From Waco to the World Stage: Caden Powell Finding His Role for Baylor, Team USA
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Shortly after Rice center and Waco native Caden Powell entered the transfer portal earlier this spring to look for a comfortable spot to finish his collegiate career and complete his electrical engineering degree, he was immediately bombarded with phone calls — seven to be exact — from Baylor assistant coach Tweety Carter.
Although Powell was working out and missed Carter’s initial attempts to get in touch with the 6-foot-9 big man, the messaging behind the urgency was clear: We want you at Baylor, and we need you.
Powell grew up watching Carter and was mesmerized by the electric 5-foot-9 guard, who helped put Baylor men’s basketball on the map, averaging 15 points per game as a senior and leading the Bears to the Elite Eight in 2010.
Over the years, Powell developed a relationship with Carter and likes to still give him a hard time for sweating through his shirt and suit jacket when he was tasked with speaking at a basketball banquet following Powell’s senior season at Midway High School.
This time, however, Powell put the jokes aside and realized Carter was being serious after seeing how much effort he was making to contact him. When the two finally got in touch, Carter quickly exclaimed, “I’ve been trying to get you!” and later noted that “the entire coaching staff wants you here to come back home and represent Baylor.”
Following the conversation, Powell took an official visit to Baylor, and after giving it some thought and discussing it with those closest to him, he committed to head coach Scott Drew and his hometown Bears.
“He’s an elite communicator, an elite passer and a very good rebounder; he plays to his strengths,” Drew said of Powell. “He can finish, and he can score one-on-one, but he stands out in those other areas.”
One of the people Powell confided in when tasked with making the decision was his mother, Connie Powell Nichols, a long-time professor of law at Baylor.
“She’s always there whenever I need something,” Powell said of his mother. “She’s always there for me and always gives me advice. Our new running joke is ‘Are you sure you don’t want to be a lawyer?’ And I’m like, ‘No. I don’t want to.’ She’s always there for me.”
Powell said that being close to his mom to finish out his college basketball career was a huge positive, adding, “She’s my No. 1 supporter by far. She’ll be at every game she can possibly be at, no matter the weather or what time of day it is. Her working across the street really is a blessing. If she ever needs anything, I can help her.”
The opportunity Powell has to play at Baylor wasn’t something he initially thought possible. Although he entered high school at 6-foot-6, there was a noticeable “shift” in terms of his basketball career in the summer of 2020.
“I actually went to Maryland and lived with my cousin for about two months, and we focused strictly on basketball,” Powell said. “Since it was the summer and everything was shut down, my mom was like, 'You need to be doing something — you need to work out.' I went to Maryland, started working out a lot more, and that’s when I realized I actually have a shot. That’s when I really started taking basketball seriously."
Powell dubbed himself a “late bloomer,” adding, “The progress I made from my sophomore to senior year was huge. I went from thinking, 'I don’t know if basketball is really going to be it for me,' to realizing, 'Oh, I can actually play basketball at the college level.’”
Being from Waco, Powell had limited options as he sought to join the AAU scene and began routinely commuting up Interstate 35 to play for the Texas Impact, an Under Armour circuit team based out of Dallas. During the school year, Powell would drive to the Metroplex almost every weekend. During the summer, he’d usually stay Wednesday through Sunday, crashing on whichever teammate had an available bed or couch.
"I would always travel back and forth from Dallas — practicing, working out and then coming back to Waco — just because the level of competition in Dallas is so much higher,” Powell said. “It’s different playing there. Plus, we were a shoe circuit team, so I was getting national exposure, playing on the Under Armour circuit and in big-time events and games. It also gave me the chance to compete against some really talented players."
After wrapping up a superb career at Midway High School, Powell left Waco as a three-star prospect for Wyoming, where Ken DeWeese, another Central Texas native and assistant coach for the Cowboys at the time, recruited him. Powell played in 28 games as a true freshman, averaging two points and two rebounds per game, while getting mentored by Graham Ike, an All-Mountain West center who eventually transferred to Gonzaga and earned All-American honors.
“Graham’s one of my better friends, and we talk as often as we can,” Powell said. “He took me under his wing and helped me adjust to the college game.”
As for his time in Laramie, Powell noted, “I actually enjoyed it. It was a really nice experience being away from home because it let me grow as my own person and as an individual and find the things I like to do and what works best for me.”
Following his lone season at Wyoming, Powell transferred to Rice, where he played in 64 games over the past two years. The Waco native averaged 10.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and a block per game last season before ultimately deciding to enter the transfer portal for a second time. With Powell ultimately choosing Baylor, he can’t wait to play in the comfortable confines of Central Texas and take pride in representing his hometown.
"It’s definitely something I’m not going to take for granted, because it’s very rare to be able to play college basketball in general, let alone in your hometown, where you're from and at such a high level,” he said. “You don’t really see that often, so I’m definitely super thankful for the opportunity."
Before Powell can return to Central Texas and put on the Green and Gold, he’s rocking the Red, White and Blue and representing Team USA in the World University Games this summer in Germany as the starting center.
Across the first three games, Powell hasn’t filled up the stat sheet with a ton of points, but has added immense value on the defensive end, blocking shots, communicating with his teammates and securing rebounds. For Powell, the main goal of the tournament so far has been to get a completely new roster gelling on the court, setting up for a successful season in a few months.
"I definitely think we can find a common bond, not just because we’re all here for the first time, but also through the different journeys that brought us to this point,” Powell said. “None of us had the same experiences. We come from different places, different childhoods, different family environments and even played in different college basketball programs across the country."
As for his own journey, Powell is appreciative that he has taken a different route to get to the position he's in today, something that he believes has helped shape the person he’s striving to become.
"I’ve learned a lot on my journey, not just about basketball, but also about myself,” Powell said of collegiate experience. “There have been ups and downs throughout my whole career, but looking back, I wouldn’t change anything because it’s brought me to where I am now. I’ve learned more about myself than anything else. Sometimes, it’s easy to get so caught up in basketball that you forget about who you are."
Other World University Games Content:
- SicEm365 Basketball Podcast: Early Observations of Team USA, Recapping Group Play, More
- Agbim, Carr Help Team USA Finish Group Play Undefeated with 85-65 Win over Romania
- Carr Takes Over Down Stretch as Team USA Outlasts Latvia in 4-Quarter Foul-Fest, 84-77
- New Kids on the Block: USA Dominates India in 111-52 Win to Open World University Games
- Preparing for World University Games: Baylor’s Summer of Growth & Gold Medal Hopes
- Presser: Scott Drew and Players Take Questions Before Baylor's Trip to Germany
