Baylor’s Sweet 16 loss to Wisconsin during last season’s March Madness became a pivotal piece in what will shape the basketball landscape in Waco for the upcoming season. Baylor lost it’s foundation in the paint with Isaiah Austin unfortunately taking a leave from basketball after declaring for the NBA, along with Cory Jefferson becoming the final pick of the 2014 NBA Draft.
With two guys of not only their skill level, but their size and value in the paint as well now gone, does Baylor have the size to even compete as a contender in the Big 12 in 2014-15?
As it stands, the only notable size on the Bears’ roster comes in the forms of 6’8” Rico Gathers, 6’8” junior transfer, Deng Deng and 6’9” freshman, Johnathan Motley. With Deng making his first appearance into an extremely competitive Big 12 while Motley will be debuting into college basketball completely, this is going to leave Baylor, not only undersized, but inexperienced in the paint as well.
This will leave the weight of Scott Drew’s interior issues of the broad shoulders of Gathers, who is a freak athletically but just doesn’t have the size to match the premier teams in the conference. As the leading returning rebounder at 6.4 per game to match his 6.4 per game scoring average, Gathers will likely see a majority of his minutes glued deep in the paint as the Bears’ center. Although he’s an inch shy of being the tallest playing for Baylor, his 280-pound frame is unquestionably who coach Drew could have the most success with down low.
Deng will bring tremendous skill, which Scott Drew raved about on baylorbears.com:
"“He’s really athletic and skilled, and he’ll be a great addition to the Baylor basketball family,”"
Deng averaged 19.8 points and 11 rebounds last season at Lee College and was named first team All-South Zone, but the Big 12 is an entirely different beast and the talent gap between who Deng has played before and who he will play now is going to serve as a culture shock once conference play begins. Additionally, at only 215 pounds, Deng’s body is going to take some punishment from guys featured on Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma, just to name a few.
The same goes for Motley, who has great skill as a stretch-forward, but his lack of size in the paint won’t do much for Baylor’s ability to compete in the paint.
Just take a look out how Baylor’s size would fare against Texas, Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma, which are the teams expected to make a run at the Big 12 title.
Texas features 6’9”, 285-pound Cameron Ridley, 6’11’’ freshman Myles Turner, 6’10” Prince Ibeh, 6’9” Connor Lammert and 6’8” Jonathan Holmes. Kansas has 6’8” veteran Perry Ellis, the 6’8” animal, Cliff Alexander, a pair of 6’10” forwards in Hunter Michelson and Landen Lucas and 6’8” Jamari Traylor while the Sooners have 6’8” Ryan Sprangler, 6’9” Khadeem Lattin and 6’10” Jamuni McNeace. Iowa State has a similar situation with interior size, although, the Cyclones have 7’1” freshman in the paint with Georgios Tsalmpouris in the paint to add to their forward duo of Georges Niang and Dustin Hogue.
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As you can see with the majority of the names I mentioned for the Big 12’s top teams, not only do they have plenty of size to rely on, but also they also feature high upside freshmen and proven veterans who control the conference.
There’s nothing that could convince me Baylor’s Gathers-Deng-Motley combination could match up with Texas’ interior size or skill, just as would be the case when facing the Jayhawks. Oklahoma and Iowa State don’t have as much bulk inside as Texas and Kansas, but their post is much more skilled and they have a far better supporting case on the perimeter than the Bears. You could even throw Kansas State into the mix with 6’11” Stephen Hurt and 6’11” Brandon Bolden.
With the Bears losing three of the top four scorers from last year and having to move on without three veterans in Austin, Jefferson and sharpshooter, Brady Heslip and having to find a way to replace both of their starters inside, Baylor it going to hit quite a few speed bumps in 2014-15. When size can become some a huge advantage as to how you manhandle the opposition, it’s hard to see Baylor having much luck throughout their conference, which will ultimately do it’s damage towards their tournament resume.
Bears’ fans should hope Gathers will be capable of becoming the newest foundation in the paint and hope to make senior, Kenny Chery’s life a bit easier, but Baylor will be getting hit in the paint from all sides this season. They simply don’t have the size, experience or skill to match up with the teams with realistic conference title hopes.