BREAKING: Sweet Irony, Yale's Makai Mason plans to be a Bear

SicEm365 has confirmed a report by Andrew Slater that Yale point guard Makai Mason will transfer to Baylor to play his final season of college basketball in 2018-2019.

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Makai Mason is no stranger to Baylor fans.  The 6-foot-1, 185-pound guard was instrumental in giving Baylor a first round exit from the NCAA tournament in 2016.  Mason scored 31 points against the Bears in a 79-75 upset that sent Scott Drew's team packing, a highlight for Mason in a season that saw him averaging 16 ppg and 4 assists. 

As a sophomore, Mason helped lead Yale to a 23-7 record while more than holding his own against top competition that year averaging 19 points and 6 assists in five games versus Duke who Yale faced twice, Baylor, SMU and USC.

Mason went through the NBA combine process after his sophomore year but did not hire an agent.  One of his pre-draft workouts displays his athleticism including a 37-inch standing vertical and big man dunk drill where he dunks 14 times in a row.  Athletic-freak level is extreme for a 6-1 guard on both of those. 



Mason was named the Ivy League pre-season player of the year for 2016-17 heading into his junior year, but a broken foot in a scrimmage leading up to that season caused him to miss the entire year and derail the potential.  The Ivy League has different rules pertaining to student/athlete eligibility. 

In short, a prospect has only four seasons to play four.  If a redshirt is used, the player will use up their athletic eligibility after their junior season.  With this in mind, Mason announced that he would play one final year at Yale (his junior season) and then head elsewhere as graduate transfer for his senior season. 

Mason was announced Yale's captain for the 2017-18 basketball season and is a likely candidate for preseason player of the year in the Ivy again. 

To avoid distractions during the season, Mason opted to make a decision on where he would play his senior year prior to the summer.  There were plenty of high major courters for Mason as you might expect.  Some of those courters were rumored to include Notre Dame, Kansas, Duke and Baylor. 

With senior Manu Lecomte graduating after this season and Baylor's success with experienced transfer point guards in recent years including Pierre Jackson, Kenny Chery, Lester Medford and most recently Lecomte, Mason decided to give his commitment to Baylor for his final college season in what he hopes will prepare him for professional basketball in the years to follow. 

The pick up is tremendous coup for Scott Drew and could give Baylor one of the top backcourts in the nation for the 2018-19 season which could include seniors King McClure and Jake Lindsey to go along with a senior in Mason while also feature junior Chuck Mitchell and sophomore Tyson Jolly. 

Check out Mason's highlights from his sophomore season at Yale.