🏀 KuBuckets Archive

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I want to give a shout out to Baylor! They were an amazingly gifted team this year and deserved the title! In my opinion, heads above everyone! Over the last few years I have adjusted my thoughts of Coach Drew and I now believe he's a very capable coach. They never could have been this good without his guidance.

I hope they can bring big talent every year! It's good for the Big 12 and it's good for KU! We shouldn't be winning our league for a dozen straight years. I seriously doubt that streak will be possible to match moving forward in the Big 12! From what I am seeing at Baylor, they could stay at the top (hopefully with us).

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2021/04/06/baylor-bears-national-champs-2021-22-lookahead/7102623002/ ↗

@drgnslayr With Chris Beard at Texas and Self not being able to recruit top 50 guys my money would be on us not to usually win the conference. That's exciting. I'd rather see epic battles all year long.

I don't want to hear any more Scott Drew slander.

And I reiterate he should be on the Bill Self replacement short list for whenever Bill hangs it up.

I'm honestly shocked it took winning a NC for Drew to finally get the credit he deserves for the Baylor turnaround. Scott Drew coached circles around basically everyone this year. He won by developing a roster. He won by playing man to man defense. And he won by playing to his team's offensive strengths.

Take the Gonzaga game as an example of just how good of a gameplan that Scott Drew can cook up when he has the talent to do it. He took Gonzaga's best player in the tournament in Timme and turned him into a negative. They found a way to iso Timme almost every trip down the floor and early enough in the shot clock that gave the guard time to work. It was brilliant. Defensively, the scouting report was nearly perfect. They absolutely wrecked Timme. Zags couldn't even get him the ball. They forced missed 3s. Look how badly they bothered Kispert. And they were able to guard the driver without help for the most part, which takes talent, but also good scouting.

Sure, maybe it was just the perfect storm and Zags played their worst at the same time Baylor was playing their best. But that isn't what they eye test told me last night. Maybe Baylor was really head and shoulders above everyone this year, and without Covid they go undefeated.

Either way, Scott Drew absolutely deserves all the credit in the world. He is one of the best doing the job right now. He's definitely a little quirky. He says some dumb things. Bill Self absolutely coaches circles around him if talent is equal. But he has done that to everyone which is why he has an almost impossible .816 winning record at KU.

(Also goes to show just how good that KU team was last season... Because this was basically the exact same Baylor squad as a year ago.)

@approxinfinity I still remember the Acie Law games. The Kevin Durant games. The Buddy Hield OT.

Basketball season is more fun when there are games to get hyped for. When you aren't playing every game with a target on your back, instead you are playing an equal.

Of course this also means that Bill needs to get his ish together a bit and get some talent in. Really strange feeling when we aren't the most talented team in the B12.

@Kcmatt7

We are going to have to step up and start really developing players. Drew brought development to these guys. Look at how their perimeter shooters used the step back to create shooting space. It didn't really matter if Gonzaga was guarding or not because anytime a Baylor guard wanted his own shot, he created space easily. We have barely even seen our guys use footwork like that to create scoring space.

I'm going to say it right here... Drew is helping his guys reach the next level! I'm not going to say that about many coaches in D1.

2nd or even 3rd time I've had to eat crow on NC winning coaches in the last 4 tournaments. I really didn't think Jay Wright had what it took with all the flameouts early on in the tournament every year. Watching him outreach Bill Self in 2016 was eye opening, and the destruction of our hot team in 2018 was breathtaking.

Tony Bennett had another can't win the big one tag, and for goodness sakes, had Purdue not sent three guys after that loose ball in the last seconds of the elite 8 instead of staying home and defending the basket Tony would still be FF'less.

And now Scott, after years of watching his deer in the headlights look as Self bludgeoned the Bad News Bears, and memorably for me, Bo Ryan turning him into a facsimile of a real coach in the Sweet 16, well he has improved, and learned. Seems like a nice guy, all that, glad to see this league becoming a regular in the last weekend of the tournament and notch a NC with nary a big east/Acc/SEC team anywhere near the FF.

I would think this is great motivation but I'm also wondering when this long overdue judgment comes down on our team so we know our consequences if any.