Baylor Dominates Lehigh In Season Opener 99-77

Posted by Nate Kotisso on November 9th, 2012

If you the chance to watch this game live (illegal stream!), there are two words to best describe Baylor’s victory.

Good. God.

Pierre Jackson (#55) and Isaiah Austin (#21) had a grand ol’ time stomping on Lehigh Friday afternoon. (Associated Press/Rod Aydelotte)

The Baylor frontcourt had their way with the Mountain Hawks. Cory Jefferson scored 26 points, pulled down 13 rebounds (five offensive) and a couple blocked shots. Every time I looked up at the game, he was on the receiving end of alley-oop after alley-oop. Pierre Jackson played like the preseason player of the year that he is with 14 points and 12 assists. Super frosh Isaiah Austin scored 22 points on 10-for-12 from the field, including two threes in just 17 minutes. Four minutes into the second half, Austin made a turnaround jumper, stepped on a Lehigh player’s foot and went to the floor. He did not try to put any weight on it when helped off the court. He did not return.

We all remember Lehigh beating Duke as a #15 seed last March. They were picked to repeat as Patriot League champions in large part due to C.J. McCollum coming back for a senior season. Today, he seemed to be the only guy playing for them, scoring 36 points, grabbing eight rebounds to go along with three steals in 38 minutes. The Bears shot 62% from the floor while the Mountain Hawks hit 37% of their attempts. Next up for Baylor is a match-up with Jackson State Sunday afternoon at the Ferrell Center.

I know it’s one game, so I’m trying to keep the superlatives to a minimum.

But man…

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Baylor Secures Commitment From Four-Star Center Dominic Woodson

Posted by Nate Kotisso on November 1st, 2012

Sigh, just another day on the recruiting trail for Scott Drew.

Earlier today, the Baylor coach received a verbal commitment from 2013 center Dominic Woodson. Woodson (a 4-star recruit according to Rivals and ESPN) attends famed Huntington Prep in West Virginia but is originally from Round Rock, Texas. There’s no doubt distance played a role in his decision. He was down to Baylor and NC State, so having the chance to play at a still rising program just 90 minutes from his home seemed like an easy choice to make. The news was first reported by Evan Daniels of Scout.com

Woodson joins an already stacked recruiting class in Waco. (Davide Depas)

Woodson is the latest in a recent line of big men to commit to Scott Drew. This may be a reach but if Isaiah Austin, Cory Jefferson and Rico Gathers all decide to return to school next season along with Woodson, Ishmail Wainwright and Jonathan Motley coming in, the Bears could very well have the biggest and most talented set of big guys in America. “It’s close to home, a great academic school and has a great coaching staff. And [there’s] a chance to win a championship,” Woodson told Scout.com.

After all these years, it’s crazy to hear the word “championship” associated with Baylor basketball.

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Big 12 M5: 10.19.12 Edition

Posted by Nate Kotisso on October 19th, 2012

  1. WE GOT OURSELVES A COUPLA FEUDIN’ COACHES AT BIG EAST MEDIA DAY! Jim Boeheim and Rick Pitino coach teams that do not play in the Big 12, obviously. But a reporter at Big East Media Day asked Boeheim about Rick Pitino saying the additions of Memphis and Temple to the Big East will “more than make up for” the losses of Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Syracuse. Jimmy B responded by saying that Pitino was full of, uh…”Schmidt” if he said that and added that if he were in the Big 12 “like he wanted to be,” he’d call them the best league. OH SNAP! Pitino responded to Boeheim’s quote by saying Boeheim was also full of “Schmidt.” While understanding the loss of Syracuse isn’t ideal, Pitino remained optimistic about the new teams coming next season. I think it’s only a matter of time before Louisville will be a member of the Big 12 but man I wish I was at Big East Media Day! If you’re a reporter going to one of these things, you could only dream of hearing something other than PC statements and coachspeak. It makes them seem like regular people.
  2. Calling fouls in the paint are probably the toughest thing to do if you’re a college basketball official. So Curtis Shaw, supervisor of officials for the conference, shone a little light on the issue and laid out how this league will rule on such fouls. I’m not a fan of coming out and saying how refs are going to rule on this because now teams are going to practice charges in a way to get the bang-bang plays to go in their favor every time. If I were Shaw, staying quiet and keeping everything ambiguous maintains a balance within everyone in the league.
  3. Can you keep a secret: The freshmen in the Big 12 are pretty good. The Oklahoma State Cowboys, Texas Longhorns and Baylor Bears are all quite similar. Opposing coaches like them to finish in the top-third of the league and now they each have players on the Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Watch List. Seems like everything that’s been said about how much Marcus Smart can make an impact has already been said, but not enough has been said about Texas’ Cameron Ridley and Baylor’s Isaiah Austin. Remember how epic DeJuan Blair vs Hasheem Thabeet was, before they played against each other and Thabeet was found to be nothing more than a tall stiff? Yep, it’ll be just like that. But better.
  4. Speaking of the Baylor Bears, it received a recent commitment from 2013 forward Ishmail Wainwright.  The former Missouri commitment considered St. John’s, Texas, Ohio State, and Baylor in his final four. In this Rumble in the Garden link, the Johnnies seem to have been the favorites to land the wing but Wainwright becomes the second big-time talent to have seriously considered St. John’s to end up with Baylor (Ricardo Gathers is the other). If you think Baylor recruiting hasn’t truly gone national yet, then you are sadly mistaken.
  5. The 2007-08 Kansas basketball team will be inducted into the Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame during K Club and Homecoming Weekend next week. This is hardly a shock. The Kansas-Memphis national championship game gave college basketball one of the better ends to the season in recent memory. It won’t be long before Bill Self has his own Hall of Fame induction ceremony, KU and the Basketball HOF included.
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