BU MBB Preseason Prospectus 15-16 Layout 1
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2015-16 BAYLOR MEN’S BASKETBALL PRESEASON PROSPECTUS David Kaye, Associate Director of Athletic Communications Office: (254) 710-4389 • Cell: (254) 709-5147 • E-mail: [email protected] • Twitter: @BaylorMBB GENERAL INFORMATION CONSISTENTLY AMONG NATION’S BEST OFFENSES Baylor’s offense has consistently ranked among the nation’s best over the last eight seasons under Scott Drew. The Bears have Location: Waco, Texas finished seven of the past eight seasons among the top 20 nationally in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency, joining Duke as the Chartered: 1845, by the Republic of Texas only programs to make that claim. The Bears finished No. 18 in 2014-15, No. 9 in 2013-14, No. 14 in 2012-13, No. 8 in 2011-12, Enrollment: 16,263 (fall 2014) No. 102 in 2010-11, No. 3 in 2009-10, No. 11 in 2008-09 and No. 11 in 2007-08. President: Ken Starr Faculty Representative: Jeremy Counseller DREW AMONG NATION’S ELITE Director of Athletics: Ian McCaw Head coach Scott Drew is the youngest of 13 coaches nationally to take his current program to three Sweet 16 appearances Sport Administrator: Nick Joos in the last six seasons. Drew (44) is joined by Xavier’s Chris Mack (45), Arizona’s Sean Miller (46), Ohio State’s Thad Matta (48), Conference: Big 12 Florida’s Billy Donovan (50), Kansas’ Bill Self (52), Kentucky’s John Calipari (56), Michigan State’s Tom Izzo (60), Louisville’s Rick Nickname: Bears Pitino (62), North Carolina’s Roy Williams (65), Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan (67), Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (68) and Syracuse’s Jim Colors: Green (PMS 560) and Gold (1235) Boeheim (70). In those three appearances, Baylor was twice eliminated by the eventual national champions (Duke in 2010, Arena (capacity): Ferrell Center (10,284) Kentucky in 2012) and once by a national semifinalist (Wisconsin in 2014). MEN’S BASKETBALL HISTORY RANKED IN EIGHT STRAIGHT SEASONS Baylor and Kansas are the only Big 12 teams to be ranked in each of the last eight seasons. BU cracked a string of 38 First Season: 1906-07 consecutive unranked seasons when it was tabbed No. 25 in 2007-08. The Bears reached as high as No. 19 in 2008-09, No. 19 in All-Time Record: 1,265-1,325 (.488) 2009-10, No. 9 in 2010-11, No. 3 in 2011-12, No. 16 in 2012-13 and No. 7 in 2013-14. BU entered the 2014-15 season unranked, Overall Postseason Record: 20-15 (.571) but the Bears climbed as high as No. 14 in the AP poll and were ranked for the season’s final 13 weeks, finishing at No. 16 — the NCAA Tournament Appearances: 9 second-best final AP ranking in program history behind the No. 9 final ranking in 2012. Final Four Appearances: 2 (1948, 1950) Last NCAA Appearance: 2015 (Round of 64) BEST IN TEXAS NIT Appearances: 5 Baylor is 33-5 against in-state opponents since the start of the 2011-12 season, and the Bears have advanced deeper into Last NIT Appearance: 2013 (champions) postseason play than any of Texas’ 21 Division I team in each of the last four seasons. Regular-Season Conference Titles: 5 BU is a combined 47-9 against Lone Star State teams over the last six seasons after going 10-27 against in-state teams in Scott Drew’s first six seasons at Baylor (10-1 in 2014-15, 6-3 in 2013-14, 7-1 in 2012-13, 10-0 in 2011-12, 5-3 in 2010-11 2014-15 REVIEW and 9-1 in 2009-10). 2014-15 Overall Record: 24-10 NATION’S FOURTH-BEST POSTSEASON WINNING PERCENTAGE 2014-15 Big 12 Record (Finish): 11-7 (t-4th) Baylor’s 17-5 postseason record over the past seven seasons is the nation’s fourth best among teams with at least three NCAA Postseason: NCAA Round of 64 (lost to Georgia State, 57-56) Tournament berths since 2009, trailing only Connecticut (17-4), Kentucky (24-6) and Duke (19-5). The Bears’ 17 postseason wins over the last seven seasons rank sixth nationally behind Kentucky (24), Michigan State (20), North Carolina (20), Duke (19) and 2015-16 PREVIEW Louisville (18). Head coach Scott Drew has led Baylor to 17 of its 20 all-time postseason victories. Lettermen Returning/Lost: 7/3 FIVE NBA DRAFT PICKS IN LAST FOUR SEASONS Newcomers: 4 Baylor’s five NBA Draft picks over the last four years are the nation’s eighth most, trailing only Kentucky, Duke, Syracuse, Starters Returning: 3 Kansas, Arizona, North Carolina and UCLA and tied with Louisville and Michigan. A program-record three Baylor players were F Taurean Prince (Sr.) — 13.9 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 0.9 BPG selected in the 2012 NBA Draft — Perry Jones III (28th pick; Oklahoma City Thunder), Quincy Acy (37th pick; Toronto Raptors) F Rico Gathers (Sr.) — 11.6 PPG, 11.6 RPG, 1.0 BPG and Quincy Miller (38th pick; Denver Nuggets). Pierre Jackson (42nd pick, Philadelphia 76ers; traded to New Orleans Pelicans) G Lester Medford (Sr.) — 7.6 PPG, 3.1 APG, 1.5 SPG was chosen in the 2013 draft, and Cory Jefferson (60th pick; San Antonio Spurs; traded to Brooklyn Nets) was selected in 2014. Starters Lost: 2 Additionally, Isaiah Austin was made an honorary draft pick in 2014 after a Marfan’s Syndrome diagnosis ended his career. G Kenny Chery — 11.3 PPG, 4.1 APG, 3.1 RPG F Royce O’Neale — 10.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 3.4 APG Returning Scoring: 69.1% (1,623 of 2,349 pts) 2015-16 BAYLOR MEN’S BASKETBALL ROSTER Returning Rebounding: 75.2% (1,002 of 1,333 reb) NO NAME POS HT WT CL-EXP HOMETOWN/HIGH SCHOOL (PREVIOUS SCHOOL) Returning Assists: 52.3% (260 of 497 ast) 0 Jo Acuil F 7-0 210 Jr.-TR Melbourne, Australia/Kingsway Christian College (Neosho CC) Returning Blocks: 87.1% (115 of 132 blk) 1 Wendell Mitchell G 6-3 180 Fr.-HS Rockdale, Texas/Rockdale HS Returning Minutes: 67.8% (4,647 of 6,850 min) 2 Rico Gathers F 6-8 275 Sr.-3L LaPlace, La./Riverside Academy 3 Jake Lindsey G 6-5 190 Fr.-HS Salt Lake City, Utah/Olympus HS MEN’S BASKETBALL STAFF 5 Johnathan Motley F 6-9 230 So.-1L* Houston, Texas/North Shore HS 11 Lester Medford G 5-10 175 Sr.-1L Tuscon, Ariz./Amphitheater HS (Arizona Western CC/Indian Hills CC) Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) 13 John Heard F 6-5 200 Sr.-SQ Houston, Texas/Episcopal HS Record at Baylor: 228-160 (13th season) 20 Manu Lecomte G 5-11 170 Jr.-TR^ Brussels, Belgium/Athene des Pagodes (Miami [Fla.]) Career Record: 248-171 (14th season) 21 Taurean Prince F 6-7 220 Sr.-3L San Antonio, Texas/Earl Warren HS Assistant Coach: Jerome Tang (Charter Oak State, 2007) 22 King McClure G 6-3 200 Fr.-HS Ovilla, Texas/Triple A Academy Assistant Coach: Grant McCasland (Baylor, 1999) 24 Ishmail Wainright G 6-5 240 Jr.-2L Kansas City, Mo./Montrose Christian [Md.] Assistant Coach: Paul Mills (Texas A&M, 1996) 25 Al Freeman G 6-3 200 So.-1L* Charlotte, N.C./Findlay Prep [Nev.] Director of Operations: Tim Maloney 31 Terry Maston F 6-7 215 So.-SQ DeSoto, Texas/DeSoto HS Director of Player Development: Jared Nuness 33 Austin Mills G 6-1 175 Sr.-1L Beverly Hills, Calif./Beverly Hills HS (Pepperdine) Director of Video Operations: Sam Patterson * - third-year sophomore, sat out 2013-14 season as redshirt ^ - will redshirt 2015-16 season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules Athletic Trainer: David Chandler Strength & Conditioning: Charlie Melton COACHING STAFF Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993), 13th season at Baylor (14th season as Division I head coach) Athletic Communications: David Kaye Assistant Coach: Jerome Tang (Charter Oak State, 2007), 13th season at Baylor Assistant Coach: Grant McCasland (Baylor, 1999), 5th season at Baylor Assistant Coach: Paul Mills (Texas A&M, 1996), 13th season at Baylor Director of Operations: Tim Maloney (Manhattanville, 1982), 7th season at Baylor Baylor Athletics @BaylorMBB @BUDREW @BaylorAthletics HEAD COACH SCOTT DREW snapping the Wildcats' 55-game home winning streak, and BU handed Kansas a 23-point defeat, becoming the only team in NCAA history to beat Kentucky at Rupp Arena and defeat Kansas in the same season. Baylor posted a school-record 30 wins and advanced to the NCAA Tournament South Regional final in 2011-12 -- making the Bears one of only six programs nationally with two Elite Eight appearances in the SCOTT DREW three-year span from 2010 to 2012. For the first time in program history, HEAD COACH • 13TH SEASON AT BAYLOR the Bears were ranked throughout the 2011-12 season, reaching as high as No. 3 and never dropping lower than 14th in the AP or coaches polls. BUTLER, 1993 JOINING THE NATION’S ELITE On Aug. 22, 2003, Scott Drew assumed Baylor's head coaching position and took over one of college basketball's most daunting rebuilding Drew's program reached new heights in 2011-12, when the Bears projects ever. Eleven years later, he became the program's all-time wins advanced to their second Elite Eight in a three-season span and had a leader. program-record three players selected in the 2012 NBA Draft. The trio of From 2007-15, Baylor rose to national prominence with Drew leading seniors on that team left as the winningest class in program history, as the team to seven 20-win seasons, seven postseason appearances, the Big Fred Ellis, Acy and Anthony Jones led Baylor to 100 wins in their four 12's first NIT championship, Baylor's first postseason tournament title in seasons together.