#1 SPORTS comp play
Texas @ Baylor on Saturday, February 16th
Texas (20-4, 7-2 Big 12) pulled off the upset victory with a fine 72-69 home win Monday night at the Frank Irwin Center, topping the #3 Kansas Jayhawks by knocking down 8 of 20 balls from behind the arc including an improbable 4 for 4 performance from deep by 6'10" 226 junior C Connor Atchley (10.5p, 5.5r, 24 steals, 46 blocks). The truth is, Atchley has a pretty darn good stroke from deep (32 makes in 61 attempts) but it's not every day that the a player racks up 4 blocked shots in a game matches that total with sweet strokes from downtown. The loss of 2006-2007 National Player of the Year, Kevin Durant (25.8p, 11.1r), to the NBA hasn't made a dent in Coach Rick Barnes's (236-90 in 10th season at Austin, 165-11 in Big 12) offense because he returns 4 starters (and every start made by a player other than Durant) from the crew that finished 25-10 last season, including 6 of his 7 top scorers led this campaign by junior guards D. J. Augustine (19.3p, 2.9r, 5.8a, 31 steals) and 5'11" A. J. Abrams (17.7p, 2.7r, 40 steals). Augustine in particular has thrived, becoming one of the nation's best point guards with a 22 assists versus just 5 turnovers in the Longhorns' current 4-game winning streak. If you like hustle, then you've got to check out 6'7" 230 sophomore F Damion James (12.7p, 10.7r, 28 blocks). Though not the biggest player at his position - especially in the Big 12 Conference - this kid is an absolute horse on the glass, racking up 10 double/doubles already this season including against Kansas against whom he piled up 12 points and 13 boards in the second half alone. Coach Barnes prefers going with a speedy lineup so 6'2" sophomore G Justin Mason (6.8p, 3.8r, 2.5a, 30 steals) rounds out his starting lineup but Texas boasts a ton of young size he can bring off the bench in 6'7" 235 freshman F Gary Johnson (6.0p, 4.1p), 6'7" 241 freshman F Alexis Wangmene (23.3p, 2.3r, 14 blocks), 6'10" 299 sophomore C Dexter Pittman (2.9p, 1.9r, 10 blocks), and 6'10" 245 freshman C Clint Chapman (1.5p, 1.8r). Offensively explosive at 76.9 points per game and deadly from 3-point range (.391 as a team), ball handling is the key to the Longhorns' success. Just 9.5 turnovers per game is impressive under any circumstances and paired with a team 1.4 assists/turnover ratio treats the faithful at "Forty Acres" to some of the best basketball anywhere in the country. Under coach Barnes, a 9th consecutive 20-win season is already in the bag as is a 10 consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament with a possible 5th ticket to the Sweet 16 in the last 7 years a definite possibility.
Baylor (17-5, 5-3 Big 12) also faced Kansas last trip out, losing a 90-100 contest in Lawrence, the victims of some extremely inhospitable home cooking at Allen Fieldhouse exemplified by a blatant 18 to 46 deficit in free throw attempts. If that sounds like we are Bear fans, well there is plenty to root for this season. Coach Scott Drew (36-69 in 5th season at Waco) came from 10 seasons as part of his famous father's coaching staff at Valparaiso (Homer Drew who is now assisted by Scott's brother and former NBA player Bryce Drew) that captured 9 consecutive conference championships to take over a Baylor program in 2003 crippled by NCAA penalties that included being stripped of half of their scholarships (full scholarships restored last season) plus a ban from non-conference play in 2005-2006 - a dead end career move for some but a great challenge for this kid. Coach Drew earned a reputation as one of the nation's top recruiters, bagging top-20 classes in his final five seasons at Valpo and has pulled of nothing short of a miracle bringing in talent at Baylor. In 3 of his first 4 seasons with the Bears, Coach Drew scored national top-20 recruiting classes (to Baylor!) plus into this season he shocked college basketball by scoring 6'4" freshman G LaceDarius Dunn (12.4p, 4.0r, 50 of 117 from 3-point) who was ranked #24 nationally by Scout.com among incoming freshman. While Dunn polishes his game coming off the bench, starting guards 6'1" junior Curtis Jerrells (15.1p, 3.9r, 3.6a, 29 steals), 6'0" junior Henry Dugat (11.6p, 4.1r, 1.8a, 32 steals), and 6'3" senior Aaron Bruce (10.5p, 2.1r, 2.2a, 25 steals) are scorching opponents from behind the arc with a combined mark of 108 of 288 from deep. Add in the shooting stroke of 5'10" freshman G Tweety Carter (8.1p, 1.7r, 2.8a, 24 steals) who has come off the bench to nail 31 of his shots from 3-point range and it's pretty clear how the Bears have averaged 81.1 points per game in 2007-2008. Certainly this is a guard-driven team (a lesson for young recruiters - let the Big Boys battle over the Big Boys while you snatch up the ball handlers) but they do have a couple of decent players on the blocks with 6'9" 240 junior F Kevin Rogers (12.3p, 7.6r) and developing 7'0" 265 sophomore C Josh Lomers (4.4p, 2.6r) getting the starts. The Baylor front line has made all 110 possible starts this season but the Bears have no less than 11 players that are averaging at least 10 minutes of playing time per game.
In the first meeting between these clubs this year, Texas came out on top 80-72 in Austin where the Bears battled under a free throw (where they shoot a fine 71.4% as a team) deficit of 17 attempts to the Longhorns' 29. It seems that as far as Coach Drew's squad has come it's still hard to get respect on the highway in the Big 12. This time around at the Ferrell Center we give them a legitimate shot against a Texas group coming off their biggest win in a couple years. Keep your eye on Baylor's game at Oklahoma on Wednesday and take Baylor plus the points on Saturday.
BAYLOR BEARS - 1
