If I'm remembering correctly, she's the one who gave all of our centers a hard time starting out on the wing and driving to the basket and getting fouls.

You're talking about ole Miss not Mississippi State.

Skim Milkey tweeted that Cotie McMahan is one to watch for Baylor. Would personally hate that signing

You are totally right. My bad. She didn't look the same in the picture, but I don't actually know her as a player.

CNC has taken other players thought to be problem players,like Aijha or Dre or Chennedy Carter and done very well with them and they reacted well to her coaching and didn't cause problemsso if we do take her I hope we have done our due diligence. She would add more toughness to our team for sure is obviously a very good player. Certainly understand the concern though. Nicki has said in the past that the team has to sign off on a player before they are takenso I presume if she comes that has happened. It also might open up Jaloni looking back at our program in a year or so.

Not familiar. See CNC is following her

Nm

She plays the victim card incredibly well. I'll give her that. I'd hope they pass on her. She's proven over and over that she has attitude issues. There's a reason Kevin wasn't sad to see her go despite her obvious talents

You know a lot more about her than me. There are other guards I would rather pick up if we could. Guess we'll see what happens.

Just asking because I don't know, is that the victim card on the court or is that in Life?

I assume YmTaliah is more of a 2 tha pg? I'm unfamiliar with the role she played at Arkansas but given her scoring I assumed she plays the 2. If that is the case, we really need a top leve PG. I know Jana plays that role but given her ACL surgery we need a stud at that position via the portal. Of Taliah is truly a PG, the we need a stud at the 2. PG makes the engine of the while team run - hope we are patient to get the right fit

Sorry for the typos - that is what you get when you try to walk and type!!

zebra90 said:

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I assume YmTaliah is more of a 2 tha pg? I'm unfamiliar with the role she played at Arkansas but given her scoring I assumed she plays the 2. If that is the case, we really need a top leve PG. I know Jana plays that role but given her ACL surgery we need a stud at that position via the portal. Of Taliah is truly a PG, the we need a stud at the 2. PG makes the engine of the while team run - hope we are patient to get the right fit

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With the roster currently at 9 for next season, would strongly expect both a post and a PG [or at least a combo guard that can play some PG]. Wouldn't shock me to also see one more 6'0 wing shooting specialist.

A roster with depth, size & consistent shooting would be a nice change.

Think it's both. Shes a good player. Zero doubt about it. But she's the type when things aren't going her way to pout and it visibly shows. She just comes off as disrespectful imo.
Now, if CNC does sign her I'll absolutely give her the benefit of the doubt. Just too many red flags imo. And I'm not sure I see a fit? She wouldn't be coming here to come off the bench. That means she would be replacing DLB or Bella in the lineup. Just doesn't make much sense. Again all my opinion,

Thank you.

Agree on roster with depth, size and consistent shooting would be nice. We have struggled with consistent shooting the last few years. Having multiple go to options from the outside that shoot at a high level would be great. Also adding a post to replace Vonleh in some manner on the offensive end would really spread the floor well if we had reliably consistent outside shooting. There are some replay goo's options put ther and ai think Nicki's style adjusts well to siferrent people's strength so Nicki can make a lot of portal combo options work.

CNC's comments in the Baylor press release:

We are thrilled to welcome Taliah and her family to the Baylor Family,... Taliah is a dynamic and proven scorer with the ability to play both guard positions in our system. She has the skill to create for herself and others and the range to make defenses extend well behind the arc. We love guards with high basketball IQs who excel in ball screens, and we believe Taliah will be one of the best guards in the country.

Our fans will love her infectious smile, her energy and how much she loves to compete on both ends of the floor,... Get ready Baylor Family, this one is special!

Note CNC's comments that she can play both guard positions. It will also be interesting to see how good she is on the defensive end. My perception is that she was an offense-first player at Arkansas. It also seems like defense is less of a priority for Neighbors. If she was healthy last year at Auburn I assume she would've improved on the defensive end. Harris is a Vic acolyte.

Thanks for the comments from Nicki on Taliyah. Good to see she can play point or shooting guard. Grab another outstanding guard to pair with her and Jana. Hope that Marcayla & Inez contribute meaningfully and you would have pretty good depth at the 1 & 2

Yeah, I would feel great about our guard room if we're able to nab another PG. Really have no idea what to expect from Ines, and Jana won't be at full strength to start the season.

I don't expect Marcayla to be a guard tbh. I don't think her ball handling is at that point yet. I've watched some of her HS games and she's more of a wing. So she'll probably play a similar position as Pemberton/Bella/Buggs. She could give us some shooting next year, and she drives to the rim well (similar to Pemberton). Hard to guess how well/soon that translates to the B12 though.

Guess I will trust Nicki on this one. I know that a fit with team culture is very high on Nicki's list. I am sure she will vet her very carefully. As someone mentioned, Nicki has taken players with issues and they have done well under her, Dree is a prime example. She had issues at both Utah and Kentucky and did very well under Nicki.

We will see what happens.

Marcayla playing the 3/4 makes sense. Makes another guard a minimum need - probably 2 guards given out players coming back from injury + the post position

Baylor WBB's backside reinitiation is very basic……slip screen or high ball screen actions 95% of the time.

As long as Johnson can routinely hit catch & shoot wing 3s off of the front side action she can handle that limited scope of backside reinitiation.

Makes sense on backside rotation - catch and shoot 3's - would love to see a consistent weapon is that role. We have had some good games and then some games where no one seems to feel comfrtable taking the open look. Hopefully she can fill that role nicley

It might be transfer portal related down the line, but reportedly Adia Barnes is leaving Arizona to SMU.

BUatbirth said:

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blueeyedbear said:

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Brusinbear2001 said:

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Mckinna Brackens from UNLV would be a great get at wel. She is a 6'1 Wing Player from Fairfield TX. If you are close to this area they have done some great things for Central Texas girls basketball. She also had a great game against us as well when UNLV came in to town.

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VERY impressed with her when we played UNLV. I kept asking myself how we missed on her - I mean Fairfield is basically in Waco's back yard. Her Father is Tony Brackens a long time NFL player. She tore UCF a new one in the only other game I watched her play in. Really good person and a great family.

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CNC is following her on IG

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Well McKinna is following Nicki Collen back.

ScottyB_The_Baylor_King said:

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It might be transfer portal related down the line, but reportedly Adia Barnes is leaving Arizona to SMU.

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By, BY Adia - rumor # 1 is that the reason for mass exits from Arizona WBB the last several years is that Arizona could not/would not match NIL from compositing schools.
Rumor # 2 is that will not be a problem at SMU
Rumor #3 is that the reason for the mass exits from Barns program was Barns herself. Private comments from transfers have led credence to rumor # 3
We will have the true answer in a couple of years.

We have to get height on this team. Love Kyla but I don't think she will be a starter. Definitely a big role player like the end of the season. Come on BU make it happen.

ScottyB_The_Baylor_King said:

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It might be transfer portal related down the line, but reportedly Adia Barnes is leaving Arizona to SMU.

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That wouldn't surprise me. Barnes had 1-2 good years early on but that success has gone down. SMU was 10-20 last year in the ACC. I wonder if Barnes' name recognition and her early success will be enough to jump start the Mustangs.

BU71 said:

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ScottyB_The_Baylor_King said:

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It might be transfer portal related down the line, but reportedly Adia Barnes is leaving Arizona to SMU.

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That wouldn't surprise me. Barnes had 1-2 good years early on but that success has gone down. SMU was 10-20 last year in the ACC. I wonder if Barnes' name recognition and her early success will be enough to jump start the Mustangs.

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Barnes at SMU is basically Taylor at ATM volume 2 with worse off court dynamics.

No connection to Texas. Limited early success at prior name job. Hideous offense.
Reliant on racially based recruiting. High player turnover.

Barnes only success was with SoCal recruits. Not sure that pipeline flows to DFW like it did to Zona.

Am very interested to see the SMU alumni response when Barnes has one of her regular racially charged foot-in-mouth episodes.

Sometimes a player needs a coach and team who will care about her and support her. Be a part of team culture and family environment a player is looking for. Obviously, she was not happy where she was, she felt misunderstood. No team is free of issues. Coach N feels like she would be good for Baylor and vice versa. We need to trust Coach N judgment.

So the OSU coach didn't care about her? You know this how?
No where did I say I didn't trust Collens judgement. That's simply you and others putting words in my mouth. I trust the facts. And the facts support Cotie isn't worth the headache. And I'd bet a pretty penny she doesn't end up and BU anyways. So it's all moot. She'll be someone else's headache

Based comments by player, their fans, message boards and articles over past year or two. Obviously, she wasn't happy there but had a very good year. Not my opinion, but a combination of what people and the player have said. You can get an idea she wasn't happy there. And the rest is up to interpretation and opinions on fans message boards. We all seem to disagree on almost everything, and that's ok since it's a free message board.

Transfer News: Arizona State transfer Jalyn Brown has set up three visits @247SportsPortal is told.

Brown averaged 18 points and 4 rebounds this season leading ASU in scoring.

Story: https://t.co/sXfh8XIbdV pic.twitter.com/lAmRib8Czd

— Dushawn London (@DushawnLondon1) April 5, 2025

Kotie McMahon or Jalyn Brown? …or is that a fair comparison? Not very familiar with either

The cost of acquiring a quality 5 will almost certainly dictate what Baylor can afford at guard.
Is it a warm body at 5 and a high quality guard or a top quality 5 and the best we can afford guard.

The NIL buys so far seem to be both good quality and cost efficient. Hopefully that trend can continue.