Baylor Bears The Big 12’s Sleeper Team In 2015-16
By Cody Daniel
Just as it’s been for the past handful of seasons, the Big 12 is going to stand as one of the best conferences in all of college basketball in 2015-16, headlined by national championship hopefuls, such as the Kansas Jayhawks and Iowa State Cyclones.
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The Buddy Hield-led Oklahoma Sooners are also expected to be among the nation’s elite, while the Texas Longhorns will garner plenty of attention with the anticipation of what Shaka Smart will do with an exceptionally talented roster during his first season in Austin.
That said, there will be no shortage of storylines and star-caliber talent to focus on in the Big 12 next season and with the majority of the chatter sticking close to the teams I just mentioned, Scott Drew’s Baylor Bears have flown under the radar and could ultimately become the sleeper team of the Big 12 in 2015-16.
When using the term “sleeper,” some question may arise. For example, how does a team that’s projected to begin the season ranked No. 15 by ESPN and Sports Illustrated, while even begin projected to begin 2015-16 in the top 10 by College Basketball Talk fly under the radar and be deemed as a sleeper?
Before I explain, I ask you this: how many times have you heard Baylor mentioned since their second-round NCAA tournament loss to Georgia State? The answer is very likely none, unless you’re one of the Baylor faithful that search for any bit of offseason news you can find, which has been very quiet, to say the least.
When you look at Baylor’s roster, you notice there’s a definitive lack of elite talent. Outside of the freakishly athletic man-child Rico Gathers, there aren’t many, if any, names that resonate to the masses of your typical college basketball fans. How many people could tell you off the top of their heads who Taurean Prince, Jonathan Motley and Al Freeman are?
My guess would be very few.
But this could work to the Bear’s benefit next season.
As you could expect, when a team that already lacked noticeable star talent last season loses two of their top four leading scorers, with Kenny Chery and Royce O’Neale now having used up their college eligibility, the expectations would follow suit and decrease, as well.
But the Bears were in a similar situation last season and it allowed guys like Taurean Prince, an explosive scorer off the wing, to emerge and become one of the better players in the entire conference.
In reality, that’s all the Bears need; Gathers, Prince and even Lester Medford with a solid rotation around them.
As a unit, Baylor is already expected to continue to be a tough group to score on and anything less than complete dominance on the glass with be a regression from last season’s efforts, where Baylor rebounded 40 percent of their offensive misses.
That alone is going to give them the chance to compete with any and everybody, especially in the Big 12, where team’s like Iowa State and Oklahoma are guard-heavy, while Kansas frontcourt will feature Perry Ellis and some newcomers that would be wise to avoid getting in Gathers way.
That, along with clubs like Kansas State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and TCU all expected to be continue to hover around the bottom of the conference, point to the Bears being the team that doesn’t have the most demanding expectations, but also possibly being the sleeping giant of the Big 12.
Ultimately, I think how effective Baylor can actually be after losing their floor general and effort guy in Chery and O’Neale all depends on how large of a step forward Gathers, Prince and Medford can take. Can Gathers continue to be that rebounding force, while also becoming more of an imposing option on the offensive end?
Can Prince continue to be that dangerous wing option with teams sure to focus plenty of their defensive game plan around him? Can Medford take the reins at point guard and assure the Baylor offense runs fluidly and efficiently?
Those questions will be void of an answer until the season kicks off, but if the answer turns out to be yes, the Baylor Bears will be the most dangerous team nobody is talking about in the Big 12.
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