Vert wise I gotta believe Pierre had the highest of any BU player the last decade or so. Dude was a freak athlete for his height

All of that sounds great and I can't wait to watch him on offense but it doesn't mean a hill of beans if he is like all the other guards we keep signing who can't play a lick of D. If he can't then we'll be going home the first weekend of the NCAAs for the 4th year in a row.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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All of that sounds great and I can't wait to watch him on offense but it doesn't mean a hill of beans if he is like all the other guards we keep signing who can't play a lick of D. If he can't then we'll be going home the first weekend of the NCAAs for the 4th year in a row.

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Roach will be a big defensive upgrade, but I agree, Edge's ability to defend is TBD. He needs to be at least a passable defender. Edge is a freak athlete but as we saw with Walter last year, defense requires more than just effort and athleticism. It requires instincts and fundamentals which were severely lacking the past two seasons with our perimeter players. We need Nunn to improve his fundamentals this offseason to be at least a mediocre defender which I think he has the athleticism to do. Teams will try to isolate Love on the perimeter every possession he's in the game so we need the guys around him to be at least average.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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Fre3dombear said:

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Never seen anyone as explosive as Quincy Acy before or after

He set the bar

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As far as Baylor dunkers, Terry Black was up there with Acy (literally).

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Terry Black was the best athlete I've ever seen in a Baylor basketball uniform.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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Big12Fan2024 said:

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All of that sounds great and I can't wait to watch him on offense but it doesn't mean a hill of beans if he is like all the other guards we keep signing who can't play a lick of D. If he can't then we'll be going home the first weekend of the NCAAs for the 4th year in a row.

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Roach will be a big defensive upgrade, but I agree, Edge's ability to defend is TBD. He needs to be at least a passable defender. Edge is a freak athlete but as we saw with Walter last year, defense requires more than just effort and athleticism. It requires instincts and fundamentals which were severely lacking the past two seasons with our perimeter players. We need Nunn to improve his fundamentals this offseason to be at least a mediocre defender which I think he has the athleticism to do. Teams will try to isolate Love on the perimeter every possession he's in the game so we need the guys around him to be at least average.

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Most of what we hear about Edgecombe highlights his athleticism. What kind of player is he? Can he shoot, handle, pass, etc.?

I haven't ever seen him play, so that's what I'll be most interested in when the season starts next winter. Athleticism is great, but the skill set is way more interesting (and important) to me.

He just needs to be as good as Anthony Edwards.

Good sirs. You could not possibly forget the mythical hops that Quevyn Winters had. One of the greatest BU ever saw.

BearnMI said:

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Good sirs. You could not possibly forget the mythical hops that Quevyn Winters had. One of the greatest BU ever saw.

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Anheuser-Busch wishes it had his hops...

James Francis was a pretty good enforcer on defense.

bear2be2 said:

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Crawfoso1973 said:

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Big12Fan2024 said:

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All of that sounds great and I can't wait to watch him on offense but it doesn't mean a hill of beans if he is like all the other guards we keep signing who can't play a lick of D. If he can't then we'll be going home the first weekend of the NCAAs for the 4th year in a row.

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Roach will be a big defensive upgrade, but I agree, Edge's ability to defend is TBD. He needs to be at least a passable defender. Edge is a freak athlete but as we saw with Walter last year, defense requires more than just effort and athleticism. It requires instincts and fundamentals which were severely lacking the past two seasons with our perimeter players. We need Nunn to improve his fundamentals this offseason to be at least a mediocre defender which I think he has the athleticism to do. Teams will try to isolate Love on the perimeter every possession he's in the game so we need the guys around him to be at least average.

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Most of what we hear about Edgecombe highlights his athleticism. What kind of player is he? Can he shoot, handle, pass, etc.?

I haven't ever seen him play, so that's what I'll be most interested in when the season starts next winter. Athleticism is great, but the skill set is way more interesting (and important) to me.

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You aren't going to like it but he's raw.. yet rapidly developing. Offensive game is raw but smoothing out. Handle isn't great but instincts are good. Jumper is work in progress that is coming along. Improved passer. Elite pro level athleticism.

Fortunately we don't need an offensive feature guy. We need a guy who can get out in transition, attack the rim, defend, and be a connector. He should watch UConn's freshman a lot this summer. We need a lot of that although he will probably be a slightly better offensive player.

I definitely respect the opinions on here as I think there's several well educated posters on here when it comes to bb knowledge.
But one thing I've learned it's that the fanbase tends to exaggerate the incoming 5 stars contributions/talents. I've learned to play the wait and see game with our highly rated incoming recruits.

He's very efficient and aggressive in his movements. Will be fun to watch. The strength, explosiveness, energy and athleticism give him legit defensive skill set. He's not Davion but he can beat an offensive player to a spot.

IMHO, from what I've seen, highest NBA floor of any prospect we've ever had and highest NBA ceiling after PJ3 and Isiah Austin we've ever had. I'm legit excited about this. I don't know a great comp but he seems to be a bigger version of Henry Dugat athletically and with an attackers scoring mentality. I don't think he settles for or hunts for 3s like Keyonte and JaKobe. He's going to get to the rim and get a ton of free throws.

Strange to me the level of disdain for talented freshmen. Not his fault if he is a one and done player we offered. 4 year talented players are few and far between unless we want to field a team of highly paid free agents. I don't want that.

Like most Baylor basketball fans I'm excited to see Edgecombe attack the rim. Athletic players typically are better defenders. We will see on that end.

You realize we're already fielding a team of free agents right? Nunn, Omier, Roach. All free agents as you called them will make up 60% of the starting rotation

IowaBear said:

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You realize we're already fielding a team of free agents right? Nunn, Omier, Roach. All free agents as you called them will make up 60% of the starting rotation

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I think Love should start over Nunn but I understand free agents are part of the game now. I just don't want an entire team of them.

JP1037 said:

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Strange to me the level of disdain for talented freshmen. Not his fault if he is a one and done player we offered. 4 year talented players are few and far between unless we want to field a team of highly paid free agents. I don't want that.

Like most Baylor basketball fans I'm excited to see Edgecombe attack the rim. Athletic players typically are better defenders. We will see on that end.

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Don't confuse frustration for disdain. Players who are only in our program for one season are going to be judged for their performance in that one season. When guys arrive with endless hype and leave needing excuses made for their play, some fans are going to be frustrated.

JP1037 said:

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Strange to me the level of disdain for talented freshmen. Not his fault if he is a one and done player we offered. 4 year talented players are few and far between unless we want to field a team of highly paid free agents. I don't want that.

Like most Baylor basketball fans I'm excited to see Edgecombe attack the rim. Athletic players typically are better defenders. We will see on that end.

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Drew has clearly chosen a path during the transfer portal era which is turning over the roster every offseason and rebuilding with transfer portal guys and one-and-done freshman. This strategy has a relatively high floor (round of 32) but also an enourmous ceiling if all the pieces fit. People can agree or disagree with this strategy but it is what it is if you want to support Baylor basketball.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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JP1037 said:

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Strange to me the level of disdain for talented freshmen. Not his fault if he is a one and done player we offered. 4 year talented players are few and far between unless we want to field a team of highly paid free agents. I don't want that.

Like most Baylor basketball fans I'm excited to see Edgecombe attack the rim. Athletic players typically are better defenders. We will see on that end.

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Drew has clearly chosen a path during the transfer portal era which is turning over the roster every offseason and rebuilding with transfer portal guys and one-and-done freshman. This strategy has a relatively high floor (round of 32) but also an enourmous ceiling if all the pieces fit. People can agree or disagree with this strategy but it is what it is if you want to support Baylor basketball.

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Only disagreement is Coach Cal at Kentucky was out here proving the floor was lower than the round of 32. It's been our floor thus far, but it certainly doesn't have to be.

That is true. Due to variance anything can happen in the tournament, even first round upsets.

Nunn a plus defender? He was well below average.

Very interesting, I had no idea of those defensive metrics. Thanks for sharing. I was just going by the old-fashioned eye test. I have recurring PTSD when remembering guys getting in the paint after blowing past Walter and Nunn over and over again.

I do agree Nunn should be improved after a full offseason, not just defensively but his ball-handling and playmaking as well. He seems like a good kid who will put in the work.

Open to this idea but skeptical. Wonder what metrics and whose data you pulled this from. I haven't seen anything like that. Ive seen other numbers that were mediocre.

Nunn is a capable athlete but I'll have to rewatch the second half of the yr because first half wasn't good. I agree his offense improved a ton. I also agree on Josh.

Nunn's defensive fundamentals were off. On the back foot consistently, upright, got caught leaning, lost in coverage, and mediocre contests. He has decent recovery after an opponent gets a step. Some nice flashes but that's all I saw.

I do agree he could be a good defender with an offseason and high level defensive coaching.