Exclusive: MaCio Teague chats with SicEm365 about entering the NBA Draft

Most of the way-too-early Top 25 rankings for the 2020-21 basketball season have Baylor listed anywhere from No.1 to No. 5.

But those predictions were made with the assumption that MaCio Teague would return for his senior season in Waco.

Now there’s a chance—a strong one—that it won’t happen.

Teague—who ranked second on the team in scoring last season with 13.9 points—announced last week that he had entered his name in the NBA draft. Considering he isn’t listed in any of the mock drafts, Teague’s decision was viewed as a surprise in college basketball circles.

“But it wasn’t a surprise to the people who know me,” Teague said told SicEm365 Thursday afternoon. “I made a decision that was best for me. I don’t think anybody was surprised by that.”

Unless he hires an agent—thereby forfeiting his final year of eligibility—Teague will have until June 3 to withdraw from the draft and return to school. During a 15-minute phone interview Thursday afternoon, Teague indicated that his preference was to turn pro.

"I believe in myself,” he said. “I’ve always believed in myself, even when no one else has. I’ll continue carrying that with me in the future.”

Teague said said he didn’t make his decision until after the season, which was cut short because of COVID-19.

“I just decided right there at the end,” he said. “During the season I was focused on winning games. I was playing well with the team and continuing the hot streak that we were on.”

After a brief return to his native Cincinnati, Teague is back in Texas preparing for the pre-draft process. He said most of his afternoons are spent running, watching film or shooting on an outdoor court. The state’s shelter-in-place restrictions make it difficult for Teague to train with others.

“Anything I can do to help myself get better, I’m going to do it,” Teague said. “I’ll take my time throughout the process and learn as much as I can.”

Teague is on schedule to receive his undergraduate degree in Health and Kinesiology next month, and the NBA Combine is slated for May 19-24 in Chicago.

If it even occurs.

Teague realizes there’s a strong chance he may not even get to work out in person for NBA personnel, which could hurt his draft stock.

“I’m not sure there will be workouts,” Teague said. “It’ll be more based on my phone interviews with teams and my game tape and things like that, based on what I’ve seen on Twitter.

“I’m just waiting to get feedback. I’ll see what the possibilities are in terms of the likelihood of me playing at the next level. I’ll make my decision based off of that.”

Asked how coach Scott Drew and his staff responded when he told them he was entering the draft, Teague said: “They just told me to do what makes me happy.”

Still, you can bet Drew is crossing his fingers that Teague returns to Baylor, where he played just one season after transferring from UNC-Asheville following his sophomore season in 2018.

A 6-foot-3 shooting guard, Teague was a key reason the Bears finished 26-4 overall and 15-3 in the Big 12. It could be argued that Teague, Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell formed the top backcourt in all of college basketball in 2019-20.

Some of Teague’s best performances came in Baylor’s biggest wins. He scored 18 points against Villanova, 19 against Arizona and 16 in the program’s first-ever victory at Kansas. He also swished a clutch three-pointer in the waning seconds to force overtime against Texas Tech on Senior Night.

“I felt like I played pretty decent,” Teague said. “I had some areas where i could’ve played better, but overall I think I played pretty well.”

Teague suffered a fractured right wrist in a win at Texas on Feb. 10. He missed the next two games (against West Virginia and Oklahoma) before returning for Baylor’s home loss to Kansas Feb. 22 on College GameDay.

Teague had shot a blistering 43 percent from three-point range in the five games before his injury, but went just 34.6 percent from distance after his return. He also averaged just 2.2 rebounds after hurting his wrist.

“I was getting well over five rebounds a game before that,” Teague said. “But afterward I wasn’t able to go inside and bang and fly around for rebounds anymore, like usual, because I didn’t want to re-injure it.”

Teague averaged 4.6 boards on the year and was named second-team All-Big 12.

As much as he’ll remember Baylor’s marquee victories, the 23-game winning streak and the No.1 ranking that lasted for five weeks, Teague said the highlight of the season—at least for him—was Baylor’s Nov. 8 loss to Washington in Alaska.

“We really locked in after that,” he said. “Going into the season, I feel like we thought we were unbeatable just because of the talent we had on the roster. No one felt like we should’ve lost that game to Washington. So that ended up changing our season from a positive perspective.

“We went on a run and beat Villanova and Butler and Arizona. We went to Texas Tech and won. We went to Kansas and won. All of those were top 25 games. I felt like we proved to everyone what we knew we could do all along.”

Like most college standouts, Teague said he’s dreamed of playing in the NBA since he was a child. His favorite player growing up was Kobe Bryant and he’s also a big fan of Dame Lillard, Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving.

Still, as much as he’d like to begin his own quest toward NBA stardom, Teague said the thought of returning for his senior season is also appealing. The Bears lose center Freddie Gillespie and reserve guard Devonte Bandoo. But Teague’s backcourt mates, Butler and Mitchell, will be back along with forwards Mark Vital and Tristan Clark.

Baylor will also add impact guard transfer Adam Flagler, who sat out last season, and standout incoming freshman L.J. Cryer to the backcourt rotation.

“I’ve had a great time at Baylor,” Teague said. “I’ve loved it there—the school and the program. I really enjoyed going to the football games. We had such a great team. I didn’t miss a home game. Even when they were blowing teams out by 30, I’d stay until the very end because I liked being there so much.

“I love the environment at Baylor. It’s just one big family.”