Ah, conference play! Wahoo! My favorite time of the year - Christmas and conference basketball!
Oh man so in some other thread I put Tech ahead of Baylor as of this moment in time. Proof's in the pudding, and Tech gets into that pudding Friday night. Man Friday night conference game, I'm seeing a lot of this lately. I guess everyone likes the Ivy League model!
So Baylor I think is pretty good. I think the conference right now is like the stock market, everyone is good and everyone is getting better. A huge run up for conference teams. I think I saw someone projected 8 conference teams to make the NCAA tourney. Holy moly that's 80% of the dang league! Long time til March, but picking today yeah 8 seems legit.
Baylor has a different look to them this year. They pretty much play six guys most of the time, though one of them is hurt and I'm not sure if he will be able to play Friday or not. He can't be too far away, but I haven't heard that he's going to play - Terry Maston, 6'8 and 225, a senior, has a busted up hand. I'll guess it will be a couple weeks yet for him, last I heard it was going to be January. He makes them better, so I anticipate Tech will more than have their hands full for the away game.
The other five guys that play the bulk of the minutes for Baylor are pretty dang good. They got a legit 7-footer in Lual-Acuil, a pair of 6'9 guys, and a pair of guards. Pretty standard fare but not what we always see out of Waco. But, the standard fare ends at the positions and rotation. When it comes to play, these guys are above standard.
Baylor has a nice two-headed beast in Lual-Acuil and 5'11 guard Manu Lecomte. Neither of them foul much, they both play a lot of minutes, and they both can really score the ball. One guy plays in the post, the other guy roams around outside. Both shoot it well. About 70% of Lecomte's shots are long range, so the Raider defense better be ready because not only does he shoot it a lot from out there but he also makes it a lot. He's also a deadeye at the stripe. Lual-Acuil pretty much only shoots it in close - 8 of his field goal attempts have come from the arc. He's a serviceable free throw shooter for a big man, but he makes his bread pounding the glass on both ends of the court.
Nuni Omot and Tristan Clark are the forwards, and Clark is a freshman. Clark is the traditional banger, Omot likes to shoot long jumpers - and with his size, he can be tricky to guard out there. He's an above average free throw shooter, and an above average passer. Clark only plays in close and tends to hit a lot of his shots. Average passer and he does not foul a lot. He's a pretty good looking freshman out there and that position looks bright for Baylor.
The other guard is King McClure, 6'3. Don't sleep on this guy, he's a decent free throw shooter, a decent shot from the field, a good passer. He does seem to get caught out of position occasionally on defense, so something to look at there for Tech maybe.
Baylor is good. They pound the glass, they are a decent passing team, and a good shooting team. They are difficult to defend because they can all shoot it pretty well. I think they hurt themselves a little by not being a particularly great defensive team - though with Matson out, they can't go as hard as maybe they want to. They don't force a lot of action on the defensive end, but it's also hard to get close to the rack against them - and it's a lot harder to hit a 19 foot jumper compared to hitting a layup. Lual-Acuil will bait you into a shot so he can block it; he, Omot, and Clark will clean up the glass - Clark and Lual-Acuil on both ends of the floor.
Going to be a tough test for Tech, but every conference game is!
Oh man so in some other thread I put Tech ahead of Baylor as of this moment in time. Proof's in the pudding, and Tech gets into that pudding Friday night. Man Friday night conference game, I'm seeing a lot of this lately. I guess everyone likes the Ivy League model!
So Baylor I think is pretty good. I think the conference right now is like the stock market, everyone is good and everyone is getting better. A huge run up for conference teams. I think I saw someone projected 8 conference teams to make the NCAA tourney. Holy moly that's 80% of the dang league! Long time til March, but picking today yeah 8 seems legit.
Baylor has a different look to them this year. They pretty much play six guys most of the time, though one of them is hurt and I'm not sure if he will be able to play Friday or not. He can't be too far away, but I haven't heard that he's going to play - Terry Maston, 6'8 and 225, a senior, has a busted up hand. I'll guess it will be a couple weeks yet for him, last I heard it was going to be January. He makes them better, so I anticipate Tech will more than have their hands full for the away game.
The other five guys that play the bulk of the minutes for Baylor are pretty dang good. They got a legit 7-footer in Lual-Acuil, a pair of 6'9 guys, and a pair of guards. Pretty standard fare but not what we always see out of Waco. But, the standard fare ends at the positions and rotation. When it comes to play, these guys are above standard.
Baylor has a nice two-headed beast in Lual-Acuil and 5'11 guard Manu Lecomte. Neither of them foul much, they both play a lot of minutes, and they both can really score the ball. One guy plays in the post, the other guy roams around outside. Both shoot it well. About 70% of Lecomte's shots are long range, so the Raider defense better be ready because not only does he shoot it a lot from out there but he also makes it a lot. He's also a deadeye at the stripe. Lual-Acuil pretty much only shoots it in close - 8 of his field goal attempts have come from the arc. He's a serviceable free throw shooter for a big man, but he makes his bread pounding the glass on both ends of the court.
Nuni Omot and Tristan Clark are the forwards, and Clark is a freshman. Clark is the traditional banger, Omot likes to shoot long jumpers - and with his size, he can be tricky to guard out there. He's an above average free throw shooter, and an above average passer. Clark only plays in close and tends to hit a lot of his shots. Average passer and he does not foul a lot. He's a pretty good looking freshman out there and that position looks bright for Baylor.
The other guard is King McClure, 6'3. Don't sleep on this guy, he's a decent free throw shooter, a decent shot from the field, a good passer. He does seem to get caught out of position occasionally on defense, so something to look at there for Tech maybe.
Baylor is good. They pound the glass, they are a decent passing team, and a good shooting team. They are difficult to defend because they can all shoot it pretty well. I think they hurt themselves a little by not being a particularly great defensive team - though with Matson out, they can't go as hard as maybe they want to. They don't force a lot of action on the defensive end, but it's also hard to get close to the rack against them - and it's a lot harder to hit a 19 foot jumper compared to hitting a layup. Lual-Acuil will bait you into a shot so he can block it; he, Omot, and Clark will clean up the glass - Clark and Lual-Acuil on both ends of the floor.
Going to be a tough test for Tech, but every conference game is!
