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Baylor Basketball

Dain Dainja to Transfer Out of Baylor

November 20, 2021
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Baylor’s Official Press Release:

WACO, Texas – Baylor redshirt freshman forward Dain Dainja has elected to transfer, head coach Scott Drew announced Saturday.

“Dain has been a great teammate during his two years in our program, first as a practice player while redshirting last year, and continuing into this season,” Drew said. “We’re always sad if a player elects to leave our program, but we wish Dain the best and will fully support him as he pursues other opportunities.”

A Brooklyn Park, Minn., native, Dainja redshirted during the 2020-21 National Championship season. He returned after offseason foot surgery to play off the bench in the Bears’ first three games this season as a redshirt freshman. He posted six points, three rebounds and one block in eight total minutes of action.

Dainja is the first Baylor player to transfer as an undergraduate since Tyson Jolly in March of 2018.

No. 9-ranked Baylor is off to a 4-0 start this season with all four wins by 27 or more points. The Bears put together a strong second half to pull away with an 86-48 victory over Stanford on Saturday. BU now heads to the Bahamas to face Arizona State at 6:30 p.m. CT Wednesday in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis. The ASU game will be televised on ESPN2, with remaining games in the tournament televised on various ESPN networks.

Discussion from...

Dain Dainja to Transfer Out of Baylor

21,406 Views | 59 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by OldDominionBear
OldDominionBear
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Damn you're right. I thought he came in the same year JTT and Turner did. Now I'm not as stressed. He'll take over for Flo next year.

That honestly makes the Danjia look even worse to me though tbh. Idk where he needs to land to get his motor replaced.
OldDominionBear
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Yeah, he was like the perfect jack of all trades master of none.

Looking back those years were really weird, Cherry, Lester, Manu, Al, etc. I mean I'm glad they chose us and they all did their duties and played well even when forced to play positions they weren't used to but it kinda gives off the island of misfit toys vibe looking back. The team now has a pretty clear setup but those rosters were 100% pre 2019 Drew. Good in the front court and a bit weird at the guards.
bear2be2
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OldDominionBear said:

Yeah, he was like the perfect jack of all trades master of none.

Looking back those years were really weird, Cherry, Lester, Manu, Al, etc. I mean I'm glad they chose us and they all did their duties and played well even when forced to play positions they weren't used to but it kinda gives off the island of misfit toys vibe looking back. The team now has a pretty clear setup but those rosters were 100% pre 2019 Drew. Good in the front court and a bit weird at the guards.
Chery doesn't belong on that list with Lester and Manu IMO. He was a really good college point guard, he was just playing hurt a lot due to his turf toe issues.

Lester was a tough overachiever, but he was one of the least talented point guards Scott Drew has ever had. And Manu was a talented scorer, but he was a shooting guard playing point guard.
Crawfoso1973
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OldDominionBear said:

Oh yeah I was Bear pit when Prince was a freshman. You could he had the *it* factor within reach but couldn't grasp it yet. It's like he was too fast for the game at first which caused a lot of turnovers and bad shots. Mayer is cut from the same cloth but I don't think Mayer will reach TWP's level and that's not a criticism of Matt, it's just TWP didn't have anything close to the team that Matt does this year so he didn't have the choice of letting others take over. TWP had it hard, especially when Rico realized he didn't have a NBA career on the horizon and (at least to me) mentally checked out the final months.

When you look back at the roster it's not too surprising we got upset.
Yeah Rico really didn't fit the culture of "JOY" whatsover, even as an outside observer, his negative body language and selfish attitude was painfully obvious. I always found the "Baby Rico" nickname offensive to Vital, since he was the exact opposite of Rico as a team-first guy who was an elite defender. One or 2 guys like Rico can ruin team chemistry.

I also think Mayer is a much better NBA prospect than Prince and it's not particularly close. Time will bear that out.
Crawfoso1973
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Was never a fan of Manu TBH. We hit a valley that 2017-18 NIT season, our talent level was at its lowest point in the decade of the 2010s. Our guard rotation was Manu, Jake Lindsey and King McClure. All quality individuals and role players but several tiers below what we've had in our backcourt ever since. We struggled a couple years there with getting quality guards, we made due with mediocre talents like Manu and Medford, and swung and missed on scrubs like Wendell Mitchell and Tyson Jolly which set us back in recruiting.
EvilTroyAndAbed
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Crawfoso1973 said:

Was never a fan of Manu TBH. We hit a valley that 2017-18 NIT season, our talent level was at its lowest point in the decade of the 2010s. Our guard rotation was Manu, Jake Lindsey and King McClure. All quality individuals and role players but several tiers below what we've had in our backcourt ever since. We struggled a couple years there with getting quality guards, we made due with mediocre talents like Manu and Medford, and swung and missed on scrubs like Wendell Mitchell and Tyson Jolly which set us back in recruiting.
And yet we still never had a cratered season. That's all you need to say about Drew. As much as I respect Lon Kruger, Oklahoma won 11 games the year after their Final Four. That's not building a program. That's pushing all your chips in at once and then starting over.
Fiestass123
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With Dani it was more of a numbers game Didn't Baylor just sign another big ? Saw the hand writing on the wall Wish him the very best
BUVA
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So who will be our next Glue Guy? We had Rico, then Ish, then Vital. I was thinking Dainja might fill that spot just by size alone ( with some conditioning), but after seeing him briefly on the court, I knew he'd never fill that void.
Adriacus Peratuun
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BUVA said:

So who will be our next Glue Guy? We had Rico, then Ish, then Vital. I was thinking Dainja might fill that spot just by size alone ( with some conditioning), but after seeing him briefly on the court, I knew he'd never fill that void.
This year it is Brown & Sochan.

They score, play D, rebound, get assists, etc. Stat stuffers.
And their scoring is "in system" finishes. They aren't hunting shots.
OldDominionBear
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I mean if he does that's great, if he doesn't that's fine too. It's hard to judge because they are on completely different teams so I could easily be wrong. I'll gladly eat all the crow you want me to.
vanillabryce
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BUVA said:

So who will be our next Glue Guy? We had Rico, then Ish, then Vital. I was thinking Dainja might fill that spot just by size alone ( with some conditioning), but after seeing him briefly on the court, I knew he'd never fill that void.


JTT. He plays balls to the wall. Defends every position, not as good on the ball as Vital, but damn good for a big.

Rebounds and can get balls out of what you think is his area.

Blocks shots and runs the lane on the break with intent.
OldDominionBear
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Which one was the person who wasn't actually a PG but because we didn't have one they had to step up?

And it's not a shot at Cherry, it's more that those teams look really weird looking back at them. Sold bigs and a weird pairing at guards. Was Cherry the one who hit a buzzer beater vs ISU in a white out game at the Ferrell? We should do white out games more often. I think that's the only one I remember us having. No free t-shirts for big games either.
OldDominionBear
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LJ Rose and Deuce Bello too.

Also Al Freeman was very underwhelming for me. Maybe my expectations were too high for him but when I think back about watching him play the word timid comes to mind. I think my expectations and reality have made me think worse of him that he actually was.
Crawfoso1973
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Al Freeman was also an off-court / culture distraction if I remember correctly, I think he quit the team or got suspended at one point before transferring out.
OldDominionBear
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Wouldn't surprise me. Maston also kinda just floated though the game as well in a lackadaisical manner but I think that's just how he was personality-wise cause I can't recall him being a bad teammate.
historian
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OldDominionBear said:

Which one was the person who wasn't actually a PG but because we didn't have one they had to step up?

And it's not a shot at Cherry, it's more that those teams look really weird looking back at them. Sold bigs and a weird pairing at guards. Was Cherry the one who hit a buzzer beater vs ISU in a white out game at the Ferrell? We should do white out games more often. I think that's the only one I remember us having. No free t-shirts for big games either.

The 2019 Kansas game was a white out. Also CGD was there & it was a loud, exciting atmosphere. That one ended a 23 game win streak. We still had a great year & would have been a #1 seed but the tourney was cancelled for COVID.
“Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”
Psalm 119:36
OldDominionBear
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That's because Drew, Tang, Mills, etc are good coaches and also had players that bought in and could will the team to victories.

Like the Louisville game that was funny enough at the Battle 4 Atlantis when Drew took out Manu and Al when we were down big and put Jake and King in and we made that insane comeback.
Task Force 2015
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Jake and King were fabulous!
bear2be2
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OldDominionBear said:

Which one was the person who wasn't actually a PG but because we didn't have one they had to step up?

And it's not a shot at Cherry, it's more that those teams look really weird looking back at them. Sold bigs and a weird pairing at guards. Was Cherry the one who hit a buzzer beater vs ISU in a white out game at the Ferrell? We should do white out games more often. I think that's the only one I remember us having. No free t-shirts for big games either.
Manu Lecomte was the 3-point specialist who was forced to play point guard because we didn't have another one. Jake Lindsey played some there and pushed him to the 2 occasionally, but he was such a limited scoring threat that you were sacrificing offense when he was on the floor.

Chery was our diminutive point guard between Pierre Jackson and Lester Medford who had an awesome pull-up jumper from mid-range. So he probably was the one that hit the buzzer-beater you're thinking of. He helped lead us to a Sweet 16 in 2013-14, along with Brady Heslip, Cory Jefferson and Isaiah Austin.
HoustonBear15
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BearlySober
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OldDominionBear said:

LJ Rose and Deuce Bello too.

Also Al Freeman was very underwhelming for me. Maybe my expectations were too high for him but when I think back about watching him play the word timid comes to mind. I think my expectations and reality have made me think worse of him that he actually was.


Al was one of the few players on those teams that could routinely create his own shot, but the team was better after he left. Definitely a distraction and disappeared too much on the court. Timid is an accurate description.
OldDominionBear
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BearlySober said:

OldDominionBear said:

LJ Rose and Deuce Bello too.

Also Al Freeman was very underwhelming for me. Maybe my expectations were too high for him but when I think back about watching him play the word timid comes to mind. I think my expectations and reality have made me think worse of him that he actually was.


Al was one of the few players on those teams that could routinely create his own shot, but the team was better after he left. Definitely a distraction and disappeared too much on the court. Timid is an accurate description.


Okay, I didn't know how to really put it in words so I'm glad someone gets what I mean. He didn't really have the personality to match his skills he needed to show more confidence. I mean not at PJax levels but even if he had King's confidence he'd have been great.
1845_Society
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Sadly, another misguided kid who thinks he should be the star of the team. Wish him well....and some better advice from his inner circle going forward.

Bye
OldDominionBear
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I mean he's playing for the coach that ditched OKST after a season soooo birds of a feather?
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