#1 Baylor (20-1; 9-0) vs. OSU (11-11; 1-8) Preview & Game Thread

Futbol Bear said:

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Given that Defense is the hallmark of this team, is it a concern?

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I don;t think so, but we do tend to play to the level of our opponent. As long as we win it's not a concern, but we are definitely not dominant...just a little bit better than who we have played at the time this year. For sure this was one of those we should have taken control of in the 2nd half and did not. We did not seem to be as aggressive as usual so as long as we pick it up we'll be fine, but the schedule is about to put all this crud to the test. We'll know what we really have over the next 4. I do not see any home court advantage in this team. I've said all year we are a better team on the road and I still believe that but this was just a bizarro game to get a good read.

I think the KU game was the best we have played all year and maybe UF too. So if this team just plays better than the other then I really can't complain, but I do need to take an extra short acting blood pressure pill for these.

Futbol Bear said:

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Given that Defense is the hallmark of this team, is it a concern?

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I don't think it should be too much of a concern. It can be hard to get up for games against clearly inferior opponents. Likewise, those inferior opponents are most likely going to get up for a game against the #1 team in the country. Of course, that's not what I want as a fan and I'm sure the coaches aren't too pleased with the effort tonight. We have a game against Texas on Monday, but after that our schedule is pretty tough to close out the season. It would be good to see the team come out and dominate in Austin.

Edit: wuzzybear beat me to it!

The officials seemed very inconsistent but also seemed over-sensitive to physical play. Like they usually worked badminton games and were not used to power 5 basketball.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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ColoradoGRN&GLD said:

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hard to blame the crowd. This is a pretty uninspired game by our guys.

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Completely disagree. Crowds are SUPPOSE to energize a lethargic team, not the other way around but we have always had backwards crowds.

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It works both ways. The crowd was loud and into the game during the first half when the team was playing with intensity. You are correct that Baylor crowds have always been a bit.. off.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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william said:

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minor prophets anyone?

>>
Micah 1 New International Version (NIV)
1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judahthe vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you,
listen, earth and all who live in it,
that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
Judgment Against Samaria and Jerusalem
3 Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place;
he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
4 The mountains melt beneath him
and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like water rushing down a slope.
5 All this is because of Jacob's transgression,
because of the sins of the people of Israel.
What is Jacob's transgression?
Is it not Samaria?
What is Judah's high place?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6 "Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble,
a place for planting vineyards.
I will pour her stones into the valley
and lay bare her foundations.
7 All her idols will be broken to pieces;
all her temple gifts will be burned with fire;
I will destroy all her images.
Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes,
as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used."
Weeping and Mourning
8 Because of this I will weep and wail;
I will go about barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
and moan like an owl.
9 For Samaria's plague is incurable;
it has spread to Judah.
It has reached the very gate of my people,
even to Jerusalem itself.
10 Tell it not in Gath[a];
weep not at all.
In Beth Ophrah[b]
roll in the dust.
11 Pass by naked and in shame,
you who live in Shaphir.[c]
Those who live in Zaanan[d]
will not come out.
Beth Ezel is in mourning;
it no longer protects you.
12 Those who live in Maroth[e] writhe in pain,
waiting for relief,
because disaster has come from the Lord,
even to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 You who live in Lachish,
harness fast horses to the chariot.
You are where the sin of Daughter Zion began,
for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
14 Therefore you will give parting gifts
to Moresheth Gath.
The town of Akzib[f] will prove deceptive
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will bring a conqueror against you
who live in Mareshah.[g]
The nobles of Israel
will flee to Adullam.
16 Shave your head in mourning
for the children in whom you delight;
make yourself as bald as the vulture,
for they will go from you into exile.

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Get lost will ya?

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Alice...we won the game. Lighten up. David slinging the rock and killing Goliath would have worked.

Take that crap to the R&P board. This is basketball, not chapel.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Take that crap to the R&P board. This is basketball, not chapel.

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Alice...your preaching to the choir. A soft answer turneth away wrath..

ColoradoGRN&GLD said:

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Aliceinbubbleland said:

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ColoradoGRN&GLD said:

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hard to blame the crowd. This is a pretty uninspired game by our guys.

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Completely disagree. Crowds are SUPPOSE to energize a lethargic team, not the other way around but we have always had backwards crowds.

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It works both ways. The crowd was loud and into the game during the first half when the team was playing with intensity. You are correct that Baylor crowds have always been a bit.. off.

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75% attendance tonight per ESPN. Is there any other university in the nation with a #1 team followed by so few students and fans?????

CHP Bear said:

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Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Take that crap to the R&P board. This is basketball, not chapel.

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Alice...your preaching to the choir. A soft answer turneth away wrath..

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A 25 point win over the last place team would soothe a lot of Bear fans

Get over the dang attendance issue. Sheesh.

Timbear said:

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Get over the dang attendance issue. Sheesh.

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Answer the question Tim. Is there any other University on the planet with a #1 ranked team and only 75% attendance?

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Timbear said:

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Get over the dang attendance issue. Sheesh.

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Answer the question Tim. Is there any other University on the planet with a #1 ranked team and only 75% attendance?

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Probably. The adults don't fret on things like that, so I doubt there's official records kept so whiners can ***** about it.

Is there any other school as small as Baylor, that's not a basketball school, with a stadium as large as what we have? It's hard to fill up.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Timbear said:

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Get over the dang attendance issue. Sheesh.

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Answer the question Tim. Is there any other University on the planet with a #1 ranked team and only 75% attendance?

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I am certain that there are or would be. We are not unique.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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ColoradoGRN&GLD said:

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Aliceinbubbleland said:

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ColoradoGRN&GLD said:

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hard to blame the crowd. This is a pretty uninspired game by our guys.

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Completely disagree. Crowds are SUPPOSE to energize a lethargic team, not the other way around but we have always had backwards crowds.

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It works both ways. The crowd was loud and into the game during the first half when the team was playing with intensity. You are correct that Baylor crowds have always been a bit.. off.

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75% attendance tonight per ESPN. Is there any other university in the nation with a #1 team followed by so few students and fans?????

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No. There is not another university in the nation with the #1 team. If you would like to change the subject to attendance, I would be happy to have that conversation. I was pointing out that those who were at the game may have had a hard time getting energized and loud for a team that seemed to coast through 75% of the game.

Cheers, Alice. I disagree with this particular take of yours, but I'm just happy to talk Baylor Basketball! Sic 'em

Seemed to me the officials were hesitant to call anything on OSU but very eager to call fouls on the Bears. This allowed OSU to score many easy shots while the Bears struggled to play physical defense. Meanwhile, the OSU defense got away with many hacks and no calls when the Bears were on offense or going for rebounds. I can't believe the OSU coach got angry with the officiating and was subsequently ejected. In reality, the officiating was the primary reason this game was close.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Timbear said:

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Get over the dang attendance issue. Sheesh.

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Answer the question Tim. Is there any other University on the planet with a #1 ranked team and only 75% attendance?

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Since we are the only #1 ranked team right now, no, there is not. But I do think those fans who were watching the game on TV while posting about it on SicEm should not be the ones throwing stones about attendance.

If you listened to the post game radio broadcast you heard Pat Nunley, and then coach Drew, praising the crowd. In fact, Nunley said the crowd should get the game ball for helping push this team to victory on a night when they didn't play very well, while OSU did play well.

From my perspective (at the game) we did not play with our usual intensity last night. We opened up a big margin in the first half, they called time out, and from that point forward I feel like we were just playing out the game. We were a step slower on defense, especially in the second half. And the free throw issue is a thing. I'm not sure how Vital (who is my favorite player) can spend so much of his life in the gym, and not have improved his free throw shooting. I hope that free throws do not cost us a close game down the stretch or in the tournament.

But we won the game on a night we didn't play well, and that's a testimony to this team's talent. But that effort will not get us a win in Austin tomorrow.

Self Made Bear said:

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Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Timbear said:

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Get over the dang attendance issue. Sheesh.

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Answer the question Tim. Is there any other University on the planet with a #1 ranked team and only 75% attendance?

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I'm not sure how Vital (who is my favorite player) can spend so much of his life in the gym, and not have improved his free throw shooting. I hope that free throws do not cost us a close game down the stretch or in the tournament.

But we won the game on a night we didn't play well, and that's a testimony to this team's talent. But that effort will not get us a win in Austin tomorrow.

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Toward the second half of last season, Vital noticeably improved his free throw shooting, and actually developed a reliable and consistent stroke from the line, with touch.

ColoradoGRN&GLD said:

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Futbol Bear said:

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Given that Defense is the hallmark of this team, is it a concern?

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I don't think it should be too much of a concern. It can be hard to get up for games against clearly inferior opponents. Likewise, those inferior opponents are most likely going to get up for a game against the #1 team in the country. Of course, that's not what I want as a fan and I'm sure the coaches aren't too pleased with the effort tonight. We have a game against Texas on Monday, but after that our schedule is pretty tough to close out the season. It would be good to see the team come out and dominate in Austin.

Edit: wuzzybear beat me to it!

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Sorry about that... The UT game will definitely not be easy. UT looked pretty darn good vs TT who was on fire in the 2nd half. I'm still waiting for a dominant performance from the #1 team start to finish. I'm scratching my head over this team. Last night it was obvious without Gillespie in the lineup this team lacks the ability to contest at the rim due to sheer size. Then I watched Gonzaga destroy St. Mary's like they were a bunch of 12 yr olds. Their bigs are really good and can shoot it from anywhere. We MUST have massive onball pressure. We cannot win big games without it. D definitely sparks this team and if we play D like we are capable of then teams like Gonzaga will be frustrated because nobody can get into a rhythm.

Neverthesless, we will find out what we have NOW over the next 4. If we are truly the best team in the country I would expect to win 3 of em and play well in the one we lose. Our best feature is lack of selfishness which leads to team chemistry. We can make some amazing plays in transition but the name of the game is scoring and last night the lack of energy was evident cuz even though we scored 78 it did not seem like it especially in the 2nd half. Everytime I thought we made a "dagger" play OSU would come right back and hit 2 in a row. This is the time of year all this should be cleaned up. We cannot take a single possession off or for granted if you really want to win it all.

I'm confident that the team will be fully engaged moving forward. I mentioned in a previous post that it's easy to play down to weaker competition. CSD is going to improve his record against Shaka later today. Sic 'em & HexTex

wuzzybear said:

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ColoradoGRN&GLD said:

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Futbol Bear said:

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Given that Defense is the hallmark of this team, is it a concern?

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I don't think it should be too much of a concern. It can be hard to get up for games against clearly inferior opponents. Likewise, those inferior opponents are most likely going to get up for a game against the #1 team in the country. Of course, that's not what I want as a fan and I'm sure the coaches aren't too pleased with the effort tonight. We have a game against Texas on Monday, but after that our schedule is pretty tough to close out the season. It would be good to see the team come out and dominate in Austin.

Edit: wuzzybear beat me to it!

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Sorry about that... The UT game will definitely not be easy. UT looked pretty darn good vs TT who was on fire in the 2nd half. I'm still waiting for a dominant performance from the #1 team start to finish. I'm scratching my head over this team. Last night it was obvious without Gillespie in the lineup this team lacks the ability to contest at the rim due to sheer size. Then I watched Gonzaga destroy St. Mary's like they were a bunch of 12 yr olds. Their bigs are really good and can shoot it from anywhere. We MUST have massive onball pressure. We cannot win big games without it. D definitely sparks this team and if we play D like we are capable of then teams like Gonzaga will be frustrated because nobody can get into a rhythm.

Neverthesless, we will find out what we have NOW over the next 4. If we are truly the best team in the country I would expect to win 3 of em and play well in the one we lose. Our best feature is lack of selfishness which leads to team chemistry. We can make some amazing plays in transition but the name of the game is scoring and last night the lack of energy was evident cuz even though we scored 78 it did not seem like it especially in the 2nd half. Everytime I thought we made a "dagger" play OSU would come right back and hit 2 in a row. This is the time of year all this should be cleaned up. We cannot take a single possession off or for granted if you really want to win it all.

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Great analysis and post!