I am sure I missed someone but it appears that Drew is putting together a solid group from the Transfer Portal with added length and defensive mindset. Data does not include players who played in less than 30 games (or close to it), plus any incoming freshman + Cameron Carr.

Might not be as bad as we thought it would be.....

Player Cnt Per Game Average Points Rebounds Assist Steals Blocks TO
6 - Baylor 24/25 (Omier, VJ, Wright, Roach, Nunn and Celestine) 67.9 26.5 13.9 6.7 2.1 9.0

5 - Baylor 25/26 (Retaj, Agbim, White, Bodo, Powell) 63.9 28.6 10.4 4.9 3.3 8.3

That's interesting data, Blues. The one argument that might be posed as a difference between the prior players' numbers vs. the new signee numbers is that Set A of data was largely against Big 12 competition and what ended up as one of the Top 10 most difficult schedules in all of college basketball by pretty much every assessment tool (KenPom, Torvik, Evan M, Net, etc), while set B of data was largely against mid major competition with a sprinkling of games against High Majors.

And, therein lies the conundrum not only for us but a good portion of teams across the college landscape in trying to assess how good a team should be next season since a lot of schools with smaller NIL budgets had to retool with good mid major players. How are these mid major signees going to perform with the step up in competition? We have evidence nationally with players such as Walter Clayton at Florida and even within our own conference with players like JT Toppin and Darrion Williams at Tech, Keshon Gilbert and Curtis Jones at Iowa St (to name a few), that mid majors can step up and perform as well if not better in a tougher conference. We also have some examples where a mid major player's scoring and shooting percentages took nosedives when suddenly faced with tougher competition.

Going forward the guys we signed will be competing against a more difficult schedule, although I expect from Drew's comments that he will wisely tool back the strength of the early preseason to give the team time to develop some chemistry without being thrown into the fire so fast. While I'd like to have grabbed a couple of good High Majors who had shown they could perform (and maybe we still will), Drew has faced a difficult task of replacing an entire roster so I'm sure the budget doesn't allow to pay too many guys a substantial amount. I like what he has done thus far in terms of mixing size with some outside shooters, a couple of guys who appear to be good from a defensive standpoint, and then a young, potential star in Yessoufou. I don't think we have a UH, Tech, Iowa St or BYU talent level roster at this point, but I think Drew is building a competitive roster.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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That's interesting data, Blues. The one argument that might be posed as a difference between the prior players' numbers vs. the new signee numbers is that Set A of data was largely against Big 12 competition and what ended up as one of the Top 10 most difficult schedules in all of college basketball by pretty much every assessment tool (KenPom, Torvik, Evan M, Net, etc), while set B of data was largely against mid major competition with a sprinkling of games against High Majors.

And, therein lies the conundrum not only for us but a good portion of teams across the college landscape in trying to assess how good a team should be next season since a lot of schools with smaller NIL budgets had to retool with good mid major players. How are these mid major signees going to perform with the step up in competition? We have evidence nationally with players such as Walter Clayton at Florida and even within our own conference with players like JT Toppin and Darrion Williams at Tech, Keshon Gilbert and Curtis Jones at Iowa St (to name a few), that mid majors can step up and perform as well if not better in a tougher conference. We also have some examples where a mid major player's scoring and shooting percentages took nosedives when suddenly faced with tougher competition.

Going forward the guys we signed will be competing against a more difficult schedule, although I expect from Drew's comments that he will wisely tool back the strength of the early preseason to give the team time to develop some chemistry without being thrown into the fire so fast. While I'd like to have grabbed a couple of good High Majors who had shown they could perform (and maybe we still will), Drew has faced a difficult task of replacing an entire roster so I'm sure the budget doesn't allow to pay too many guys a substantial amount. I like what he has done thus far in terms of mixing size with some outside shooters, a couple of guys who appear to be good from a defensive standpoint, and then a young, potential star in Yessoufou. I don't think we have a UH, Tech, Iowa St or BYU talent level roster at this point, but I think Drew is building a competitive roster.

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I don't have any problem at all collecting mid-major transfers. As I posted a few weeks ago, many of the top players in the Sweet 16 came from the mid-major ranks.

If guys can play, they can play. And the more good/productive/complementary players you put together on the same roster, the better your team will be.

I think having to recruit so many transfers in one cycle is a problem. But if you have to do what we're doing, I like the guys we're adding.

We've addressed most of our biggest weaknesses already. Hopefully, we'll finish this class off with a couple of multi-year guys who can fill limited bench roles really well and hopefully take on bigger roles in the future.

Good comments. I also like we are getting leadership experience as well - this group of players are quick, move to the ball fast on the defense side and seem to unselfish on the offense side....We shall see...

BluesBear said:

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Good comments. I also like we are getting leadership experience as well - this group of players are quick, move to the ball fast on the defense side and seem to unselfish on the offense side....We shall see...

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Great point and made me think. The one upside of no returning players is the player leadership void we've had the last couple years can be naturally filled by a new player without it being award and feeling like he's usurping someone with tenure that deserves the role.

You missed Tounde?

IvanBear said:

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BluesBear said:

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Good comments. I also like we are getting leadership experience as well - this group of players are quick, move to the ball fast on the defense side and seem to unselfish on the offense side....We shall see...

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Great point and made me think. The one upside of no returning players is the player leadership void we've had the last couple years can be naturally filled by a new player without it being award and feeling like he's usurping someone with tenure that deserves the role.

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This is an interesting point I hadn't thought of either. I'd still much prefer to have a returning nucleus to build from, but this will probably be the most organically grown group of leaders we've ever had. The ones who take on those roles -- assuming some do -- will have done so naturally and with the approval of their new teammates.

bear2be2 said:

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IvanBear said:

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BluesBear said:

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Good comments. I also like we are getting leadership experience as well - this group of players are quick, move to the ball fast on the defense side and seem to unselfish on the offense side....We shall see...

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Great point and made me think. The one upside of no returning players is the player leadership void we've had the last couple years can be naturally filled by a new player without it being award and feeling like he's usurping someone with tenure that deserves the role.

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This is an interesting point I hadn't thought of either. I'd still much prefer to have a returning nucleus to build from, but this will probably be the most organically grown group of leaders we've ever had. The ones who take on those roles -- assuming some do -- will have done so naturally and with the approval of their new teammates.

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Yes agree, I would much rather prefer the core, but it's been clearly awkward for years now even with akinjo who the players leading the locker room should be and were.


This scenario we're in is where the culture of JOY should work, if we have buy in like Omier with our transfers this year, high character guys and level playing field should make for good leadership if there is any.

Ok, just picked up 1 of the 2 High Major transfers I was hoping for. Now, let's land a solid PG, get us to 9 and we're in really good shape.