear said:

---

I haven't seen anyone here saying they want to see him gone. I've seen the opposite....wanting him back.

---

I think most people on these boards have a better understanding of the sport

I can't tell you how many casuals I follow on instagram that were bashing him

---

That's really disappointing....but not surprising with social media I guess.

---

It's a little hard to blame a causal though, he's an overhyped player. He hardly ever lived up to his billing, and while he was key in keeping us in some big games it's hard to point to a performance of his that pushed us over the top in a big game. Only Auburn comes to mind. Instead casuals tune in see Fran talk about how he's a top ten draft pick and see a guy shooting sub 30% from 3.

I can't remember the last time the best freshman in the big twelve was shut out of the all conference roster.

His attitude should never be called into doubt but anyone thinking he lived to to his billing is crazy. I think that's where some of the online hate on say Instagram comes for. And he deserves a lot of flack for his defense and shot decision making but not him personally, personally he seems like one of the greats it sucks one of our highest character teams ever was one of our most disappointing teams.

---

Likely it's just people venting frustration that a guy were renting for a year when, in the 8 or so games we lost by 5 or less points, went 4/15 or so from the floor give or take

Sure it can't be blamed jist on him and he did many things amazingly well. His stats for a freshman weren't bad but few freshman are gonna get that many shots off just because of potential and he benefitted from chucking up a ton of shots.

I'd have never guessed he'd have bricked us out of a sweet 16 basically just from the free throw line (not that that the only reason but if he makes 83% of his shots when it mattered most from the line, likely Clemson buckles and we win.

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If we could have gotten it to overtime, Clemson was serious foul trouble. It's a shame we shot free throws as poorly as we did, but pressure free throws were an issue for this team all year.

A kid just like Jakobe who maybe isn't projected as highly thus he stays four years, is EXACTLY who I want at Baylor. I really would have loved to watch him develop and progress into something great while he plays for us, rather than while he's a pro somewhere else. That's one of the joys of watching your college basketball team, and the one and done system takes it away. So does the portal for one year transfer players, for that matter.

BusyTarpDuster2017 said:

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A kid just like Jakobe who maybe isn't projected as highly thus he stays four years, is EXACTLY who I want at Baylor. I really would have loved to watch him develop and progress into something great while he plays for us, rather than while he's a pro somewhere else. That's one of the joys of watching your college basketball team, and the one and done system takes it away. So does the portal for one year transfer players, for that matter.

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We had that with T. Prince and we lost in the first round to Yale and Georgia State. Just getting 4-year players doesn't automatically mean we go to the Final Four.

Exactly. And to piggyback off of this point, we are not in 2015 anymore but some posters on here seem to feel we still are. Really not possible to build rosters through redshirts and developmental players like we built our Natty team, due to the transfer portal and NIL. Those players will simply leave. Hell, we couldn't even get Grimes to finish off the current year. And even if we do keep developmental players from leaving, the bust rate on them is still high and they end up wasting roster spots the entire time they are here (e.g. Turner, Jordan and Loveday, Zach).

Big12Fan2024 said:

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Great kid, time to move on. VJ Edgecombe is next and he'll be just like Keyonte and Jakobe meaning he'll have a productive year but nowhere near what everyone expects of him because they will see the 5 star and think that means he's a polished product. None of these 5 stars is ever gonna be finished products so anyone who thinks getting a 5 star is the single factor that will propel Baylor to any championship conference or otherwise doesn't understand the difference between potential and ability now. They all may be great for an NBA team in 4 years but the 1 year they have with us will be nothing above good, which is fine as long as you set your expectations for that and/or Drew surrounds them with mature productive players who can cover for the erratic production you can expect from a 1 year 5 star.

I liked Jakobe and I liked Keyonte. I'm sure I will feel the same about VJ because Drew mainly recruits not only good basketball players but also high quality kids. I'll be cheering for all of them wherever they end up in professional basketball.

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Expectations are key. Anyone expecting one of these freshmen to carry the team have their expectations way out of wack. The fault is not with the kids but the unrealistic expectations placed upon them. I don't expect Edge to come in next year and dominate college basketball, but many people will demand perfection from him and will bash him when he falls short of their wildly unrealistic expectations.