Baylor Basketball

Breaking: Baylor Secures Transfer Portal Commitment From Omaha Guard JJ White

Omaha guard JJ White has committed to Scott Drew and Baylor.
April 3, 2025
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Omaha guard JJ White has committed to head coach Scott Drew and Baylor; he becomes the fourth transfer portal addition for the Bears’ 2025 class, joining Tennessee wing Cameron Carr, Wyoming guard Obi Agbim and Oregon State forward Michael Rataj.

White, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard, was Omaha’s second leading scorer, averaging 13.7 points per game on 49% shooting from the field, 80% from the free-throw line and 44% from beyond the arc. The First-Team All-Summit League guard also averaged four assists and 2.6 rebounds on 27 minutes per game.

He scored 15 points, drained three 3-pointers, dished out five assists and collected three rebounds in Omaha’s first-round loss to No. 2-seed St. John’s in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

Originally from Lawrenceville, Georgia, White has played in 99 games across three seasons at Omaha. Before his time with the Mavericks, White spent one season at Colby Community College, where he averaged 14.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. He has one year of eligibility remaining.


Why The Fit Looks Good

Shooters, ball handlers and scorers will always have a place at Baylor. White gives you the ability to have 40 minutes of strong point guard play when combined with rising sophomore point guard Rob Wright III. White was a highly efficient offensive player (122 KenPom rating). He was in the top 100 nationally in assist rate and the top 50 in 3-point percentage (44%). You can also play him alongside Wright in stretches.  


31 Comments
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Breaking: Baylor Secures Transfer Portal Commitment From Omaha Guard JJ White

12,547 Views | 31 Replies | Last: 8 mo ago by IvanBear
philiplewis1
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Please find a big guy or two
Calrocks94
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Let Scott cook time for a big or two and someone to round out the bench
IowaBear
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Nice pickup. But yet another 1 year rental.
Starting to think Drew is allergic to multi year guys.
MidwestMatt
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This guy looks good!

I am looking forward to seeing committments from a Center and another forward. I'm not on the premium side right now but I wish I was!

I bet it's tougher to sell a big on Baylor's offense but Missi and Omier have been great examples of what talented bigs can be at Baylor.
CalmJohn
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Cooper Flagg is next for the big request
2022 Adopt A Bear: Richard Reese - #29, Freshman, Bellville, TX
190 car, 962 yds, 5.1 AVG, 14 TD, 52 LNG, 0 FUM, 13 REC, 89 yds, 6.8 AVG, 17 LNG
Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year
Big12Fan2024
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On the right path from an outside shooting standpoint. So far we've signed two guards who shot 44.2% and 43.7%, respectively, from 3.

Lot of bigs in the portal. I'm confident we'll come up with 2 or 3.
philiplewis1
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Please find a big guy or two
Adriacus Peratuun
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Like every other program Baylor MBB would love to have infinite funds to buy 2-3 elite players at every position.
Baylor doesn't have infinite funds.

Reality is that money saved on this acquisition [and also saved by going with Carr over Celestine at backup 3] can be redirected to acquisitions at other positions. Like a rotational 5. Like a dirty work backup 4. And possibly even a tiny amount remaining for a spare tire guard [6th perimeter player].

The roster building is adding great pieces and doing it with cost effective spending. Judge the portal by the total work and not any one specific piece of the puzzle.
EvilTroyAndAbed
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IowaBear said:

Nice pickup. But yet another 1 year rental.
Starting to think Drew is allergic to multi year guys.


It's interesting that you think if we get a guy with three years remaining, he's not gonna transfer after a year or two. Look at Omier and Miami. Everybody now is on a one-year deal.
IowaBear
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I've never said that. That said I'd absolutely rather take my chances on a guy who has the opportunity to play at BU for more than 1 year over a guy who won't even have that option. You're absolutely free to prefer the 75 plus % roster turnover every year. I prefer some sort of continuity. The teams at the top of the B12 right now are building roster continuity. Don't think it's a coincidence that it's translating to on court success
Bearsalwayswin
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so how many more guys do we need exactly?
whitetrash
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possible12
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IowaBear said:

Nice pickup. But yet another 1 year rental.
Starting to think Drew is allergic to multi year guys.
Was hoping you might know why this guy doesn't qualify for 2 years due to the juco waiver being used through the courts. Not sure how that works, but I sure thought this was one of those waiver types.
Ewalker80
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Great depth piece. Now time for our starting center. Just need someone to protect rim and dunk on the pick and roll. We already have plenty of scoring so long as you have to respect the roll on the pick and roll so RW3 can cook.
IowaBear
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That's a good question, was wondering that myself. The rules nowadays are so hard to follow. Seems like a case by case thing where everyone is different
Big12Fan2024
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possible12 said:

IowaBear said:

Nice pickup. But yet another 1 year rental.
Starting to think Drew is allergic to multi year guys.
Was hoping you might know why this guy doesn't qualify for 2 years due to the juco waiver being used through the courts. Not sure how that works, but I sure thought this was one of those waiver types.

People took the Diego Pavia (Vandy QB) situation and assumed it meant going forward the NCAA had automatically granted additional years if you spent time at a JUCO (it actually also includes NAIA.....the verbiage is non-NCAA sponsored school). That's not what the NCAA approved.

The NCAA basically approved another year of eligibility for those who attended a JUCO or NAIA (or any non-NCAA institution) if your eligibility is supposed to finish in the 2024-2025 academic year. It doesn't not include anyone whose eligibility is scheduled to expire after the 2024-25 year at this point. Additionally, you still have to fit within the NCAA's rule of having 5 years to complete 4 NCAA seasons and the JUCO (or NAIA or other) counts toward that 5 years. The NCAA doesn't just automatically grant any of this. You have to apply for the waiver.

He played 1 year of JUCO ball, and 3 years at Omaha. His eligibility was scheduled to expire this year because he had played 4 years of college sports. Because he fit the criteria above, he can play next year which will mean he completes 4 NCAA seasons within 5 years. It's not like COVID and he gets an additional year after that.

There have been discussions about the NCAA continuing this one time waiver into the future and there have been discussions about giving college athletes 5 years of eligibility, but neither has been approved at this point.
Big12Fan2024
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Bearsalwayswin said:

so how many more guys do we need exactly?

So far we have:


PG: Wright, White
SG: Agbim
W: Yessoufou, Carr
PF: Rataj
C: Josh O (injured); Dubravcic

We have 5 spots open, although 2-3 will like be filled by walk-on types.
Ewalker80
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I would think we are good in backcourt with five - we have RW3 obi carr and white tounde

Need 3 more front court to get to four - we have only Rataj plus hopefully Josh returning mid season.

Our last big money should be on a starting 5 who can rim protect and dunk off pick and roll and lobs. Like JTT 2022 or Missi. There's a couple dozen of these guys in the portal. Hopefully drew has enough $$ left to land a good one as it will likely determine the team ceiling.

Everyone else will be depth pieces like white.
TXBEAR_bf
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It was posted in another thread that Dubravcic is entering the portal. Not sure how accurate that is? I haven't seen that anywhere else.
Bear living in the woods of Bend Oregon
Adriacus Peratuun
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Dubravcik portaling is a fairly strong indicator that a couple of great pieces of news are close to landing.
IowaBear
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Where's this posted at? Cant find it anywhere yet. Premium board?
Big12Fan2024
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TXBEAR_bf said:

It was posted in another thread that Dubravcic is entering the portal. Not sure how accurate that is? I haven't seen that anywhere else.
Hadn't heard or seen that. Wouldn't be surprised. If so, then another spot is open.
Big12Bear
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Verbal Commits account on X posted it a couple of hours ago.
Big12Fan2024
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Just found this. This site is pretty legit.
IowaBear
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Thank you!
Dukebear1
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Sounds like a solid adddition!
Crawfoso1973
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Dubravic going to the portal is another example, it's near impossible to get developmental guys to stick around. Almost 100% roster turnover every year in this new era of college basketball. I hate it.
TXBEAR_bf
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Exactly how 99% of fans feel. Just encourages guys to go to market every year. In my mind it's worse than the NBA. At least the NBA is not a guise for student athletes and there is a salary cap to even out the playing field. This whole thing is so mismanaged it's unreal. I'm glad we won the title in 2021, I just don't know if that would ever be possible if the rules, or lack there of, stay the same.
Bear living in the woods of Bend Oregon
Guitarbiscuit
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I'm not sure what the issue is with the excessive mercenary hirings. One thing that is true is that CSD and a whole lot of other coaches are unable to hold onto players-for whatever reason. Kelvin Sampson has proven that he can hold onto players. Is it money? The fact that Houston has more to offer than smaller towns? Or does he have something in his personality that engenders loyalty? Whatever it is, other coaches need to find out what it is and follow that route.
chorne68
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Guitarbiscuit said:

I'm not sure what the issue is with the excessive mercenary hirings. One thing that is true is that CSD and a whole lot of other coaches are unable to hold onto players-for whatever reason. Kelvin Sampson has proven that he can hold onto players. Is it money? The fact that Houston has more to offer than smaller towns? Or does he have something in his personality that engenders loyalty? Whatever it is, other coaches need to find out what it is and follow that route.
Winning and money are the keys.
IvanBear
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Guitarbiscuit said:

I'm not sure what the issue is with the excessive mercenary hirings. One thing that is true is that CSD and a whole lot of other coaches are unable to hold onto players-for whatever reason. Kelvin Sampson has proven that he can hold onto players. Is it money? The fact that Houston has more to offer than smaller towns? Or does he have something in his personality that engenders loyalty? Whatever it is, other coaches need to find out what it is and follow that route.



Poor recruiting is the problem. We haven't recruited many guys worth retaining. The ones we have retained were injury issues (Love, Everyday Jon) And the couple with talent worth retaining were bad culture fits or other issues (Cryer, Dainja, Mayer)


Yes we've had some hits that went pro earlier than expected and that hurts but that's the acceptable kind of hurt. The misses on the role players is the biggest issue. Bridges and now hopefully Wright are the only guys I feel like we thought were good enough to retain and did.
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