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Baylor Basketball

Gameday Thread: #15 Baylor (14-4; 3-2) vs TCU (14-5; 3-3)

January 25, 2024
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#15 Baylor (14-4; 3-2) hosts TCU (14-5; 3-3) at Foster Pavilion Saturday January 27th at 3pm.  The game will be televised on ESPN2.  

KenPom Prediction:  Baylor 81 TCU 75

Torvik Prediction:  Baylor 82 TCU 76

Evan Miyakawa:  Baylor 81 TCU 76

Haslametrics:  Baylor 75 TCU 72

Coaches

TCU:  Jamie Dixon (58) 481-225; 14 NCAAs; 3 Sweet 16s; Elite 8

Baylor:  Scott Drew (53); 455-247 overall (435-236 at Baylor); 11 NCAAs; 5 Sweet 16s; 3 Elite 8s; FF; 1 National Championship

Head to Head:  8-5 Drew

TCU Starters

Guard:  Avery Anderson (SR) 6-2 170 lbs; 9 ppg; 2 reb; 4 asst; 47% FG; 28% 3pt; 83% FT

Guard:  Trevian Tennyson (SR) 6-2 180 lbs; 9 ppg; 2 reb; 2 asst; 47% FG; 45% 3pt; 85% FT

Forward: Micah Peavy (SR) 6-7 215 lbs; 11 ppg; 5 reb; 3 asst; 50% FG; 26% 3pt; 59% FT

Forward:  Emmanuel Miller (SR) 6-7 215 lbs; 17 ppg; 6 reb; 3 asst 49% FG; 39% 3pt; 83% FT

Forward:  Ernest Udeh (SO) 6-11 260 lbs; 5 ppg; 6 reb; 57% FG; 55% FT

TCU Bench

Guard: Jameer Nelson (SR) 6-2 205 lbs; 10 ppg; 3 reb; 3 asst; 44% FG; 25% 3pt; 70% FT

Forward:  JaKobe Coles (JR) 6-8 215 lbs; 10 ppg; 4 reb; 47% FG; 37% 3pt; 72% FT

Forward:  Xavier Cork (SR) 6-9 235 lbs; 5 ppg; 3 reb; 67% FG; 71% FT

Forward:  Chuck O’Bannon (SR) 6-7 220 lbs; 6 ppg; 3 reb; 47% FG; 37% 3pt; 79% FT

Baylor Starters

Guard:  RayJ Dennis (SR) 6-3 180 lbs; 13 ppg; 4 reb; 6 asst;  50% FG; 38% 3pt; 71% FT

Guard:  Jayden Nunn (JR) 6-3 190 lbs; 10 ppg; 3 reb; 2 asst; 44% FG; 42% 3pt; 70% FT 

Guard:  Ja’Kobe Walter (FR) 6-5 185 lbs; 15 ppg; 4 reb; 42% FG; 37% 3pt; 85% FT

Forward:  Jalen Bridges (JR) 6-9 225 lbs; 11 ppg; 5 reb; 45% FG; 38% 3pt; 90% FT

Forward:  Yves Missi (FR) 6-11 220 lbs; 10 ppg; 6 reb; 2 blocks; 63% FG; 49% FT

Baylor Bench

Guard:  Langston Love (SO) 6-5 210 lbs; 12 ppg; 2 reb; 47% FG; 48% 3pt; 82% FT

Forward:  Caleb Lohner (JR) 6-8 235 lbs; 3 ppg; 2 reb; 56% FG; 33% 3pt; 70% FT

Forward:  Josh Ojianwuna (SO) 6-10 240 lbs; 5 ppg; 4 reb; 79% FG; 63% FT

Guard:  Miro Little (FR) 6-4 185 lbs; 3 ppg; 54% FG; 50% 3pt; 77% FT

Discussion from...

Gameday Thread: #15 Baylor (14-4; 3-2) vs TCU (14-5; 3-3)

42,352 Views | 595 Replies | Last: 3 mo ago by Guitarbiscuit
BaylorFan12345
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In reply to EvilTroyAndAbed • 6:30p, 1/27/24
EvilTroyAndAbed said:
Oldbear83 said:
Remember how the media made such a big deal of Foster, how it was going to be so hard for visitors to win here?

That turned out to be BS.

None of the three losses should have happened, now I have zero confidence we can do more than finish in the middle and in the second round of the tournament.

Something is very wrong, and I don't think we can fix it this season anymore.


Last year UConn went 2-6 in January.

The season is not in jeopardy. It sucks to lose three games by seven points, but go ahead and give up. I'm not going to.
Then be prepare to be disappointed then since Baylor is not going to get very far in the tournament
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Yogi
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6:31p, 1/27/24
Just a really, really tough year to be a Baylor fan...

The pavilion is nice, though.
"Smarter than the Average Bear."
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Oldbear83
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In reply to EvilTroyAndAbed • 6:31p, 1/27/24
EvilTroyAndAbed said:
Oldbear83 said:
Remember how the media made such a big deal of Foster, how it was going to be so hard for visitors to win here?

That turned out to be BS.

None of the three losses should have happened, now I have zero confidence we can do more than finish in the middle and in the second round of the tournament.

Something is very wrong, and I don't think we can fix it this season anymore.


Last year UConn went 2-6 in January.

The season is not in jeopardy. It sucks to lose three games by seven points, but go ahead and give up. I'm not going to.
It's not that we lost close games in January. It's that our defense has not improved, and our offense has become predictable.

I agree there is a lot of time left, but we still have road games against UCF, Kansas, West Virginia, BYU, TCU, and Texas Tech left, and we look like we can lose all of them. Add to that our remaining home games against Kansas, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Houston, and Texas, and I see at least 10 more conference losses. 8 and 10 our most likely conference record will not get us a good seed, and if we can't get the whistles to go our way at home, it would be idiocy to expect we will fare well on the road in tournament. We look very much like a team that will get a 7 or 8 seed and lose during the first weekend.

Up to 3 PM today I was a believer, but we have no enforcer, no rim protector, and no one committed to making sure we keep a lead. We are soft, and while that can be cured, midway through the season is a really bad place to still be softer than Chamin.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Bearwhiz • 6:31p, 1/27/24
Bearwhiz said:
Bridges got owned. He had a very bad night
He was terrible from halftime on. Just completely disappeared.
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Yogi
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In reply to BaylorFan12345 • 6:31p, 1/27/24
BaylorFan12345 said:
EvilTroyAndAbed said:
Oldbear83 said:
Remember how the media made such a big deal of Foster, how it was going to be so hard for visitors to win here?

That turned out to be BS.

None of the three losses should have happened, now I have zero confidence we can do more than finish in the middle and in the second round of the tournament.

Something is very wrong, and I don't think we can fix it this season anymore.


Last year UConn went 2-6 in January.

The season is not in jeopardy. It sucks to lose three games by seven points, but go ahead and give up. I'm not going to.
Then be prepare to be disappointed then since Baylor is not going to get very far in the tournament


I will be grateful to get into the tournament with this team!!!
"Smarter than the Average Bear."
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Mitch Henessey
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In reply to bear2be2 • 6:33p, 1/27/24
bear2be2 said:
Mitch Henessey said:
Inches from being 6-0 in conference. Instead, we are officially in freefall.
We're not in freefall. We'll play a whole lot more games like the first six. We'll either get better at finishing games or we'll lose a lot of close games.

Fortunately, there's precedent for Scott Drew teams making in-season turnarounds. This team needs one starting with the UCF game.
We better turn it around soon. It's possible we haven't played a single team that going to finish in the top half of the league standings, and we're sitting at .500. Not great.
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DanaDane
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In reply to MashedPotatoes • 6:34p, 1/27/24
MashedPotatoes said:
5 for 22 3-point shooting.
3 point shooting for us is either feast or famine:


Feast:
vs. BYU, 10-23
vs. UT, 11-22

Famine:
vs. Ok St, 2-15
vs. UC, 5-20
vs. K State, 5-28
vs. TCU, 5-22
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bear2be2
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6:35p, 1/27/24
I'm afraid our one-and-done recruiting strategy has been a complete failure.

This team could surprise me, but it sure looks like a first weekend team at best right now.

If we make another exit in or before the second round -- or God forbid, miss the tournament entirely -- it's time to take a serious look at what we're doing as a program and what it is we want to be.

I, personally, am not interested in producing a bunch of NBA draft picks if it doesn't lead to wins in March.
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greggor25
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6:35p, 1/27/24
They played hard today but what in the hell is wrong with this team? We are soft on D!
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Hotsauce
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6:36p, 1/27/24
They only thing I really know for sure at this point is that we aren't a good 3-pt shooting team, and that may be what scares me the most.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Mitch Henessey • 6:36p, 1/27/24
Mitch Henessey said:
bear2be2 said:
Mitch Henessey said:
Inches from being 6-0 in conference. Instead, we are officially in freefall.
We're not in freefall. We'll play a whole lot more games like the first six. We'll either get better at finishing games or we'll lose a lot of close games.

Fortunately, there's precedent for Scott Drew teams making in-season turnarounds. This team needs one starting with the UCF game.
We better turn it around soon. It's possible we haven't played a single team that going to finish in the top half of the league standings, and we're sitting at .500. Not great.
The gap between the top and bottom half in this league is virtually nonexistent. We see that every week.

There's no one in this league that will blow us out if we give our standard performance. That will put is in a lot of games late in the second half. We've got to learn to win those games.
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BearFan33
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6:37p, 1/27/24
When we get a chance to put a team away we fumble the ball out of bounds.

We have a top 25 offense and a bottom 25 defense
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Bearwhiz
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In reply to bear2be2 • 6:38p, 1/27/24
bear2be2 said:
Bearwhiz said:
Bridges got owned. He had a very bad night
He was terrible from halftime on. Just completely disappeared.
you can't have that from your oldest most experienced player. He was Charmin soft today. Just got backed down time after time
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bear2be2
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In reply to greggor25 • 6:38p, 1/27/24
greggor25 said:
They played hard today but what in the hell is wrong with this team? We are soft on D!
They always play hard. Effort isn't an issue. I'm afraid we're just poorly coached on the defensive end. Our guys are consistently confused on that end, and there's no excuse for that this late in the season.
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IvanBear
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In reply to DanaDane • 6:38p, 1/27/24
DanaDane said:
Just please get me a defensive specialist coach in the off-season. I don't want to watch yet another team shot > 50% against us. Whatever it is we've been doing the past 2 years, it ain't working.


It's really 3 years haven't been good defensively since we won the natty
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bear2be2
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In reply to Bearwhiz • 6:39p, 1/27/24
Bearwhiz said:
bear2be2 said:
Bearwhiz said:
Bridges got owned. He had a very bad night
He was terrible from halftime on. Just completely disappeared.
you can't have that from your oldest most experienced player. He was Charmin soft today. Just got backed down time after time
He and Nunn have mastered the late-second half disappearing act unfortunately. Some guys crave the spotlight, others hide from it. We've got too many of the latter.
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BBWCBear
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6:39p, 1/27/24
Well it was a Purple team, so there's that. BU doesn't do well in football, basketball or baseball against Purple, ever.
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bear2be2
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In reply to IvanBear • 6:42p, 1/27/24
IvanBear said:
DanaDane said:
Just please get me a defensive specialist coach in the off-season. I don't want to watch yet another team shot > 50% against us. Whatever it is we've been doing the past 2 years, it ain't working.


It's really 3 years haven't been good defensively since we won the natty
The 2022 team graded well in defensive metrics. But it wasn't the same team by the end of the season that it was at the start. EJ's injury completely changed that team's makeup and trajectory.
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boognish_bear
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6:45p, 1/27/24
5 for 22 from 3 for 22.7%.

We are the worst best 3 point shooting team I've seen in awhile
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Guitarbiscuit
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In reply to bear2be2 • 6:47p, 1/27/24
bear2be2 said:
I'm afraid our one-and-done recruiting strategy has been a complete failure.

This team could surprise me, but it sure looks like a first weekend team at best right now.

If we make another exit in or before the second round -- or God forbid, miss the tournament entirely -- it's time to take a serious look at what we're doing as a program and what it is we want to be.

I, personally, am not interested in producing a bunch of NBA draft picks if it doesn't lead to wins in March.



I agree. Drew's excessive focus on one and done recruiting guarantees both a lack of cohesion on offense and defense, particularly when it matters most. I hope Drew begins recruiting very solid players who remain on the team through at least year 2. Dixon recruits right. Very disappointed with Drew's recruiting strategy. One and done players will not win a championship. They won't even help beat an i ranked TCU team at home. This team will finish 500 in conference if they are lucky.
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BUCANDOIT82
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In reply to IvanBear • 6:48p, 1/27/24
IvanBear said:
DanaDane said:
Just please get me a defensive specialist coach in the off-season. I don't want to watch yet another team shot > 50% against us. Whatever it is we've been doing the past 2 years, it ain't working.
l
It's really 3 years haven't been good defensively since we won the natty


We were very good in 2022 the year after the Natty.
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BellCountyBear
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6:49p, 1/27/24
L
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Guitarbiscuit
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In reply to bear2be2 • 6:50p, 1/27/24
bear2be2 said:
greggor25 said:
They played hard today but what in the hell is wrong with this team? We are soft on D!
They always play hard. Effort isn't an issue. I'm afraid we're just poorly coached on the defensive end. Our guys are consistently confused on that end, and there's no excuse for that this late in the season.



I wonder if Drew's weakness is on the defensive end. And I wonder if that was Tang's strength. Or perhaps Drew tells them what to do but the team fails to listen.
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Gametime
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6:52p, 1/27/24
4th in league last year. And worse this year. Crazy.
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EvilTroyAndAbed
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In reply to IvanBear • 6:53p, 1/27/24
IvanBear said:
DanaDane said:
Just please get me a defensive specialist coach in the off-season. I don't want to watch yet another team shot > 50% against us. Whatever it is we've been doing the past 2 years, it ain't working.


It's really 3 years haven't been good defensively since we won the natty


That team played together for two full years.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Guitarbiscuit • 6:55p, 1/27/24
Guitarbiscuit said:
bear2be2 said:
greggor25 said:
They played hard today but what in the hell is wrong with this team? We are soft on D!
They always play hard. Effort isn't an issue. I'm afraid we're just poorly coached on the defensive end. Our guys are consistently confused on that end, and there's no excuse for that this late in the season.



I wonder if Drew's weakness is on the defensive end. And I wonder if that was Tang's strength. Or perhaps Drew tells them what to do but the team fails to listen.
I think Drew definitely has a weakness on the defensive end. That was evident in his early years.

He had some elite individual defenders from 2019-22 to mask his deficiencies coaching man. But our success in man defense graduated with them. Now we look like trash on that end as often as not. Not quite as bad as the Jerrells-Dugat-Rogers teams, but closer than any of us would like to admit.
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historian
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In reply to Killing Floor • 6:56p, 1/27/24
Killing Floor said:
Horrible officiating but also horrible playing so it could go either way today.

We lost in the end because of the TCU fouls that were not called. But if we had been playing better in regulation (shooting better, fewer turnovers, better defense, etc) we would have won in regulation and there wouldn't have been any OT.
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bear2be2
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In reply to historian • 6:58p, 1/27/24
historian said:
Killing Floor said:
Horrible officiating but also horrible playing so it could go either way today.

We lost in the end because of the TCU fouls that were not called. But if we had been playing better in regulation (shooting better, fewer turnovers, better defense, etc) we would have won in regulation and there wouldn't have been any OT.
We lost because we didn't defend or rebound well enough to win.

There were missed calls on both ends. This wasn't on the refs. We lost today for the same reason we lost the two games before it. We weren't good enough in crunch time to win. Either that changes or we're in for a very disappointing season. It's up to Scott Drew and our players.
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Quinton
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In reply to bear2be2 • 6:58p, 1/27/24
It's valid but hard to plan for. You have to start intentionally recruiting guys who simply aren't as good but you're confident will be in program 3 to 4 years.

Hard to project like that while insuring you aren't getting a bunch of duds. The system isn't strong enough to control for that. Now if the staff brings on excellent defensive specialists (with intensity) I could see that strategy.

I get the point and worth debating. Often the teams that pull this off have a "negative " aspect of their program that keeps the most elite tier talent away. Ex.. hard nosed defensive obsessed coach.. or system coach that doesn't like to "feature " individual play makers.

Their identity does the work for them as they can't typically get top players. Just very hard to execute when only a few teams in the country can get better recruits.

No way does J Wright take a role but would love to pay him to come and help this staff in the offseason. Self isn't helping us and he's the only one better than Wright. Then hire a defensive vet. These guys on staff aren't getting it done. We need a great defensive teacher and motivator on staff
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TXBEAR_bf
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In reply to historian • 6:59p, 1/27/24
That Missi bunny, just so hard to understand not dunking at 7 feet tall. Dunk everything!
Bear living in the woods of Bend Oregon
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DanaDane
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In reply to bear2be2 • 6:59p, 1/27/24
In my mind, last year I wrote some of the defensive deficiencies off as a lack of effort by 2 or 3 guys. But this year, that obviously isn't the case as, like you said, this team plays hard and gives full effort. Either way, the end result has been the same -- consistently missing switches, bad rotation, basic fundamental errors and just awful transition D.
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Quinton
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In reply to BUCANDOIT82 • 6:59p, 1/27/24
BUCANDOIT82 said:
IvanBear said:
DanaDane said:
Just please get me a defensive specialist coach in the off-season. I don't want to watch yet another team shot > 50% against us. Whatever it is we've been doing the past 2 years, it ain't working.
l
It's really 3 years haven't been good defensively since we won the natty


We were very good in 2022 the year after the Natty.


Yep. They were by far the best team in the country pre ridiculous string of injuries. That's why I only count last year's trend
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bear2be2
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In reply to Quinton • 7:00p, 1/27/24
Quinton said:
It's valid but hard to plan for. You have to start intentionally recruiting guys who simply aren't as good but you're confident will be in program 3 to 4 years.

Hard to project like that while insuring you aren't getting a bunch of duds. The system isn't strong enough to control for that. Now if the staff brings on excellent defensive specialists (with intensity) I could see that strategy.

I get the point and worth debating. Often the teams that pull this off have a "negative " aspect of their program that keeps the most elite tier talent away. Ex.. hard nosed defensive obsessed coach.. or system coach that doesn't like to "feature " individual play makers.

Their identity does the work for them as they can't typically get top players. Just very hard to execute when only a few teams in the country can get better recruits.

No way does J Wright take a role but would love to pay him to come and help this staff in the offseason. Self isn't helping us and he's the only one better than Wright. Then hire a defensive vet. These guys on staff aren't getting it done. We need a great defensive teacher and motivator on staff
None of the best teams in our league are built with one-and-dones. Everyone who is beating us right now or is ahead of us in the standings seems to have mixed the right impossible cocktail.

We clearly made a choice to go after more splash guys. It's been a failure. It is what it is.

I would take Iowa State, Texas Tech or TCU's roster over ours. All are infinitely tougher teams than ours is.

We have been Charmin soft the last two years, and it's hard to fix that with physically immature freshmen.
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historian
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In reply to bear2be2 • 7:02p, 1/27/24
Agreed. TCU cheating in the end & the refs missing it was only the coup de Grace. Most of the previous wounds were self-inflicted.
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boognish_bear
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7:05p, 1/27/24
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