Baylor Basketball

Breaking: Rice Forward, Waco Native Caden Powell Commits to Baylor From Transfer Portal

Rice forward Caden Powell has committed to head coach Scott Drew and Baylor
By Ashley Hodge
April 14, 2025
18k Views
16 Comments
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Photo by Rice Athletics

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Rice forward Caden Powell has committed to head coach Scott Drew and Baylor and becomes the sixth transfer portal addition for the Bears' 2025 class, joining Tennessee wing Cameron Carr, Wyoming guard Obi Agbim, Oregon State forward Michael Rataj, Omaha guard JJ White and High Point forward Juslin Bodo Bodo.

Powell, a 6-foot-10, 220-pound athletic big man, averaged 10.4 points per game, 7.2 rebounds and one block this season. He shot 57% from the field and 65% from the free-throw line.

Originally from Waco, Texas, Powell played at Midway High School and spent his first two collegiate seasons at Wyoming. He has started 63 games across three seasons at Wyoming and Rice and has one year of eligibility left.

Why the Fit Looks Good

Powell is a skilled, efficient, smart big man with a long wingspan. He ranks in the top 250 in the college ranks in many key metrics, including offensive efficiency (120 on KenPom), effective field goal percentage, offensive rebounding (47), block rate and free throw rate. When combined with High Point transfer Juslin Bodo Bodo, Powell gives Drew and the coaching staff a terrific one-two punch at the center position.  

16 Comments
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Scott Drew Transfer Portal Caden Powell Basketball Baylor Rice 2025
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Discussion from...

Breaking: Rice Forward, Waco Native Caden Powell Commits to Baylor From Transfer Portal

10,376 Views | 16 Replies | Last: 8 mo ago by boognish_bear
Bearsalwayswin
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12:42p, 4/14/25
depth for a year
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Bear2393
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In reply to Bearsalwayswin • 12:47p, 4/14/25
Ol Waco boy, love the height!
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Big12Fan2024
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1:03p, 4/14/25
I'm unsure how it all mixes together at this point, but I like that we're adding size and technically now have 3 bigs (PF or C) at 6-9, 6-10 and 7-0 who all already have experience at the collegiate level.
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BUDOS
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1:14p, 4/14/25
Depth with some good experience, not just a body.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Big12Fan2024 • 1:25p, 4/14/25
Big12Fan2024 said:
I'm unsure how it all mixes together at this point, but I like that we're adding size and technically now have 3 bigs (PF or C) at 6-9, 6-10 and 7-0 who all already have experience at the collegiate level.
I like that we've gone aggressively after true frontcourt players, even if they're more blue collar than flash. I actually see that as a feature, not a bug in this case (and most others).

Rataj is more of a three in a four's body, so we need some real frontcourt players. Adding two solid ones in quick succession is nice.
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Stefano DiMera
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5:18p, 4/14/25
Get Skillings and it's been a pretty good off season.

Only negative is none of these bigs can shoot free throws looking at their percentages.
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Bearsalwayswin
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5:28p, 4/14/25
i like getting these players who aren't very big, then adding a few very solid guys. it gives us more leniency if something goes wrong with one
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Stefano DiMera • 5:57p, 4/14/25
Stefano DiMera said:
Get Skillings and it's been a pretty good off season.

Only negative is none of these bigs can shoot free throws looking at their percentages.
Not a big deal, they don't shoot a high volume of ft attempts.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 6:16p, 4/14/25
Crawfoso1973 said:
Stefano DiMera said:
Get Skillings and it's been a pretty good off season.

Only negative is none of these bigs can shoot free throws looking at their percentages.
Not a big deal, they don't shoot a high volume of ft attempts.
The only problem that could cause is late in games, where those guys potentially become unplayable for fear of a hack-a-Shaq strategy. But other than that, I agree.

You're talking about a very low volume of free throws, so those percentages won't hurt you much.
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Big12Fan2024
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7:13p, 4/14/25
Doesn't marginal FT shooting pretty much come with the territory with most bigs? There are certainly a few exceptions, as can be seen on the list below, but we would not be the only one with bigs who aren't great FT shooters. Not defending the signees' FT shooting numbers because they're not great by any stretch of the imagination. But I don't think they are that uncommon for a lot of bigs.

Below are the FT shooting percentages last year for our two signees and then the two biggest players (who played the most minutes) on the schools that finished in front of us. Traore sticks out as an excellent FT shooter and Omier and Dickinson were pretty good. But our signees were comparable to UH's or Tech's. Obviously some of these guys are gone but I think if you look over time this is a pretty reasonable picture of what it looks like most years in any conference when it comes to bigs.


Powell 65.0%; Bodo Bodo 53.4%


Baylor: Omier 75.0%; Ojianwuna 64.5%
Houston: Roberts 62.5%; Tugler 53.8%
Tech: Toppin 67.6%; Federiko 49.2%
BYU: Keita 41.1%; Traore 82.3%
Arizona: Veesaar 68.6%; Awaka 66.7%
Iowa St: Jackson 72.0%; Chatfield 70.6%
Kansas: Dickinson 74.8%; KJ Adams 72.5%

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Mitch Henessey
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7:29p, 4/14/25
Not having a guy like Bodo Bodo or Powell is what stood between us and a Sweet 16 or better season last year. Glad we're learning our lesson and adding size + depth this year.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Mitch Henessey • 8:13p, 4/14/25
Mitch Henessey said:
Not having a guy like Bodo Bodo or Powell is what stood between us and a Sweet 16 or better season last year. Glad we're learning our lesson and adding size + depth this year.
That ... and a much weaker than normal guard corps.

This past year's team was limited in a lot of ways, unfortunately.

I agree with you that about this transfer class so far. I like the guys we've added, especially in the frontcourt.
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Quinton
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In reply to Stefano DiMera • 8:44p, 4/14/25
Stefano DiMera said:
Get Skillings and it's been a pretty good off season.

Only negative is none of these bigs can shoot free throws looking at their percentages.


I agree the transfers have potential for a decent fit, But need a starting PG (I know they had one)
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BUBear1994DFW
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9:41p, 4/14/25
Who, again, is on the team?
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bear2be2
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In reply to BUBear1994DFW • 9:40a, 4/15/25
BUBear1994DFW said:
Who, again, is on the team?
A five-star freshman, a transfer from Tennessee who came in at the mid term and practiced with the team this past season, and five new transfers so far -- a scoring guard from Wyoming, a combo guard from Omaha, a stretch four from Oregon State, a post from Rice and a post from High Point.

I would imagine we'll add another two or three transfers and potentially one more high school recruit (Andre Iguodala's kid is visiting and will hopefully commit).

This new era is insane. Half or more of every roster is new every season -- and in cases like ours, the fans don't know any of them. We'll find out in November what we have and what they'll look like on the floor together.
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boognish_bear
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9:06a, 4/16/25
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