TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:
Great coach.
Great players.
Why no good?
Obviously we're a good-ish team, but we're not up to where we thought we'd be. What's missing?
That's what Drew did in the early 2010s, likely in response to the early days when our lone big was a 6' 8" walk on. For a while we were one of biggest/longest teams in country. Then the game became more guard oriented. Moving back slightly towards bigger teams b/c of NIL and guys like Edey, Dickenson, etc. sticking around again. Drew has already said they will get taller next year. I'm sure if he could go back they would have gotten another 5 to backup Josh O instead of Celestine. Wanted more "shooters" as someone said on this thread, and Celestine was the best one they could land at that cost so they thought.ImABearToo said:
Let's go back to carrying multiple bigs and by big I mean 6'10+. Watching these teams in field of 64, many have more than 3 at that height or better on their roster. And shooters, more shooters please.
Celestine has been an oversized shooting guard his entire career. If our staff thought he could fill Bridges' role on either end of the floor, they were sorely mistaken.Ewalker80 said:
Celestine was supposed to be a close approximation of Bridges. Didn't shoot as well this season as last season, and also struggled with some injuries. I agree he was a modest disappointment, in part because of injuries, but if Josh O was healthy and Roach hit I don't think anyone would have thought much about it. Someone as good as bridges would have cost more than Celestine did, and they didn't have that kind of money after Roach and Ormier. Ormier was worth it but Roach wasn't.
Ewalker80 said:
I agree with all of this. We've also been way-hurt by injury bug since national championship, and could have competed for another without JTT injury. Missi and Sochan also very easily could have come back as projected and things likely very different in their sophmore seasons. That's all just life.
We have a top 10 program with a coach that is perhaps the most visible and best representative of what we all want Baylor to be. I'm so proud to support Coach Drew and Baylor B-ball, along with my family, because of what he represents.
Big12Fan2024 said:
My take:
1. When a coach wins a national championship, his teams from that point forward tend to get overrated in the preseason every year afterward. Go back through the past 25 years and you'll see it happen time and time again. Double that overrated concept when you sign 5 stars, because people think they are going to perform this year at the level they are projected to be in 5 years (see Rutgers and their losing season with 2 guys who are likely to go in the Top 5). This roster was way overrated by everyone to begin the year.
2. Way overpaid for Roach, who was never a singular gamechanger during his time at Duke. Unloading the truck for him impacted our ability to pay others. He was a steady performer at Duke not a superstar. I have to admit though, I was surprised how slow and ineffective at times he was at the PG position for our style of offense and he single handedly proved to me that not all Duke players learn D.
3. Didn't have the appropriate depth. Langston Love has been injured his entire career here. You needed a 9th or 10th guy on the bench who could play, just because you had Langston on the roster. And we didn't.
4. Same as #3, but the most egregious error on Drew's part for which he has already taken full responsibility -- no front court depth.
5. A team full of streaky shooters. Not one pure shooter on the entire roster that you could count on to bury shots from the outside.
6. Although the D got a bit better by year end, it still marked the 3rd consecutive year where it was simply not at an acceptable level if you want to challenge/win conference championships and damn sure nowhere close to be able to advance far in the NCAAs. I just don't know whether we have an assistant coach issue because we hired 2 fan favorites, a recruiter and a guy whose defenses at UTSA were awful, or whether we just had some really deficient talent in that area and 1 year just isn't enough to get them in line with good defensive fundamentals.
IowaBear said:
Defensive coaching, 3pt shooting, basketball IQ were the 3 that stand out this year imo as things that were missing
There was always a chance Sochan was going to go pro but, I don't think anyone suspected Missi of going pro so soon.Ewalker80 said:
I agree with all of this. We've also been way-hurt by injury bug since national championship, and could have competed for another without JTT injury. Missi and Sochan also very easily could have come back as projected and things likely very different in their sophmore seasons. That's all just life.
We have a top 10 program with a coach that is perhaps the most visible and best representative of what we all want Baylor to be. I'm so proud to support Coach Drew and Baylor B-ball, along with my family, because of what he represents.
Big12Fan2024 said:
Minimum 120 attempts - Total Year (Big 12 %)
Primary Tech 3 point shooters
McMillian - 43.4% (39%)
Walton - 39.9% (40%)
Anderson - 38.6% (42%)
Williams - 35.0% (33%)
Hawkins - 32.3% (35%)
Primary Baylor 3 point shooters
Nunn - 41.3% (32%) -- He basically feasted on the mid majors, shooting 53% from 3 against them
Celestine - 35.4% (34%)
Edgecombe - 34.0% (39%)
Roach - 33.3% (35%)
Just for additional information
Love - 32.6% (32%)
Wright - 35.2% (29%) - Also feasted on mid majors shooting 56% from 3 against them
Big12Fan2024 said:
I knew I saw it happen with my own eyes, but it was interesting to look at the numbers and see how much improvement VJ made as a shooter over the course of the year.
