It's That Time Again...

Since the basketball team has mailed it in the last two weeks, let's turn to our next hope for Baylor sports relevance: Football. Did I really just type that? Spring ball starts in March so let's talk about what we should be looking as the team starts drills.

Position Changes
It was reported yesterday that Jeremy Sanders and TJ Scranton had been moved to safety, Krys Buerck back to receiver, and Romie Blaylock to corner. I think each of these moves made sense. Buerck improved throughout the season but was never good one on one with a decent receiver. The plays he made were when he was playing zone and the quarterback made a mistake. Receiver is a much better fit for him and his skill set. I think he'll contribute more there. Also, the emergence of Trenston Hill probably made this switch easier for the coaching staff.

The move to corner will allow Blaylock to see the field earlier. In 2008, he pretty much just got in on a handful of plays and backed up Kendall Wright. Like Buerck switching back to receiver, the move to corner fits Blaylock's skills better and will allow him to contribute more.

I think the move of Sanders to safety will have the biggest impact of any. He was too good an athlete to not have on the field. He wasn't going to play QB, and running back never really fit him. The only plays the coaches let him run were the toss to each side. I think he takes Williams' spot. Williams was often burned in coverage last season. He did have a very good game against Missouri but I can't think of another game where he stood out. Sanders, with the addition of Landor at the safety spot hopefully improve the backfield productivity some. We need more pass break-ups and interceptions out of this group. On top of this, due to the offenses that are being played, we need a guy who can quickly come up and make a tackle on the quick screen to the WR.

Also,
Tim Griffin's blog on ESPN's web page took a break from talking Longhorns non-top to have Phil Taylor as one of his impact newcomers for next year. I think Taylor makes a difference but as I've said before, it's not like he's going to be in on every down. DT is still a weakness of this team. His presence, if he's as advertised, will draw a double team from the opposing O-line and hopefully open an opportunity for another lineman to get in the backfield.

If anyone can get to Waco to take in a practice this spring I'll open up this blog to put up a practice report. Full credit will be given to the contributor(s).

Thanks again kids,
Murph

You'll Never Believe This But Baylor Lost to a School with Inferior Talent

This post will be short and sweet because let's be real here, I could just cut/paste any recap of a game the past 6 weeks and be pretty close to what happened. I think Drew finally lost the team. They don't care and won't play hard any more. Hopefully, next season can be an addition by subtraction kind of situation. We'll see.

Good for Drew finally getting a technical however he did it in the worst way. Didn't get his money's worth so to speak. Also, if you're going to get T'd up, do it at home and get the crowd behind you. In Ames, it just got the Iowa State fans more to feed off of.

Should we be worried about being "snubbed" out of the NIT? With the Bears playing the way they are, we're going down that path.

Murph

Sing 2009 Condensed

Allow me to first to say that I never even made it to Sing while I was an undergrad until I had to either work one of the shows or Mrs. Murph was a Sing Chair of her sorority. It's not my thing. However, there are times when one must go see the show due to spouse pressure. I'm sure you can all relate to this. So without further delay, Murph's thoughts on the acts:




Tri Delt


Typical Tri Delt routine: lots of costumes, group dances, finish with what seems like a thousand girls on stage doing their "move." Solid overall. Not as good as what I've seen before but good enough for Pigskin




Phi Chi

If I die and dudes with gold sequined vests come out singing, I'm going to think I'm in hell. Traditionally, Phi Chi scores well with the judges but I just didn't think this act was as good as what they've done before. Just me.




Kappa


You will never believe this but Kappa's act involved having a ton of girls on stage doing the same move together. Question: Did the Sing authorities finally tell Kappa that doing a 20's, 30's, 40's era theme with flapper dancing was starting to feel like the same thing every year? Again, good act but wasn't very sharp.




Sigma Alpha Epsilon

I've known approximately 3 SAEs in my life and if I had known they had this in them, I would have hung out with those guys some more. Look, SAE isn't trying to get into Pigskin but I think their act was the most entertaining. They knew they couldn't sing or dance so they made me laugh. Plus, if that guy who did the rap wrote it and mixed the music himself, then that guy is just flat out nails. He shouldn't even be in school. Creativity like that makes money in the real world.




KOT


The same authorities that got onto Kappa must have gotten to the Rags as well. I can't imagine what the Sing chairs did when their 4 ideas (Cattle Drive, Cowboys and Indians, Old West, and Chisholm Trail) all got rejected for being like every other Sing act they do. In reality, this was one of the better acts. Good singing, good dancing, just solid. They may win the top spot this year.




Kappa Sigma



You didn't think a group could do a rodeo act and not get this picture did you? I honestly don't recall all that much about it. I'm sure it was typical Kappa Sig and was solid all around. Although I thought they were much better when they highlighted their 5 best dancers and had them break dance or something.

Pi Beta Phi

When I was in school, Pi Phi was never a real force when it came to Sing, which seems weird because you'd think a sorority like that would have enough talent to put together a good act. Anyways, this year they did pretty good. I didn't get some of the costumes but they were creative. This year, with no group being really good, Pi Phi might sneak into Pigskin.

Sigma Chi

Question: What do you get when about 25 guys sit around drinking beer for an hour thinking of a Sing act? The answer is this act. Like SAE, they aren't trying to get into Pigskin. They're just having fun. That's why I was somewhat entertained by the act. There were some laugh out loud moments for sure but no one thinks that they're winning anything.

Theta-Fiji

I don't remember a damn thing about this act other than it had a Barbie-Ken theme.

That's really all I can recall about Sing this year. I know I only covered about half the acts (maybe). If the group wasn't mentioned here then I can't recall a thing about it and thus deemed it boring. Overall, there was not an obviously dominant group or two like there normally seems to be which makes me think that Pigskin is wide open this year. Feel free to discuss any acts in the comments section below.

Murph

Obituary for 2008-2009 Season

The Baylor Men's Basketball season passed away Saturday the 21st of February in Stillwater, OK. The deceased appeared to show signs of life just a week earlier but in the seven days after a win against Texas A&M, the season's deadly symptoms came back to finish the team off. The autopsy report showed that a total lack of defense, predictable offense, and no inside game ultimately led to the season's demise. While the season is survived by its players and coaching staff, it will ultimately be put to rest for eternity the second week of March in Oklahoma City, OK. The team will pay its respects the next two weeks by going through the motions that it started in mid-January when its weakness was first diagnosed. A final viewing will be available on March 7th at the Ferrell Center.

In all honesty, I can't get over how disappointing this season was. We were picked 3rd by the very same coaches that had seen this group the past few seasons. We had 3 seniors that were going to contribute heavily (1 might have been a 1st round NBA pick). We had two other players that gained heavy experience last season and were only going to be better. The conference is even down this year. Texas has lost 5 conference games already. Kansas lost 4 starters from the prior season. So what happened?

As the obituary stated, defense, no consistent offense and non-existent inside game killed us this year. I was talking to someone on Saturday who is pretty close to the team and he had some disturbing information for me. He pretty much stated that it is well known in the locker room that Drew is not a strong coach when it comes to Xs and Os. I know I'm not really breaking news with that revelation but how would you like to play for a guy that you know is going to get undressed tactically every night? He went on to say that the players still like him and all that but coach just gets too in the moment and lets his emotions override any sane decision that needs to be made.

The example he gave was during the Wake Forest game. If you recall, we were hanging with the Deacons in the first half. The refs were calling things pretty tight which negated Wake's ability to manhandle us under the rim. Then, one of the refs got injured. Baylor was the "home" team in this game and had the option of playing with just two refs or having the reserve come out. Drew was so fired up mentioning that "we beat A&M in 5 OT with only 2 refs and we can do it here too." We all know what happened next. We got destroyed on the block and got run out of the gym in the 2nd half.

As you dozens of readers know, I have never called for Drew's job. I think he needs to show something in 09-10 and really show we're on the right track in 10-11. But does this disturb anyone else? Recruits aren't going to keep coming if we can't offer the playing time that was offered to CJ, KR, and HD AND never come close to the tournament on a semi-regular basis. I know next year's team will look very different and I'm looking forward to seeing what Drew can do with a team that isn't so guard heavy. As my favorite saying goes: We'll see.

As it stands now, even winning out and then a couple in the conference tournament won't get us in the dance. I think we still end up in the NIT. That isn't so bad when you look at it but it is devastating considering the expectations going into the season.

I'm going to try to post something everyday this week to appease the growing masses checking in here. Tomorrow, I'll have a full Sing report for those who would rather not watch it (like me).

Murph

Who to Root for this Weekend

All 12 conference teams will be in action this weekend. In keeping with the two prior posts about our position in the standings and what needs to happen for Baylor to have a shot in the conference tournament and build a NCAA tournament resume, here's what needs to happen this weekend:

Baylor wins over OK-State
Kansas beats Nebraska
Tech beats aggy
Iowa State over K-State
OU beats Texas
Colorado vs. Mizzou is inconsequential

It would have been nice if Tech or Colorado could have come through for us last night. Saturday's game with the Safety Orange team from Stillwater is huge because if we win, we'll hold the tiebreaker if we're tied at the end of the season (very possible).

Like I said before, I'll be in Waco this weekend for personal reasons (nothing dire) so I won't get to see the basketball game. I'll try to get my first look at Baylor baseball in a couple of seasons. Skipping class to see a baseball game was one of my favorite pastimes during my time in Waco. In those days, they would let you bring in food so my buddies and I would Gut-Pack up and head to the ballpark. Greatness.

Pictures and Commentary after the weekend.
Murph

Baylor Basketball Coming Down the Stretch

As I mentioned before, the Bears have 5 games left to put together a tournament resume or at the very least, position themselves better for the conference tournament. The goal for conference position should be to stay out of the 8 and 9 seeds. These seeds lead to seeing OU in the 2nd round of the conference tournament. This is crucial when we will probably need a 2nd conference tourney win to enhance the resume. Right now, there are 5 teams ahead of us that we could conceivably (not probably) catch: Texas, Nebraska, OK State, aggie, K-State.

Here's what each of these teams face during this home stretch:
Texas- OU, Tech, @OK State, Baylor, @Kansas
Nebraska- Colorado, @Kansas, aggie, @K-State, Iowa State, @Baylor
OK State- @Tech, Baylor, @Colorado, Texas, K-State, @OU
aggie- @Tech, @Nebraska, Iowa State, @Colorado, Missouri
K-State- @Iowa State, @Missouri, Nebraska, @Oklahoma State, Colorado

Baylor finished with: @OK State, @Iowa State, Colorado, @Texas, Nebraska

Given the nature of this season so far, I wouldn't put any games in ink yet. The league is basically the top 3 teams (OU, KU, MU) followed by 6 mediocre teams and then the bottom 3. You can look at the schedules differently. The aggies get to play all 3 bottom-feeders but must also play one of the top teams (That MU game would look good on a tournament resume). Texas has to play 2 of the top teams and only 1 bottom team. Your Baylor Bears have games against 2 bottom teams and no top teams. However, OK State, Texas, and Nebraska aren't going to roll over for us. Our recent history against the Longhorns needs to change course for us to have a real shot making a move up the standings.

The bottom line here is that if we find a way to win out and finish 9-7, things get real interesting for the Baylor Nation. Finish 8-8 and I think we're NIT bound barring a conference tourney championship game appearance. I hope our Athletic Department sees this season at what can happen when you don't schedule at least one good true road game (not tournament or neutral site). We might finish 9-7 and not beat one of the top 4 teams in our conference. I think we'll be on the outside looking in. Hope I'm wrong.

Murph

Baylor Kool Aid is World-Wide

I was checking the SiteMeter last week and noticed we are starting to attract some international traffic. Our first visitor was from Tel Aviv, Israel. So Shalom to you sir/madam.


As always, please please please leave a comment every once in a while to say hi or to tell my how much the site sucks. I can take it.

Who Were Those Guys?

Far be it for me to complain about a win. I hope those guys show up for the rest of the games this season. We played something that resembled defense and basically executed what my plan to beat OU was. Fast start? Check. Other team in foul trouble? Check. Production from an unusual source? Anthony Jones Check.

Now we get a week off to get ready for OSU in Stillwater. That game and Texas are the two toughest games left on the schedule. Hypotheticaly, if we find a way to win out, things could get real interesting. I think as of now, we are still on the outside looking in for the big dance. Finish the conference at 8-8 and then win a couple in the tournament and we at least give ourselves a shot.

If the season ended today we would be the 8th seed playing A&M again in the first round. A win there and we have a date with OU in Oklahoma City. That is obviously not what we want. Despite what happened Saturday, the aggies are still a match up problem for us. The good news is that with the schedule, we have a real shot at the 5th seed. That gets us a rematch with Colorado in all likelihood. A win there and we play someone like Texas or K-State who we match up better with. I think we are capable of winning out and go 9-7 but it much more probable we end at 8-8. I just don't trust this team yet.

All of these match ups in the conference tournament are purely speculative at this point. There are 5 games to play and there are 8 teams within 4 games of each other. We'll obviously know more at the end of this week about who might get slotted where and what match ups are likely.

Other than that, it is a slow week in Baylor sportsdom. I'll be back in Waco this weekend for a wedding and catching a baseball game. Reports will come after the weekend. I may even throw in some random stuff this week as well.

Later kids,
Murph

A Plea to Coach Drew

I think we can all agree that Coach Drew has been an outstanding representative of our University in his 6 seasons here (coaching ability aside). He has conducted himself with class and I have never heard anything bad about him personally. On the sidelines, he may not agree with every call. He usually gives a "Come On!" to a referee running by down the sideline after a blown call. While I appreciate his civility, I do have a plea for Coach tonight and the rest of the season: Please lose it for once on the sideline.

Now, I'm not calling for Drew to throw a chair across the floor. That's stupid. It also is totally out of his personality range. If he did something like that, people would think he's had a mental breakdown as opposed to being upset. That's why Bob Knight could do that and be effective. People don't think he's exceeded his personality range until he's about to murder someone.

Let me explain. I believe that every player and coach in the conference has a reputation. If a clumsy post player fouls out every other game, the refs aren't going to have any reservations about blowing the whistle on plays that for others they may let go. I'm not saying it's right. It's just human nature. Bob Knight would get T'd up when he didn't always deserve it. Refs did it as almost a rite of passage. Another example is a baseball player that almost never strikes out. If he takes a close pitch on a full count, 9 times out of 10 he's jogging down the line.

I think what's now happened to Coach Drew is that refs don't have any reservations about blowing the whistle on us. Let me be real clear here: The refs have yet to lose a game for us. I don't think it has anything to do with a conspiracy or the conference wanting to make sure certain teams win based on revenues or fan bases. However, I think a ref subconsciously makes decisions based on reputations. Rick Barnes teams get the benefit of the doubt because refs don't want to get an ear-full from him. The same can be said for a handful of coaches in the league. When a call can go either way, it's easier to screw Coach Drew's team because he won't question it very strongly.

Coach needs to get a technical. I'm asking for it. I don't care if it costs us a couple of points. We leave so many points on the floor as it is anyway so it won't matter. It doesn't need to be spontaneous, just pick the first close one that doesn't go our way. Demand that the official come over and explain himself. When he comes over, just start screaming until he obliges with a Tech. You don't even have to cuss or anything. If you just make enough noise for long enough, it will happen. Think Coach Norman Dale in Hoosiers.





This will do a few things. First, and most importantly, it sends a message to your team that you will protect them. There's been some talk about if the team respects Coach. Get a technical defending one of your players, and you move up a few notches. Guaran-Teed (see what I did there). Second, because of the undeniable truth that most Baylor fans that will be present love Drew, this will enrage them. They will blame it on the refs. Old ladies who usually only scream at the person two rows in front of them to sit down will start directing their wails at the officials. Any intimidation that can be put on the zebras should be when you are at home. Finally, the action itself tells the officials that the days of you being "Aw shucks, you need glasses ref?" when we get the bad end of a call that could go either way are over. I wholeheartedly think this will make a difference.

So let's do it Scott. It's just a hunch but I believe if you do this in the right spot of the game on Saturday, it will change the complexion of your team. They will play with more passion and the crowd will feed them energy.

Pre aggie Thoughts

With Valentines happening, I'm not entirely sure if I'll get to watch this one live tomorrow night. I'll DVR it for sure but the dead-on analysis that I usually bring may be delayed.

First off about the game, let's all acknowledge that A&M is a match-up nightmare for us. It's not that they have better talent because they don't. Their strength in the front court has a bigger advantage than ours in the backcourt. It's that simple. They have a stable of forwards they can throw out there, we are ecstatic when Lomers scores 4 and pulls 3 rebounds. We should also remember that our guards haven't exactly been setting the world on fire lately either.

I think what we need to do is to really put our foot on the gas in this game. We need to make their big fellas run up and down the court and then hope Turgeon is stupid enough to go small with us to keep up, negating his size advantage up front. This could very well backfire on us. I think in the OU game on Wednesday we slowed it down and was methodical about working for a decent shot and it kept us in the game. If we get going up and down again, we may revert to heaving contested 3s with 23 seconds on the shot clock.

Outside of this, the formula that I laid out for the OU game still holds true, especially the part about starting strong. I think of this aggie team like a heavy run oriented football team. They are very strong when ahead or in an even game, but do not have the offensive firepower to come from behind.

It would partially redeem the season if we beat them on Saturday. I know it wouldn't be all that big in the big picture of conference rankings and so forth. Let me tell you a story: I was a freshman at Baylor in the fall of 1998. The aggies came to Floyd Casey that fall and quickly established themselves as the better team. They were in control of the game in the 2nd half and Slocum then faked a punt with the aggies scoring another touchdown a few plays later. I get an uncontrollable rage when I think of that time and sincerely hope we beat those guys by 100 points in every sport.

I don't hate all aggie fans. Many of my good friends ended up in College Station. I almost went there myself. My buddies are good fans, they aren't in your face about it, they respect their opponents. It's the others that make me homicidal. I will never fell sorry for these aggie fans. If we find ourselves up 90-45 or something ridiculous Saturday, I hope our fans in the FC are chanting that they want 100.

That's all I got to say about it. For those who are dateless or have the most understanding wives/girlfriend(s)/bootycall/whatever, my spirit will be with you.

Murph

The Good, Bad, and Ugly of the OU Game

What I Liked About the Game
First of all, we finally came with some effort last night. This makes the loss somewhat palatable. Our guys had energy and played with a little passion for a change. Also, for all the crap I give Drew about his coaching, his substitution pattern last night was a quantum leap forward. He "stole" minutes for his quality players on the bench. I think the guys looked much fresher late in the 2nd half compared to the other games during this horrendous streak. I also rag on Lomers relentlessly on here but last night might have been his best game yet. Not statistically, but he fought hard for rebounds and didn't blow at least 2 scoring opportunities like he normally does.

We did a good job on Blake Griffin. Looking at the final box score he still had 18 and 10 but I don't feel like he was THE difference maker last night. A third of those 18 came on free throws so it wasn't like he was just scoring at will.

Having only 11 turnovers for the entire game was also a nice change of pace. I believe that this directly led us to be in the game until the end.

The Bad
The guy who killed us was Austin Johnson, and I'm not even talking about his shot-clock beating prayer that went in and effectively took the heart out of our team last night. He went 6 of 8 from the field (4 of 5 from distance) and had 5 assists versus 1 turnover. Johnson basically played about as perfect of a game as a guard can play.

Converse Johnson's play with that of 3 of our starters: Dugat, Acy, and Carter. Those three guys scored a combined 18 points (versus Johnson's 17) and combined for 7 assists and 4 turnovers. We need more production out of these three starters. I drive the Quincy Acy bandwagon but he needs to score more than 4 (I wasn't expecting a huge game from him given OU's frontcourt). I wouldn't say Tweety had a bad game (8 points, 4 assists, 1 TO) but he needs to be more efficient with his shots. His FG and 3PT% were 33% and 25% respectively. I don't even know what to think about Dugat anymore. He's a fantastic athlete and could probably play at a college level at just about any sport. The problem is that he's not a high level college athlete consistently. He's capable of going for 20 on a given night but too often it comes as often as leap year. I call it Dugat Roulette.

The Ugly
The ugly stuff is all going to be a reach because I think we played one of our better games as a whole last night. First off, the crowd was pathetic. The number 2 team in the country is in town and you can't get over 8K in the FC (Please don't quote me the announced attendance, there's no way it was what the athletic department said)? I had the pleasure of sitting in front of possibly the most uneducated fan in all of the land. Why are these people always the most vocal? I loved the passion, just wish it could have been used for good. I thought the refs were bad in the first half but were better in the 2nd. They didn't cost us the game.

Overview
All in all, it's like I said. We played better but not near the level we needed (and were capable of) to beat a team like we saw last night. The real problem with our team is that we cannot put real game changing runs together. When we get hot on the offensive end, we almost always end up just trading baskets with the other team. So instead of going on a 12-2 run, it ends up being a 12-8 stretch. While that's a net positive, it doesn't change the game and when we cool off, our opponent goes on their own 12-3 or so run. That's what happened last night. We'd go on a 5 possession (3 offensive, 2 defensive) run where we were productive and then made stops. This is when we whittled the OU lead down to 3 in the 2nd half. However, we always followed up by allowing an OU run and then basically traded baskets for the rest of the game.

Bottom line as always, we need our guys to put their hard hat on while on defense and keep working on that end until we make an offensive run. Otherwise, it cheapens our offensive efforts. I know I'm not breaking news with any of this but it's been the story of the season. Hopefully, now that the schedule gets considerably easier, we can put together a run for the NIT.

Later Kids,
Murph

Baylor +3. Really, Vegas?

Before I talk about the game tonight, I'd like to get some stuff off my mind. I'm getting a double-dip of basketball this week because I was at the Dallas Mavericks game last night while the weather apocalypse was occurring outside. My piece of advice for anyone who wants to bring a significant other to a basketball game or any other sporting event: make for damn sure your girl half-way is interested in said game.

To set up, Mrs. Murph and I went to the Mav game with another Baylor couple. Neither girl could care less about basketball. The wife likes football and during those games she can give reasoned responses to questions about what's going on. This is not the case for basketball. Both girls spent the entire game gabbing while planning our next 8 vacations, talking about babies, and dishing gossip. Josh Howard could have pulled a gun out of his shorts and started shooting people on the court and neither one would have noticed. Add to this the obligatory Baylor "it's picture time" segment of the night which always coincides with the most exciting part of the game. Take one with your camera, then theirs, then a picture of them with their camera, then yours and then GOOD LORD WHY CAN'T YOU PEOPLE WAIT FOR A TIMEOUT OR SOMETHING. BASKETBALL STOPS EVERY 3 MINUTES, IT WON'T KILL YOU TO SIT THERE UNTIL THE ACTION STOPS. Whew. That felt better.

I'd like to start a movement where couples take one picture of themselves at some athletic venue and just use it over and over again but tell people it's from different places. The background is always the row behind you so no one will know. The truth is that no one really cares enough to notice. I know this is a blow to scrapbookers and obsessive compulsive facebookers everywhere, but I think it's a good suggestion.

Now on to the game tonight. As mentioned before, I'll be in attendance tonight to witness the carnage myself. With me, I bring Mrs. Murph, the couple from last night (whoopiee!) and a 3 game Baylor winning streak with me in attendance. Oddly, the last time the Bears dropped a game while I was there was against OU.

So, outside of Nancy Kerrigan-ing Blake Griffin on his way into the arena tonight, how does Baylor win? I haven't any idea. I'd feel better if we'd shown some testicular fortitude in the past 3 weeks but we know that hasn't happened. While the odds are stacked against us, there is a formula to pull upsets in college basketball:

Get Opponent in Foul Trouble
Tough to do given our style of play but if Blake Griffin is on the bench early with fouls, it makes things interesting. OU still has a stronger front court even without him, but it opens up things up for us on defense (a stretch given our guys probably can't spell defense). The other side to this is us getting in the bonus early. This allows those cheap fouls away from the basket to turn into points. Converting these chances is an absolute must.

Start Fast
Think the 2001 Kansas upset here. Our guys came out making shots and turning turnovers into layups. We were up by double digits before Kansas knew what had even happened. This also gets the crowd involved.

Huge Game from Someone Unexpected
This is in all likelihood going to come from a bench player. Think someone like Ellis/Lomers/Diene/Jones here. Nobody in their right mind expects anything from these guys in this game but if one of the 7 footers has a 8 point-6 rebound game, that is a huge lift for our offense. Guys like Tweety and Dunn need to score when Jerrells is on the bench. I think part of what is making CJ more and more ineffective is that he is playing massive minutes carrying the scoring load. Watch the tape of his shot late in the 2nd half of recent games. Almost no arc on his shot. I think he gets tired. If we can keep the scoring clip up reasonably well with him on the bench, he can use his skills better to close the game.

That's the formula to pull off the upset. It won't hurt if OU can't hit jump shots as well. I'll try to have a report up sometime tomorrow. I would say tonight but I'm going to watch LOST when I get home. Priorities people.

As always, I'd love to hear from anyone who finds themselves here. I've been tracking the traffic and it looks like a handful of folks log on at some point during the day. For that I am very grateful.

Here's to seeing an upset tonight,
Murph

It's Over (Tech Post Mortem)

That's the season kids. We don't deserve any kind of post-season play this year unless we miracle ourselves past OU, Texas, aggie, and others, plus at least two wins in the conference tournament.

As I mentioned before, I missed watching the game because of a prior engagement. It was at an Italian place where you sit down at 7 and not get your food until 9. I checked the score on my iphone and saw we were down by 3 with a little over a minute left. I knew it was already over. I hadn't watched a second and I knew we didn't have what Bill Raferty would describe as the "onions" to win that game. I don't take pleasure in this. I'd rather be proven wrong than being able to say "told you so."

I called my dad, who played basketball in college and is a college basketball junkie, what happened. He described what he had seen and then just said: "It was every Baylor game you've seen this year. Just a different place and opponent." I think we all know what this means.

This season's collapse has put the spotlight square on Coach Drew and for good reason. When your team is picked 3rd in the conference and you end up being lucky to be 9th, you will have criticism sent your way. Let me be clear, I'm not calling for his job this season or even next season. We were sold on the talent he had coming in and that talent has not met expectations this season. It was also evident that coaches that had inferior talent on their roster have learned to absolutely undress our team and Drew can't do a thing about it.

I've read some say that what needs to happen is for Drew to hire a really good X's and O's type guy. This won't happen and let me tell you why. If you think that Coach has lost his voice with this team, just watch what happens if you bring in a guy like people are describing. Players aren't stupid, they know who knows more about the game. In crunch time, is Drew going to hand the board to Coach Gameplan and say "draw up a winner"? I think everyone knows the answer. Drew will lose his voice in the locker room and it will be painfully obvious. Just like how Tony Romo waved the punt team off the field on 4th down in that abortion of a game in Philly. He publicly neutered his head coach. Players will tune out and ignore Drew if he brings in a real assistant.

Looking at the current recruiting, it appears that next year will be a completely different team. That's a good thing. I think we'll be less guard oriented and more forward oriented. We will still lack a true center but the added strength at the 3 and 4 will help. How sad is it that the best center of the Drew era is RT Guinn? He was a Bliss recruit/transfer. Put him on this team and we have 3 more wins in conference. RT wasn't Wilt by any stretch but he rebounded and could score about 8 a game. Think about what that would do for a guy like Quincy Acy to play against another power forward and not a center.

I feel like I could type for days about this team. It looks like Drew has become Guy Morriss-like on the message boards. I say that only in that there are some that are demanding accountability and another camp that says that criticism should be withheld because of a situation that was inherited. Like I said before, I'm not calling for Drew's head yet. 2010-2011 is when we need to see consistent results on the court and have a good sense of where the program is going. By then, kids would have been in middle school when the scandal hit. That's more than enough time to get your guys in the program and producing results.

I may tackle all of this again in the next month or so. Of course, much will be determined by how the team finishes out the season. I'll be in Waco on Wednesday for the OU game. I'll report back on Thursday.

Murph

Pre Tech Thoughts

First of all, I will not be watching this game. My wife, whom I love (gritting teeth), has set up a triple date with two couples I have never met on Saturday night. Of course I'm thrilled by this. Then again, if what the past two weeks has shown us continues, I'm better off dying a slow death of forced conversation and feigned interest than watching the stomach punch that is Baylor basketball at this point.

This needs to be the game that Curtis gets out of whatever he's in. This team cannot win unless he fills the stat sheet with points and assists. He also contributes because he is one of the few players we have that actually goes to the rim and draws fouls. We've got more offense than Tech but they seem to always be dangerous, especially at home. Tech doesn't have anybody that just jumps out on the scouting report so this could be a game where we try to get our defense together. Let me say that again: The defense must show up in this game or the future or there will be no point in even lacing them up from here on out.

I'm tired of seeing the same damn game over and over where we start out and make shots and even get a stop or two on defense. Then we totally regress and stop moving around and look like 5 guys who have never met each other. This is my wish.

I'll be making a triumphant return to Waco on Wednesday night for the OU game. That should be awesome. 6,500 crazy....er....awake fans supporting our team. I'll have a full report when I come back.

For those who keep finding themselves over here, please leave a comment telling me how much I suck or if you are just indifferent to what is going on here. I'd like to know.

Murph

Signing Day 2009

It appears that everyone who we were expecting to sign today has and so it is finally time to asses what the team will be looking like this year and beyond. For simplicity sake, I'm going to reference Rivals. I know there are other recruiting services and they are all different with rankings, bias, and slants.

What I like about this class
First of all, we addressed a major need in the offensive line. We are replacing a top 10 draft pick and a 2 year starter on the line. Ideally, the JUCOs will fill these spots without much of a drop-off. Luckily, with as much zone read as we use on offense, the center and guard positions are more important. I see next year's line maybe not as having a higher ceiling than last year's but will definitely be better when the bench linemen rotate in.

Second, we add play makers on the offensive side. Outside of Griffin, Finley, and Wright last year, we didn't have anybody who is a threat to take it to the house every time he touches the ball. The additions of Glasco Martin and Darius Jones will hopefully fix this. There is no bigger Thomas White fan than I but most of his plays were the quick read pass off the snap. He was incredibly reliable about getting 4-6 yards a pop. Now we might have someone that is capable of making someone miss and going 12-20 a play.

Third, we have incredible size in this class. I believe only 3 players are listed below 6 feet. You don't get any points for how you look getting off the bus but it helps if you are as big or bigger than your opponent. For the past decade outside of the Jason Smiths of the world, how many of our guys could you see in a fellow Big 12 team uniform? I think that is starting to change. The wide receivers in this class are giants. Hopefully, one of them will turn into a Dez Bryant type player that our QB can just throw it high to on 3rd down and he'll go get it.

What Concerns me
Our bottom 5 recruits all play or are projected to play defense. Try to remember what we saw during the bowl season as Big 12 teams that were scoring like crazy all of a sudden sputtered when faced with teams that could tackle. Offensive improvement will help the defense but only marginally. Landor will probably step into the Williams/Lamar safety spot and that will hopefully be an upgrade to the secondary. I'm guessing Lloyd will play if he's as advertised. We absolutely need someone who can get to the quarterback from the end position. He was also a more highly rated player than Robertson was last year and played. Also, if Chance Casey is starting at corner this season, it means we've improved our secondary.

Next year's class needs a DT or three in it. I know people point to Phil Taylor, the Penn State transfer but even if he is as good as we hope he is, we are still weak there. He won't play every down. Taylor might be the first Baylor linemen in forever to get double-teamed. That's great and all but it means that someone needs to be able to win their one-on-one battle with the lineman across from them. No one has shown they can do that yet. Maybe Lloyd or Mason can be that guy in the fall.

Overall Thoughts
I've seen it said that this is a "great" class. Slow down. It's great compared to classes in the past but we don't play the Baylor 2006 team next season. Recruiting is all about two things: upgrading your current talent and bringing your overall talent base higher than your opponents. I think in 4 years you will be able to look at this class and say this was largely the group that jump-started the Baylor resurgence. Compared to other teams, Baylor still is behind but the talent gap is starting to shrink. All you need to do is get the talent close enough to your opponent that coaching and execution on the field can get you a win. Hopefully, the days of us losing purely on talent are ending. If Briles gets us into a bowl game this season, look for the 2010 class to be "great." Remember: College football is a zero sum game. Our increased success comes at a cost to another program. A Baylor team on the rise directly hurts TCU, Tech, OSU, and aggie. Those are the teams we are competing with for players right now.

The traffic on this site has picked up recently. Thanks to all of you who have stopped by. Please leave your thoughts in the comment section. I'd like to get a more interactive thing going here.

Thanks,
Murph

A Recruiting Trip to Aggieland

Howdy! Welcome to Aggieland. It's good to see you made it here using my directions. Most athletes we recruit cannot read and thus, need a personal driver to get to campus. Speaking of campus, how do you like our little piece of paradise? We like to call the architecture style here "Modern Concrete."

I know that living here in College Station could possibly be a little culture shock from where you are from inner city Houston, but rest assured that you will find many folks like yourself here.



(Recruit unknowingly steps one foot onto the grass)

For God's sake get off the grass!!!!!!!!! Sorry to yell at you like that but it was for your own protection. The grass here is a memorial but even for people new to campus, there can be consequences. "They" might show up. Texas A&M is not a military school. However, we do give preferential admissions treatment and scholarships to those in the Corps. And let them register for classes before everyone else. And give them priority seating at the games....Nevermind. All you need to know about them is they will always be behind you at the games.



I mean, when it's 4th and Goal at the 1 yard line, you'll be amazed how inspired you get when you look over and see a couple hundred guys with shaved heads practicing genital mutilation on themselves.



(Listeater walks by, recruit recoils at the sight)




I see you've noticed some of the talent we have here on campus. Good pull. Statistically speaking, there's 2 guys for every girl here. There are a couple of advantages to this. One, it lets you hang out with your bro's more. Second, Aggies like to do everything together so it's totally win-win.

That's the campus tour. I hope you liked it. Let's walk over to the student guidance office and discuss your major of agrilcultural management.

Rock Chalked

Another frustrating game for the Bears last night. KU does not have a huge talent gap on us for once and we can't handle it. The difference in the two teams became very clear in the final four minutes. We were down about 6 or 7 and Kansas went into a style of play that we could not contend with. They spread the floor and basically put the ball in their best player's hands. He was either going to score or get fouled and come away with points either way. On offense, we had 4 straight possessions where we came away with one shot and done. KU came away with points after each of these possessions.

This obviously isn't an experience thing. KU turned over most of it's contributing roster this season. They just play well as a team and know what each of their roles are and execute. Contrast that with our team in which the whole somehow is less than the sum of its parts. When was the last time we grinded out a win against a good team? I won't pretend to know what the root of this problem is. Could be coaching, could be a player issue. I just know that when our core group of guys was struggling 3 seasons ago, we were told that it was because they were inexperienced. Now, we are desperately looking for answers with 3 4-year starters on the court.

I'll be back later with some other stuff. I'll try not to touch basketball until the weekend.

BU-KU 2nd Half

18:55- Tweety starts the scoring with a 3 then promptly gives up a layup. Ugh. 

18:20- We have apparently left the defense and the rebounding in the locker room. KU up by 5.  We need Jerrells to get out of his funk. Why can't we get him and Dugat on at the same time? 

 

17:40- Beautiful rebound and put back by Rogers. Offensive rebounds are huge in games like these. 

15:52- KU on a run and is up by 10. All runs against Baylor look the same: defensive breakdowns and then contested shots early in the shotclock while on offense. 

1st TV Timeout- Bears down by 8. We need to start giving up the easy baskets. With our offense, it wouldn't take much to swing most games to our advantage. 

15:25- Do you think that most opponent gameplans just say: give it to whoever is guarded by Dunn. 

14:30- As bad as he is on defense, we need Dunn to start raining 3s. 

13:52- Dugat makes 3 of 3 to cut the lead to 7. Come on Defense!

13:06- Another Tweety 3 to cut the lead to 4. 

12:25- And another Tweety 3. Come on Bears. Just kidding, gave up a bucket.

TV Timeout- At least Jerrells is getting others looks while he's struggling. He's still dangerous going to the bucket. 

11:18- Baylor forces a shot clock violation. Where can I get my ski lift ticket in hell? 

9:45- Jerrells is having trouble even hitting the rim. 

8:50- We need a better offense than that. 

8:16- Jerrells draws Aldrich's 4th. That's huge. 

TV Timeout- We absolutely needs some stops on defense. We also need some actual offense to get a good look on offense. This is the kind of game that can help us shed the "soft" label if we pull it out.  That's what she said. 

6:50- Too many layups on defense. That's the difference. 

5:06- Collins draws one on Dugat. We can't let that guy beat us. 

4:09- 3 straight empty posessions for the bears with Kansas scoring to answer.

TV Timeout- looking like choke city.....again. This is getting old. 

3:31- Does Jerrells not believe in arc on shots? 

3:18- ESPN shows a horrific stat about points in the paint.

3:10- KU white guys on the free throw line are always automatic

2:21- What does our NIT resume look like? 

1:45- Baylor hard core fans filing out. 

If the team is mailing it in at this point, then so am I. Catch you guys later kids. 

Bears-Jayhawks 1st Half

First, I'd like to give a shout out to all of those who stumbled upon my little corner of the interweb via Baylorfans today. Thank also to DixieCC for posting the link. I had been wondering who that one person who was visiting this site was.  Now, onto the game:

19:15- Phantom rebound by Rogers. Luckily KU bricks the 3 and we get the ball back. 

18:44- Dugat with the turnover. Not a good start. 

18:27- Dugat redeems himself with a steal/layup. We need him to get out of his funk desperately. 

17:17- Another bucket by Dugat, please let this mean he's on tonight. 

15:30- Finally we got KRog the ball on the block. 12 or more points for him and we're in it.

1st TV Timeout- So far so good. We're doing this thing when we don't have the ball. I think it's called "defense." I'm not sure, I haven't seen anything like that out of our team in years.  By the way, does KU's Morningstar about 80 pounds. He looks like that kid in church league who wore the undershirt because he didn't want anyone to know he hasn't gotten his underarm hair yet. 

14:50- We still don't have a foul yet. There's probably someone on Baylorfans taking credit for this because of a bitching campaign to the Big 12 offices.

14:05- That's not Roger's shot.

13:40- There's a Lomers sighting. Prepare for pain. 

12:43- Aldrich wearing the mask. Anyone else think that players with those things should be wheeled out before each half like Hannibal Lector? 

2nd TV Timeout- Bears up 11-9. Rogers just got double-teamed by Lomers' man and did not pass it to him even though Josh was by himself under the basket. That tells you all you need to know about how his teammates trust him. 

11:10- Big dunk for Acy. Do that a couple of more times and KU will back off the press. 

10:42- KU player pancakes Dugat to free up a man for a shot. Mangino would be pleased. And then eat him. 

9:15- Dunn denied his first assist of league play. Rogers fouled on the dunk attmept. You could call Dunn a black hole. Once something gets to him, it never leaves. 

8:05- Dunn shoots and hits from Bellmead.

3rd TV Timeout- Bears up 18-15. I like the way we've played so far. Let's keep it up. Commercial note: If I ever think Pizza Hut lasagna is good, I hope someone jabs a fork in my neck. 

7:11- Tweety commits 2 turnovers in 12 seconds. 

6:48- CJ just abused a double team and creates a dunk for Acy. 

5:51- Lomers! An emotional explosion with the intensity on the rebound. 

5:11- Dugat with another 3. Good, good sign. 

4:04- We don't have an answer for Aldrich. We need to find a way to deny him the ball. 

2:35- Jerrells doesn't give it up on a fastbreak and misses. Leads to a KU layup. 

Halftime- we let Collins dribble down the court for an easy shot to take a 2 point lead at half. I like the way we've played. I feel like we've got a run left in us, same as Kansas. I hope the crowd can carry our guys the rest of the way. 

Big Week in Baylor Sports

I'll be blogging tonight's must win versus Rock Chalk tonight as well as doing some analysis on the recruiting class being signed on Wednesday. I would have loved to have discussed the Texas and Mizzou games but I can't type while throwing up all over my keyboard. I'd like to think that if I didn't write about it, it didn't really happen.

See you tonight kids,
Murph