Quinton said:
Mitch Henessey said:
FLBear5630 said:
Guitarbiscuit said:
FLBear5630 said:
ZachTay said:
It's encouraging to see an article on here that speaks more toward reality, and not straight sunshine pumping.
The largest concern is what is the most obvious: Of their first 6 games, Baylor has played 4 quality opponents (i.e. ranked in some form). If not for a buzzer-beating Hail Mary prayer/miracle they would be 1-3 in those games......looking competitive in only one of them. And two were utter beat-down embarrassments.
Something is off, and I believe it's again the combination of having to put a completely fresh mix of players on the court every year and critical losses of talented assistants that were the ones making the team what it was. Team chemistry has been missing for the 3rd consecutive year now (it appears). The Final 4 / Championship teams had team chemistry from playing together for more than one season.
Like last year, this already is not looking like a deep run tournament team (NCAA not NIT). And any chance at a BigXII conference championship clearly already looks unattainable at this point.
So, where is Baylor? At a crossroads, with an decision point of changing the program's course? Perhaps. It just REALLY sucks for us that Mack Rhoades is at the helm of those kind of calls. In him.....none of us should trust.
Sic'em
I agree. Change direction? I believe that has been BUs problem. A season or two of not winning and we want to jetison the staff and start over. These guys are pros, Drew has been successful, he knows what the issues are. Can he solve them? Probably somewhat. But, making the tournament and peaking for the tourney is what the game is about. The Izzo school, MSU looks average alot and then the tourney comes MSU is there. I am hoping we are on that track
Back when we had better assistants and a program that was not a revolving door year after year, I'd agree with you. But I don't see any deep runs by this team until these 2 major issues are successfully addressed.
I would be happy with round of 32 bow out with this group
Dude, what? This is a 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament squad, bare minimum.
I know you see the complaints and you usually come through and give your best rational slow your panic takes
What is your view on the defense now and over the last few years? Do you think its salvageable
Good question. I think it is. Individually, we have good defenders. Nunn is a plus defender, Edgecombe is another plus guy. Roach is a decent defender. Ojianwuna is a bit stiff, but he gives good effort, and he has size. Omier is undersized, and has been extremely foul-prone this year, but his effort is never in question. That's your starting 5, and there's a not a "bad" defender in the bunch. So, for that reason alone, I think we can become at least a serviceable defensive squad. With this offensive firepower, that might be enough to make a run.
The issues we have are twofold. The rest of the guys in our rotation aren't plus defenders. Langston Love is not a good defender, and his ankle issues have sapped much of his ability to stay in front of his man on defense. Rob Wright is a willing defender, but he's undersized, and he's more advanced on the offensive end at this point. That said, he can patrol the passing lanes well enough to stress the opposing offense. I haven't seen enough of Celestine to say anything overtly negative about him, but he hasn't stood out thus far for his defensive prowess.
Our larger (and really, overarching) issue is our defensive scheme. Coach Drew likes to say "the smart steal from the strong." He "stole" the No Middle defense from Chris Beard and Mark Adams, and while it worked beautifully for several years, teams adjusted to it, and we've always been a player-friendly program. We don't have a hardass coach who demands we focus on defense or you don't play. The great defensive teams we've had have been player-led. The older players on those squads have demanded accountability and bought in, and it worked in the pre-NIL era.
This team has veteran players. Jeremy Roach has been to a Final Four. So has Norchad Omier. Jayden Nunn is experienced. Josh Ojianwuna is experienced. The rub is that only 3 of the guys in our 8-man rotation have ever played together before this season. Can we come together and peak at the right time? Absolutely. The talent is there (although we are small and very thin down low). Will we? Tough to predict. I don't think we learned anything from the Gonzaga game, as it wasn't our night and we flat out got our doors blown off. I think the Tennessee game was a great learning experience. We have to get inside the other team's best players' jerseys, and before the second half of that game, we didn't do it.
TL;DR - the potential is there. Our talent level is good. Our scheme is uneven and might not be suited to the talent we have on hand. I think we can peak late, but this isn't a national title contender. We could get hot and maybe make a Final Four, though. We could also flame out in the Round of 32 yet again, too. I think the UConn game will tell us a lot.
