Baylor Basketball, Engagement and Michigan State Takeaways!
I got engaged on Saturday with an assist from Baylor basketball.
From the first date with my girlfriend in March, I knew I wanted to marry her. And by the time Baylor announced it’s game with Michigan State, I knew I’d have an excuse.
So on Saturday I had my girlfriend drop me off at the airport because I claimed Pat Nunley got sick and they needed me to call the game on the radio. She was a little suspicious of the short turn around, but I had David Kaye text me a photo from inside the arena. Once she saw that, she thought we weren’t getting engaged that day.
Luckily the plan worked. She pulled up to the park with her friend, and I got down on a knee. We’ll get married next year in Hawaii.
I have now watched what I needed to see in the Michigan State game. Here are my offensive takeaways. We’ll do a bigget defensive article tomorrow.
*Baylor finished with .9 adjusted points per possession. That felt high. Baylor’s 21 turnovers were catastrophic.
*Nothing grinds my gears like a shot clock violation. Jayden Nunn had one to open the game; Jalen Bridges passed up a shot out of a timeout later on, which led to another. Horrible possessions.
*Yves Missi made a few growing pains mistakes. Baylor does an excellent job teaching the bigs to keep the ball high on the catch, so the player can immediately go up and score. Missi caught a ball four minutes into the game. He brought it down and got swatted. Then he tried to create in the pick-and-roll at the under eight, which led to a turnover.
*RayJ Dennis had some bad turnovers. He made a terrible pass at 7:20 left in the first half trying to hit a cutting Missi. Two Spartans grabbed the ball.
*So many of Baylor’s problems were about not being able to beat Michigan State off the dribble. It felt rare Baylor could do that all day.
*Very poor offensive day from Jayden Nunn. I’ll discuss this more on the defensive side, but Baylor managed one possession where Baylor had two men defending Baylor’s pick-and-roll attack. Nunn probbed incorrectly, and he had to settle for a contested jumper. Nunn also needs to take threes on the catch. His hesitancy leads to bad shots. His six turnovers were almost all bad turnovers.
*Ja’Kobe Walter must be more aggressive. He took the ball to the hole by keepign it high and scored a nice floater. He can make 2-point jumpers off the bounce. I think Walter needs to adopt the framework, “I will take one shot that I think is bad every 10 minutes.” He’s so good, but he can’t go such long stretches without trying to force some offense.
*Jalen Bridges also needs to stay aggressive. He made a terrible pass in a high-low set, but other than that, I wasn’t too upset with his offensive play. I continue to want to see him take more shots. He’s improved immensley in that category.
*Overall, Baylor missed some 3-point shots it normally makes. I think the offensive issues will get resolved.
*I’d see how Baylor does playing more guards- I liked Grimes getting more playing time. Miro Little might deserve some too. Clearly Dennis will play a ton. But I don’t think anyone else has secured minutes all season. Nunn’s defensive potential warrants consideration. Love’s shooting does as well. But I don’t think anyone has seized closing at the “2.”