Drew, Bears left to ponder what could’ve been
Baylor basketball coach Scott Drew returned to Waco with his team late Thursday night from Kansas City, Mo., lay down on his bed, and closed his eyes on a day’s events that did not seem real.
“I woke up the next morning after we got home and said, ‘Was that a dream?’ ” Drew recalled Tuesday. “Obviously, it was something completely different than any of us had ever faced before.”
Around the same time last week, hundreds of NCAA programs nationwide were disappointed in the canceling of league tournaments and then seasons and postseasons because of the spread of the new coronavirus, but Baylor (26-4) had reason to feel the jab more than most.
The fifth-ranked Bears, who spent five weeks at No. 1 this season, likely had earned one of the NCAA Tournament’s four top seeds in the now-canceled event and were trying to do what no Baylor men’s basketball team had in the program’s 113 years: win a national title.
“For the Baylor family, I know we were looking forward to seeing Baylor with a No. 1 seed,” Drew said during a teleconference with reporters from around the state. “That was something we had worked extremely hard to have an opportunity to achieve.”
Meantime, the women’s team under Kim Mulkey has won three national titles, including last season, and was primed to compete for a fourth in entering the postseason ranked third at 28-2.
The Bears on Wednesday normally would have been preparing to travel to an NCAA Tournament destination. Instead, Drew said he’s showing up at a silent Ferrell Center, site of many celebrated Bears moments this winter and spring.
“Some seasons are a little more of a grind than other seasons, but it seemed like every day it was fun going to work,” Drew said. “That’s probably the toughest thing. When you’re coming to the office now and the practice gym is closed and the weight room is closed … you’re in shock because you’re used to seeing people around.
“That’s a completely different feeling.”
College sports complexes across the country are now closed to their athletes via league and NCAA directives, meaning plenty of players have headed to their respective homes. Drew said about half his team has left Waco for now, and the ones who are in town might be found at area parks playing basketball.
In the Bears’ final team meeting of a promising season cut short, senior guard Obim Okeke reminded his teammates of the joy of a historic year for the program.
“This is a blessed season,” Drew said Okeke told his fellow Bears. “Let’s make this happy.”
Okeke and others then reeled off Baylor’s Big 12-record 23-game winning streak and the Bears’ staying atop the Associated Press poll longer than anyone in five years, among other unexpected accomplishments.
“It was on and on and on,” Drew said of the recollection of Baylor’s achievements this season, “and right away the mood just changed, and everything was positive.”
The eternally optimistic Drew, 49, is a big reason for the Baylor players and staff keeping positive instead of dwelling on what might have been.
“I’m one of those ‘glass is half full’ guys. I guess I get that from my dad,” Drew said with a chuckle of longtime college coach Homer Drew, best known for his Valparaiso tenure from 1988 to 2011. “My whole mindset has shifted to taking care of our guys and making sure they’re able to finish out the semester and making sure their needs are taken care of.”
Drew was asked how a suddenly uncertain economy based on the still-spreading coronavirus might affect the building of a new arena — the Baylor Basketball Pavilion — on the banks of the Brazos River between the Ferrell Center and Baylor Ballpark, with a completion date to be determined based on donations.
“To be honest, that’s the furthest thing from my mind,” Drew said. “We (first need) to get past this. … When this passes, we’ll find out about the arena and everything like that.”
Drew, Bears coach since 2003, has led Baylor to four Sweet 16s and two Elite Eights in the NCAA Tournament in the past decade. His current roster, featuring a model mix of veteran leaders and budding playmakers, was projected to surpass those impressive showings.
“I really hope everyone had as much fun watching,” Baylor senior forward Freddie Gillespie offered via social media on Friday, “as we had playing.”
Drew said his players, in their final meeting for the foreseeable future, asked him to pass along a message to the NCAA once the pandemic has passed: “If they want to play the tournament in August, July, any time, anywhere, the (Bears) are more than willing to be there.”