Baylor goes into Scott Drew’s 23rd season with a completely new roster
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Baylor (20-15, 10-10 Big 12)
Scott Drew goes into his 23rd season with the Bears, the fifth since their national championship, with a completely new roster. Miami is the only other power conference team with zero returning players. All 14 players from last season’s Baylor team photo are gone. Only four exhausted their college eligibility. Nine left in the transfer portal and one-and-done guard VJ Edgecombe became Baylor’s highest-ever NBA draft pick when he was taken third overall by Philadelphia.
Players to watch
Obi Agbim was the Mountain West newcomer of the year after averaging 17.6 points and 3.4 assists in 29 games last season at Wyoming.
Dan Skillings Jr. averaged 9.2 points in his 100 games over the past three seasons for Cincinnati, which moved into the Big 12 two years ago.
Tounde Yessoufou, a 6-5 five-star guard out of California who is from the West African country of Benin, is another potential one-and-done for the Bears.
Departures and arrivals
The 10 incoming transfers have combined to play more than 500 Division I games. JJ White played in 99 games for Omaha the past three seasons, and fellow guard Michael Rataj played 93 at Oregon State. Caden Powell returns home as a senior to Waco, where the 6-foot-9 center played at Midway High before 60 games at Wyoming then 32 starts last season for Rice with 10.4 points and 7.2 rebounds a game. Juslin Bodo Bodo, a 6-foot-11 post from Cameroon, started all 71 games for High Point the past two years.
Top games
The Bears have three home games before the Players Era showcase Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas, where they play 23rd-ranked Creighton and No. 5 St. John’s. Baylor’s only true road game before Big 12 play is Dec. 6 at Memphis. After their Big 12 opener Jan. 3 at TCU, they face ranked conference foes in four of their next five games. They host No. 2 Houston, No. 10 Texas Tech and No. 16 Iowa State, and go to No. 19 Kansas.
Facts and figures
Baylor represented Team USA in the World University Games in Germany, and went 5-1 for the silver medal. Agbim averaged more than 20 points and was named the MVP. Rataj completed for Team Germany, averaging about 17 points and seven rebounds per game to be named the tourney’s best forward. … Ron Sanchez was hired as an associate head coach in May. The 29-year coaching veteran, the interim head coach last season with Virginia, is one of three Baylor assistants who have been head coaches.
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