Game Thread: Drew, Baylor Aim to Upset No. 2 Arizona in Waco

He was widely advertised by the mods as a game changer who would come in and immediately impact games in a positive way. The kid was a draft pick multiple years ago. It's fair to assume he should be much much further along in his development. After all he's 21-22 years old not 18. The reality is the kid is likely to just be another complete whiff by the staff.

And he might be a miss. But for someone with his size and potential , what is the harm in gambling on his upside?

We need to go back to our roots of player development. Sometimes that means us fans having a little patience in allowing players to develop over time. That was a formula that worked extremely well for CSD before the transfer portal.

I understand that. M… I've been calling for that longer than pretty much everyone on here. But I Siri realize sometimes the risk isn't worth the reward. Baylor got raked over the coals for taking Nnaji as a previous draft pick only for him to be so bad that he's unplayable. I don't personally see the upside in that decision. Maybe he makes me eat crow and develops into a top level B12 center. But his age suggests otherwise

He is playing injured and not in game shape. Assuming we can bring him back, a full offseason of getting healthy and learning our system might work wonders. Hard to see the downside in trying. We need to get off the treadmill of turning over the entire roster every season. Sometimes that means being patient with developing projects like Nnaji.

Yeah, something is legitimately wrong with the guy. Drew has always been one of the most guarded in the country with information so we won't get it from him.

His first game against a decent team on the road, Tcu went like 1-6 in the paint, he was affecting shots, and grabbed a few boards. Then he was completely gassed after that stint. Now every game after he's gassed after 90 seconds and can't seem to move and doesn't know where to be. I agree he'll be decent with an offseason. I don't think he's unplayable in the long run, I just think he isn't great skill/instinct wise AND isn't right physically.

But I'm with Iowa, why be the face of the "bad" side of nil for a guy that can't seem to move. I think he'll be decent if healthy but if he can't get physically right the staff did whiff big. We'll see

IowaBear said:

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I understand that. M… I've been calling for that longer than pretty much everyone on here. But I Siri realize sometimes the risk isn't worth the reward. Baylor got raked over the coals for taking Nnaji as a previous draft pick only for him to be so bad that he's unplayable. I don't personally see the upside in that decision. Maybe he makes me eat crow and develops into a top level B12 center. But his age suggests otherwise

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There are a couple of moves on the current roster I scratch my head about, but I figured the reach for Najali was an emergency move as we needed a body and Najali was what was available. Baylor PR has always overhyped new players mbb and football. When I looked into his stats I found out pretty quickly he was a human foul machine, had trouble staying on the court. He played in the NBA summer league (without a contract) and in his last game fouled out in 5 minutes. If you watch the NBA, and are bored enough to watch the NBA summer league, how is it humanly possible to foul out in 5 minutes?

If we are to build for next year, we are better served by keeping Bodo Bodo, who should have 2 years eligibility, and has shown promise at this level. I would think equally important are some of the other injured players on this unit, ie. Perez and Soyoye, as well as keeping Williams and Agbin if he gets another year.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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Who advertised he was getting 10/10 per game? It was clear almost immediately he wasn't fully healthy and wasn't in game shape. This is the exact kind of player we need to stash and develop. Is he guaranteed to develop? No. But for someone with his size and upside potential I truly don't see the downside in trying to develop him.

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Cant coach size

Hilarious how out they mind espn etc was in drew "skirting the rules…again…for unfair advantage" they were

IowaBear said:

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I understand that. M… I've been calling for that longer than pretty much everyone on here. But I Siri realize sometimes the risk isn't worth the reward. Baylor got raked over the coals for taking Nnaji as a previous draft pick only for him to be so bad that he's unplayable. I don't personally see the upside in that decision. Maybe he makes me eat crow and develops into a top level B12 center. But his age suggests otherwise

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What long-term harm was actually done to Baylor by taking Nnaji? it was like a week or two in the news cycle and now no one cares. And many of those who cover the sport the closest actually came out in Baylor and Nnaji's defense because a closer examination of the circumstances warranted it. He was a draft-and-stash and never signed a contract anywhere. With the exception of being drafted (with no intention of being signed), his situation is literally no different than the dozens of European pros who have come over and played collegiately.

Baylor had an extra scholarship and needed another big. Nnaji was the best they could add under the circumstances. And with four years of eligibility remaining, he can be a long-term piece.

All the haters can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. It's literally just noise -- most of which has already faded into the background. If Nnaji can be a rotation player next year (and potentially beyond), it was 100 percent worth it IMO.

TWD 1974 said:

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IowaBear said:

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I understand that. M… I've been calling for that longer than pretty much everyone on here. But I Siri realize sometimes the risk isn't worth the reward. Baylor got raked over the coals for taking Nnaji as a previous draft pick only for him to be so bad that he's unplayable. I don't personally see the upside in that decision. Maybe he makes me eat crow and develops into a top level B12 center. But his age suggests otherwise

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There are a couple of moves on the current roster I scratch my head about, but I figured the reach for Najali was an emergency move as we needed a body and Najali was what was available. Baylor PR has always overhyped new players mbb and football. When I looked into his stats I found out pretty quickly he was a human foul machine, had trouble staying on the court. He played in the NBA summer league (without a contract) and in his last game fouled out in 5 minutes. If you watch the NBA, and are bored enough to watch the NBA summer league, how is it humanly possible to foul out in 5 minutes?

If we are to build for next year, we are better served by keeping Bodo Bodo, who should have 2 years eligibility, and has shown promise at this level. I would think equally important are some of the other injured players on this unit, ie. Perez and Soyoye, as well as keeping Williams and Agbin if he gets another year.

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Yes, I would like to see if we can keep all the guys you mention, assuming they are cultural fits and won't break the bank to keep them. CSD was great back in the day at developing project bigs and Soyoye and Nnaji fit that bill. The ATV injury to Bodo sounds career-threatening so crossing my fingers on that one. Perez will be more than a year and a half removed from the ACL so he should be good to go. As for Williams, his stock just continues its meteoric rise. He will command a huge pay day and we will be forced to make a tough decision.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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TWD 1974 said:

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IowaBear said:

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I understand that. M… I've been calling for that longer than pretty much everyone on here. But I Siri realize sometimes the risk isn't worth the reward. Baylor got raked over the coals for taking Nnaji as a previous draft pick only for him to be so bad that he's unplayable. I don't personally see the upside in that decision. Maybe he makes me eat crow and develops into a top level B12 center. But his age suggests otherwise

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There are a couple of moves on the current roster I scratch my head about, but I figured the reach for Najali was an emergency move as we needed a body and Najali was what was available. Baylor PR has always overhyped new players mbb and football. When I looked into his stats I found out pretty quickly he was a human foul machine, had trouble staying on the court. He played in the NBA summer league (without a contract) and in his last game fouled out in 5 minutes. If you watch the NBA, and are bored enough to watch the NBA summer league, how is it humanly possible to foul out in 5 minutes?

If we are to build for next year, we are better served by keeping Bodo Bodo, who should have 2 years eligibility, and has shown promise at this level. I would think equally important are some of the other injured players on this unit, ie. Perez and Soyoye, as well as keeping Williams and Agbin if he gets another year.

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Yes, I would like to see if we can keep all the guys you mention, assuming they are cultural fits and won't break the bank to keep them. CSD was great back in the day at developing project bigs and Soyoye and Nnaji fit that bill. The ATV injury to Bodo sounds career-threatening so crossing my fingers on that one. Perez will be more than a year and a half removed from the ACL so he should be good to go. As for Williams, his stock just continues its meteoric rise. He will command a huge pay day and we will be forced to make a tough decision.

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I don't think there's any decision to make on our part where Williams is concerned. We should be prepared to pay that man his money. The only decision is his as to whether it will be enough.

If we've reached a place where we can't afford to keep the key players we're developing, we're already screwed.

bear2be2 said:

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Crawfoso1973 said:

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TWD 1974 said:

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IowaBear said:

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I understand that. M… I've been calling for that longer than pretty much everyone on here. But I Siri realize sometimes the risk isn't worth the reward. Baylor got raked over the coals for taking Nnaji as a previous draft pick only for him to be so bad that he's unplayable. I don't personally see the upside in that decision. Maybe he makes me eat crow and develops into a top level B12 center. But his age suggests otherwise

---

There are a couple of moves on the current roster I scratch my head about, but I figured the reach for Najali was an emergency move as we needed a body and Najali was what was available. Baylor PR has always overhyped new players mbb and football. When I looked into his stats I found out pretty quickly he was a human foul machine, had trouble staying on the court. He played in the NBA summer league (without a contract) and in his last game fouled out in 5 minutes. If you watch the NBA, and are bored enough to watch the NBA summer league, how is it humanly possible to foul out in 5 minutes?

If we are to build for next year, we are better served by keeping Bodo Bodo, who should have 2 years eligibility, and has shown promise at this level. I would think equally important are some of the other injured players on this unit, ie. Perez and Soyoye, as well as keeping Williams and Agbin if he gets another year.

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Yes, I would like to see if we can keep all the guys you mention, assuming they are cultural fits and won't break the bank to keep them. CSD was great back in the day at developing project bigs and Soyoye and Nnaji fit that bill. The ATV injury to Bodo sounds career-threatening so crossing my fingers on that one. Perez will be more than a year and a half removed from the ACL so he should be good to go. As for Williams, his stock just continues its meteoric rise. He will command a huge pay day and we will be forced to make a tough decision.

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I don't think there's any decision to make on our part where Williams is concerned. We should be prepared to pay that man his money. The only decision is his as to whether it will be enough.

If we've reached a place where we can't afford to keep the key players we're developing, we're already screwed.

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Can't agree more. I would remind everyone that we are talking about NIL money which is not and is not allowed to be Baylor money, or Coach money. It depends upon what Baylor fanbase and donor group is willing to invest in the players name, image, likeness. We are a private school that has some national pull, marketing wise, but we seem hesitant to develop it. Until it changes we are in a professional league (Big12) with rivals who can outspend us by $10mm or more--and that's just the legal side of it. We can either go big or find a mid major conference to land in.

I admit these opinions are coming from the cheap seats, this side of the sicem paywall...