Game Thread: Nnaji Expected to Debut as Baylor Basketball Opens Big 12 play at TCU

DP4LIFE said:

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bear2be2 said:

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True Grit said:

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Why has this not been discussed more in regards to the roles of Scott and Mack in this situation? I am not saying that those players should have all been brought back, but for them all to leave is just wild. We use NIL, injuries, change in coaches, no donor support, insert excuse here... for every setback or screw up.

Also, in addition to Tech, TCU has a better Athletic Department than us right now.

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Who that could have returned did you want back from last year's team?

Josh O is the only one, and he's going to miss this year recovering from injury.

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The situation with Robert Wright in the offseason really screwed Drew/BU this year.
He was supposed to be the foundation to build around - and when he and his dad jumped ship to BYU for the bag, it left Drew in a really bad place.

This team is missing a few pieces - but a PG the caliber of Wright would have limited those missing pieces.
This is a fringe tourney team at best. Maybe a down year will be enough to keep a few guys like Carr, Williams, Powell, and a few others around for another year to build around. But, something tells me they'll be replacing 9-10+ guys every season unless the rules change with NIL and transferring at will.

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Carr is gone to the nba but I hope we can pay Williams enough to stay. He is so talented and will command a huge payday.

Stefano DiMera said:

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I see the panic meter has set in.

Even saw several posts we'd only win 5 league games.

TCU beat the defending champions.. and Wisconsin.. and should have beat Michigan.

And the New Orleans loss they lost their starting center in first 7 minutes.

We gave up 69 points.. that's good.

The issue was the offense today..

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Fully agree on not setting off the panic meter yet.

The offense looked bad today because TCU has a good D and a lot of our offensive stats that fuel our high efficiency ratings on KenPom and EvanMiya were overly inflated by the stats we put up against mid majors. It's been like that for several years now.

The defense only gave up 69 points because TCU is the 2nd worst offensive team in the Big 12, next to Cincinnati. If we play defense like that Wednesday night, Iowa St will hang 100 on us unless Otz decides to rest a couple of players.

IowaBear said:

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He's not near as quick but Williams first step is similar to Davion. Both guys got around their defender with the first step. Immediately collapsing the D

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Anyone know why Williams didn't play much in the second half today? He only played 15 minutes total.

GodleyBear said:

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So we're not really good in any sport anymore, huh?
Tcu owns us in every sport? Wow.
Hard to get excited much with BU sports.
Wish we still had a dominant women's team.
Counting on Doug!!!

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tuition $63,620, so we got that going for us

bear2be2 said:

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IowaBear said:

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He's not near as quick but Williams first step is similar to Davion. Both guys got around their defender with the first step. Immediately collapsing the D

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Anyone know why Williams didn't play much in the second half today? He only played 15 minutes total.

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That's a good question. I went back to the PBP summary because it also seemed to me he didn't play much in the 2nd half.

-He checked in at 15:16, got a steal 14:13, had his 1 TO for the game after the steal, and then he went out at 13:54, so basically less than 2 minutes.

-He checked in again at 9:43, had a rebound at 9:11, then checked out at 7:51 and never came back into the game according to the PBP summary.


As Iowa said, his first step gets him around defenders and seems to make our entire offense play a little bit more aggressively. Our offensive flow seems to get stuck at times with others trying to facilitate, so his drives to the basket tends to open up some floor space for others that might not otherwise be there. His handle can be a bit unpolished at times, but he only had 1 TO yesterday so I don't think that would have been the reason. Maybe he was struggling some on rotations on the defensive side and the coaching staff felt like he was leaving one of the 3 point shooters from TCU too open?

I agree, it had to be due to missing defensive assignments. On offense Williams is light years ahead of Obi and it's not even close. We need Williams in big 12 play due to his raw athleticism and physicality and ability to penetrate. Obi is smart and unselfish and a good shooter when left open. But not a starting PG in a tough and physically demanding confernce like the big 12.

I am confident CSD will make the necessary adjustments with this group and will find a way to squeak into the tourney. Even though we realistically will drop 4 of the next 5. But CSD always does, year after year. I am rooting hard for this group because they seem like great kids. Just gotta develop cohesion on the defensive end.

GodleyBear said:

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So we're not really good in any sport anymore, huh?
Tcu owns us in every sport? Wow.
Hard to get excited much with BU sports.
Wish we still had a dominant women's team.
Counting on Doug!!!

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This is where we are, and probably will be, with the occasional temporary surge.

I want Doug to ensure our programs focus on program stability, academic success, character development, and recruiting quality athletes. Just because it's a "buy a player" world doesn't mean that is going to last. This cannot continue and everyone knows it.

Do not throw money at idiot players that have no genuine interest in representing Baylor.

While rooting for a team to grab a #1 seed is more fun (and less frustrating) than rooting for a team to make the NCAA tournament that's where we seem to be this season so buckle up and enjoy the roller coaster ride.

TeamPlayer said:

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GodleyBear said:

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So we're not really good in any sport anymore, huh?
Tcu owns us in every sport? Wow.
Hard to get excited much with BU sports.
Wish we still had a dominant women's team.
Counting on Doug!!!

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This is where we are, and probably will be, with the occasional temporary surge.

I want Doug to ensure our programs focus on program stability, academic success, character development, and recruiting quality athletes. Just because it's a "buy a player" world doesn't mean that is going to last. This cannot continue and everyone knows it.

Do not throw money at idiot players that have no genuine interest in representing Baylor.

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Not sure what you are implying, but this seems like an outstanding group of young men. I don't see any idiots here. A group that feels easy to root for.

Smashmouth said:

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Also wondering why we don't have any returning players? That's a combination of things I'm sure but I don't believe a program that has such a reputation of being a culture of JOY should be in that position.

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In the era of NIL, JOY is now just Y

Squeaking into the tournament is a depressing outlook but realistic for now. The frustration is from the lack of ability of any of our programs to sustain momentum.

I thought with Carr back (not happening now), the program would have a complete reset and it would be worth it.

Now there still is no clear connecting player to build continuity. We'll be in the same spot as Iowa St, Hou, and Tech all while they actually benefited over the last 3 yrs so their coming resets actually had a payoff.

Everyone's bill will come due in this era but can we at least get those huge peak years?

Those top teams of Houston, Tech, and Iowa State (even BYU) benefitted from continuity at some key positions on their teams. We had no one back. We have to grow and KEEP our players and add 1-3 based on need each year. I still can't believe we lost Wright. We would have beat TCU with him still on our team.

Quinton said:

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Squeaking into the tournament is a depressing outlook but realistic for now. The frustration is from the lack of ability of any of our programs to sustain momentum.

I thought with Carr back (not happening now), the program would have a complete reset and it would be worth it.

Now there still is no clear connecting player to build continuity. We'll be in the same spot as Iowa St, Hou, and Tech all while they actually benefited over the last 3 yrs so their coming resets actually had a payoff.

Everyone's bill will come due in this era but can we at least get those huge peak years?

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If we're honest, this was always going to be a reset year. We lost every player from last year's roster and put an emphasis on recruiting more developmental players in last year's class than we've had in years.

Add in season-ending injuries to Bodo Bodo and Perez before the season even began, and this was always more likely to be a bubble team than a title contender.

I'm just looking for growth and hoping that we'll peak in February and March. This year's Big 12 is brutal regardless of the circumstances. It's especially so when you're still working to find optimal rotations in January with guys that have played a few months (at most) together and been forced into unfamiliar roles by injuries and unfortunate roster breaks.

Agree, and that was fine. Especially considering if the team was good, they probably still wouldn't have any shot to beat a Michigan or even an Iowa St / Purdue / AZ in tourney setting. Would rather peak when you have a shot to win a title (ask Gonzaga 2021).

Next year was supposed to be the year. Which fell nicely with the other teams in this league finally having to reset. Carr was supposed to be here two years. Literally every other program in this league has returned their version of Carr for at least a second year. Its just uncanny. Add a healthy Bodo bodo, somehow Naiji returns, retain Williams with another year of development, and Perez comes back healthy. That's a contender.

Piece that together with the top 10 kid we're in on along with our other top 25 kid, the high potential redshirts from this year, and a high level transfer guard and I think that is a leading contender for next year.. considering where the league will be.

I understand its a mix of poor luck, poor planning, and combination of whiff evaluations / great evaluations. Just can't hit the sweet spot while several other teams in this league have been playing it to near perfection. All the points being made here are legit but struggling to watch this quality of ball right now.

At this point can only hope to see Sanchez get this team to at least top 50 on D once Naiji is in shape. He needs complete freedom to get away from the kumbaya script for a bit and bring some sustained toughness back to the program.. has been badly missed.

PaperBear89 said:

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Quinton said:

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He needs complete freedom to get away from the kumbaya script for a bit and bring some sustained toughness back to the program.. has been badly missed.

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THIS! You can be really physical and then tell your opponent Jesus loves him, while helping him back to his feet.

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I can't believe you said this right in the middle of Sunday School. Kudos, sir.

I would be 100% on board with this being a rebuilding year, but I suspect we are really just mostly building someone else's roster. Between losing kids to NBA and losing kids to other NCAA teams, we are basically just an apprentice program for basketball talent at this point.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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TeamPlayer said:

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GodleyBear said:

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So we're not really good in any sport anymore, huh?
Tcu owns us in every sport? Wow.
Hard to get excited much with BU sports.
Wish we still had a dominant women's team.
Counting on Doug!!!

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This is where we are, and probably will be, with the occasional temporary surge.

I want Doug to ensure our programs focus on program stability, academic success, character development, and recruiting quality athletes. Just because it's a "buy a player" world doesn't mean that is going to last. This cannot continue and everyone knows it.

Do not throw money at idiot players that have no genuine interest in representing Baylor.

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Not sure what you are implying, but this seems like an outstanding group of young men. I don't see any idiots here. A group that feels easy to root for.

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It's good to hear that this is an outstanding group of young men. As noted by the poster I replied to, this team isn't very good, and neither is football. For the time being, I'd rather continue to invest in quality people and keep an infrastructure in place focused on the right things.

I meant that when you solely buy players, in many cases you are buying idiots.

GoodOleBaylorLine said:

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I would be 100% on board with this being a rebuilding year, but I suspect we are really just mostly building someone else's roster. Between losing kids to NBA and losing kids to other NCAA teams, we are basically just an apprentice program for basketball talent at this point.

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Spot on. As I watched our guys hustle against the #3 team in the country last night I thought "These are guys we can work with" and then I realized ... never mind

PaperBear89 said:

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GoodOleBaylorLine said:

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I would be 100% on board with this being a rebuilding year, but I suspect we are really just mostly building someone else's roster. Between losing kids to NBA and losing kids to other NCAA teams, we are basically just an apprentice program for basketball talent at this point.

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Spot on. As I watched our guys hustle against the #3 team in the country last night I thought "These are guys we can work with" and then I realized ... never mind

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If we can bring Williams back I will consider it a huge win. He has big upside and will command a lot of $$ in the portal. The rest are going to the NBA, are seniors, or are walkons who may end up elsewhere anyway.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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PaperBear89 said:

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GoodOleBaylorLine said:

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I would be 100% on board with this being a rebuilding year, but I suspect we are really just mostly building someone else's roster. Between losing kids to NBA and losing kids to other NCAA teams, we are basically just an apprentice program for basketball talent at this point.

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Spot on. As I watched our guys hustle against the #3 team in the country last night I thought "These are guys we can work with" and then I realized ... never mind

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If we can bring Williams back I will consider it a huge win. He has big upside and will command a lot of $$ in the portal. The rest are going to the NBA, are seniors, or are walkons who may end up elsewhere anyway.

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It will be much easier if he keeps struggling against good defense. Like everyone else on our roster, his limitations have been exposed since Big 12 play began.

That's not a bad thing, though. He's exactly the type of guy we need to keep in our program and develop. The potential is there to be a really good Big 12 player, even if he's not there yet.