Scott Drew Baylor Basketball Coach turns Baylor’s low star talent into a star team with skill development!

Scott Drew Baylor Basketball Coach can develop his low star talent into a great team! Coach Drew is a great recruiter, but he has gotten some criticism about his in-game decisions with regards to coaching. I don’t think that critics need to be on him. He is coaching in Waco, Texas. Have you ever been there?

The Scott Drew Baylor Basketball team has zero top 50 recruits on their roster. How many times did the Baylor Bears get ranked number one in the country? One time and that was this year.

That number raves about Scott Drew Baylor Basketball Head coach and his staff with their player development, chemistry, and leadership. Coach Drew has orchestrated one of the biggest turnarounds in all of the college basketball during his 14 years in Waco, Texas. I still remember the whole Dave Bliss Scandal, because I was coaching in Texas at the time. They have found little-known players and developed several pro basketball players in those 14 years.

Pierre Jackson was part of the 2012 Elite Eight Tournament Team and 2013 NIT Championship Team, but he had no stars from any of the scouting services. Coach Drew is doing a great job with his skill development training.

Coach Scott Drew searches for overlooked high school players, but he has gotten some highly ranked kids along the way like Ishmail Wainwright who was ranked 57th in his class. They had turned out some of the best teams in the Big 12 when nobody expected them to be any good.

This past season, the Baylor Bears didn’t receive one vote in the preseason polls after losing Rico Gathers, the school’s all-time leading rebounder and Taurean Prince, an NBA Lottery pick. Most people didn’t think that they would be successful early in the year, but they came together quickly.

The Scott Drew Baylor Basketball team went undefeated through non-conference and had HUGE wins against Xavier, Michigan State, and Oregon before Christmas break. That was crazy scheduling like Tom Izzo does to his teams. The idea is that the team will be challenged before they hit the rigors of Big 12 play, but almost everyone has one loss with that kind of schedule.

Most teams can’t withstand the challenges that the Baylor Bears had this past non-conference They had great leadership with their upperclassmen and outstanding chemistry. They had good depth and allowed several different players the chance to step up and win games for them.

On January 9th, the Baylor Bears became number one in the nation, and another shocking fact is that it was the first time that they ever did that task. It was short-lived, but they played a tough-nosed West Virginia team coached by Bobby Huggins. The Mountainers were ranked 10th at the time, and the game was on the road. The Scott Drew Baylor Bears bounced back with a win at Kansas State, and the one loss only dropped them to number two in the nation.

Most coaches understand the big picture, and it’s not important who is ranked number one in January. It’s important in seeding for the NCAA Tournament. Baylor Nation was so excited and fired up for a team that finally got to be number one in the nation in school history. The whole student body and community got excited about it. Who can blame them?

It’s an entirely different situation from the one that Scott Drew took over in 2003. The program was reeling from the worst NCAA scandal in college basketball history. It involved a player murdering another player, and then the cover-up.

The Baylor Bears got to be number one in the nation; they were 17-1, had five wins again top-25 teams, and got a Big 12 regular season championship. The Scott Drew Baylor Bears have averaged 24 wins in the last six years and been to the Elite Eight twice in that term.

The goal of the program wins a national championship, go to the Final Four, and be ranked number one. The Baylor Bears accomplished one goal last year.

Click on the pdf link to download the free Scott Drew Baylor Basketball Skill Development Notes:

Scott Drew 2017 Nike Clinic Biloxi Notes

How the Baylor Bears got to the NCAA Tournament!

Step One: Skill Development

Coach Drew is emphasizing player development and redshirting. The Baylor Bears staff has been very productive as anybody in the country at it. Look at their star big man Johnathan Motley. The Texas player was a four-star recruit, but very raw out of high school. They redshirted him, and now he averages double-doubles.

The skill development process is also evident with Motley’s backup: T.J. Maston. He was a three-star player that was ranked outside the Rivals150 in high school. Maston is a huge weapon off the bench this past year.

Step Two: Hit the NCAA Transfer Market!

The Baylor Bears coaching staff found Manu Lecomte and Jo Lual-Acuil on the waiver wire. Manu is a point guard that began his career at Miami while Jo is from Australia and was at a JUCO in Kansas. Sometimes you have to find transfers that can fit in your program and help you win. It’s not easy, but the Baylor Bears are in a better position with these two players.

Step Three: The guy that brings it all together

To have a great team, you need that one guy that can keep everyone together. He doesn’t care about stats, but he brings leadership. Ishmail Wainwright is that guy for Baylor. He was a top 60 prospect that expected to be a bigger part of the offense. He is the Scott Drew Baylor Bears heart and soul. He plays defense and does the little things that help them win.

Conclusion:

I think when you are looking for players that you can’t look into their heart and see how much time that they will put in or how much they will develop. You try to find the high character guys and get gym rats.

The staff, strength and condition coaches, assistant coaches do a great job with the players, and their past players come back in the summer. The Alums keep up with current players. The Alums do a great job of mentoring the current team. The Baylor Bears has had five players drafted that weren’t five-star guys in their program since 2010. Those guys are Taurean Prince, Pierre Jackson, Ekpe Udoh, Quincy Acy, and Cory Jefferson.