Drew makes transfers winners
Baylor’s Scott Drew offered a weighty explanation behind coaches’ casual presentations on the sidelines during the NCAA Tournament.
“Because of COVID we all put on about 10 or 15 pounds,” Drew said with a grin of more seclusion and less mobility during the pandemic. “We couldn’t fit in our suits, so we had to go with polos. … But it’s a lot more comfortable in polos and pullovers … I can promise you that.”
Top-seeded Baylor (24-2) will face fifth-seeded Villanova (18-6) at 4:15 p.m. Saturday in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, and en route to the Bears’ sustained level of success over the past couple of seasons Drew also became much more comfortable in recruiting transfers — if they’re tailor-made for his program.
“First it was international recruiting back in the day that opened things up,” Drew said of a gradual shift in the traditional recruiting of straight from the high school ranks. “Then it was prep school, junior colleges … graduate transfers. But it all comes back to one thing: Knowing your team and knowing your culture, and who’s going to fit and represent your program the way you want it represented.”
Five of the Bears’ top eight players began their college careers elsewhere in, to paraphrase Rascal Flatts, taking a broken road eventually leading them to Waco.
In expanding the bounds of the unconventional nearly three years ago, junior guard Jared Butler enrolled at Alabama in May of 2018 but never participated in workouts with the Crimson Tide, and by August of that year was headed to Baylor.
He developed into the Bears’ first Big 12 player of the year this season, leading Baylor in scoring (16.9 points per game) and steals (55). A fellow Southeastern Conference alum, junior Davion Mitchell, joined the Bears following his freshman season of 2017-18 at Auburn.
Mitchell is considered one of the nation’s top defenders.
“He teaches us defensive things,” another transfer, senior guard Macio Teague, said of Mitchell. “I really didn’t try on defense a lot growing up and stuff like that, until I met Davion. He says it’s all effort, but that’s a thousand-percent lie. It’s 50 percent effort and 50 percent skill.
“His defensive IQ is extremely high. His mind for the defensive end is crazy.”
Teague, who along with Butler and Mitchell make up perhaps the nation’s top guard trio, joined the Bears after spending his first two seasons at North Carolina-asheville.
Butler, Teague and Mitchell lead Baylor in scoring, the only three Bears to average double figures, and Baylor leads the nation in 3-point shooting (42 percent) thanks largely to their attack.
“They’re guys who work really hard and are team-oriented,” Drew said of the playmaking trio. “They have great chemistry and love for each other — you can see that on the floor. They’re trying to make plays for each other, instead of just trying to get theirs. And iron sharpens iron — each day in practice we get better because we compete against each other.”
In addition to Butler, Mitchell and Teague, sophomore guard Adam Flagler transferred in after playing his freshman season at Presbyterian in 2018-19. And sophomore forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua played his freshman season at UNLV in 201819.
“We’ve got a group of guys who were overlooked,” Teague said. “To get to this point we had to keep working through the obstacles that were thrown in front of us in life. I feel like we just persevere through anything and fight through anything.”
Baylor and Villanova will meet in historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The NCAA Tournament is being held in and around Indianapolis in its entirety because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bears are competing in their fifth Sweet 16 since 2010 under Drew.
“We’ve got some young guys going up against some veteran studs,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said of the Bears, and their trio of starting guards in particular. “It’s not just their talent, but their basketball IQ is outstanding, and that’s what happens to guys when they stay in college for a few years, they really learn the game.
“This is a really intelligent team, as well as extremely talented.”
Baylor is seeking its first national title while Villanova has won three, including in 2016 (in NRG Stadium) and 2018 under Wright.
“They’ve won two out of the last four national championships,” Drew said. “Coach Wright has built a great culture, and they’re extremely disciplined. You know you have to beat them, because they’re not going to beat themselves.”