Rob Wright -- He's an obvious choice for someone I want to return because he is extremely talented. However, I will go on record today saying as valuable as I consider him to be there is a breaking point monetarily at which I would allow him to walk. Some of his deficiencies were brought to the forefront by defensively talented taller guards with long wingspans and he is a complete work-in-progress on D (although I felt like he improved some during the year). If our NIL budget is limited, don't pull another Jeremy Roach and overpay for 1 person when you have a team of positions that need to be filled. It would kill me to see Wright in another uni, but at the same time I have to think of the overall team. Wright is talented, but he doesn't have the ability to carry an entire team by himself.
Yessoufou, Carr -- Haven't seen Yessoufou in a real game and I don't watch misleading mixtapes any longer. I would like to think we can stock the roster with some experienced transfers to the point Yessoufou is in the first group off the bench and not forced into a more prominent role unless he's ready for it. Carr has an incredible wingspan but looked a bit green in the few instances I saw him. I like the fact he will have been with the team for awhile and not just a guy rolling in come early August.
Celestine - I like him if: a) we get him at a low NIL rate; b) we can use him for the role he is intended, which is a streaky 3 point shooter who comes off the bench and his minutes played are quickly determined by whether he is stroking that night or not. If we go into the season counting on him to be one of our productive 5 starters or even the reserve who we need to contribute the most, then that tells me to set my expectations for a team finish somewhere in the 6th to 12th spots.
Langston -- I'll make it short and sweet -- it's best for both him and Baylor that each go in different directions. He's a tremendous defensive liability, his lateral quickness is almost completely gone and his offensive game is ok but a shell of what it was. It was fun seeing the early versions of him but he needs a new start and we need to move on. If Scott decides to bring him back, then I would want to know we have 10 other guys who can actually play (not just walkons) because we know Love will miss games due to injuries. At this point he would be a 10-15 minute a game role player on a really good team.
Asemota -- I'm sure he's probably a good guy but I just don't see a fit with our style. He's too light and doesn't seem to enjoy the physicality required to play inside and seemingly not a good enough shooter to do what he wants to do -- sit in the corner and fire up 3's. Maybe with 2 more years of work he'd be ready to contribute at a higher level, but right now I see Jordan Turner and think he's probably better at a mid-major.
Josh O -- I'm proud of Josh. While he didn't make the giant jump I thought he would over the summer, I feel like he turned into a reasonably solid rotational big. He's just not a big who should have been playing 30 minutes a game and that's on Drew not Josh. Unfortunately, I just don't see that many big guys come back from knee injuries like that with the same skills as pre-injury and so I wonder how effective he will be even if he can play in 2025-26. If Drew decides to keep him, see the Langston Rule above -- just make sure you have 10 other guys who can play because you're not getting a full, 100% season from Josh. He's been such a good dude I would love to see him graduate from Baylor (or maybe he's working on his Masters now?) so I'd love to see him on the bench and at some point coming in for 10-15 minutes a game when needed.
Marino - On the positive side I have been surprised that he hasn't looked awful in the filler time he's given over the past few weeks but at the same time it is obvious he would be an extended project and it seems like Europeans come over for US college to play and if they don't play immediately they transfer. So, I'll be surprised to see him still here. I'd rather find a guy who has played a year or two and contributed.
Yanis -- We signed the guy in 2023 and he still hasn't played in 2 years. If his knee is that bad then I'm not building any team around him. And, I still don't know whether he can play or not, so for those reasons I'm saying Best Wishes and finding someone at a mid-major who has actually played and I can see what skills they have.
All the others - Best wishes and thank you for being a Baylor Bear this year.
