By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Baylor head coach Scott Drew met with the media late Sunday to look ahead to Sunday's game with UC Santa Barbara and touched both he and his brother Bryce will be coaching in Denver Friday. Bryce Drew has Grand Canyon back in the tournament.
Opening Statement
The Gauchos are obviously a really good team and well coached. Any time you win as many games as them, you know you’ve had a great year. Anyone in this field can win and can advance. Give me five hours to watch three films and then I can give you more information on that. But I can tell you right now we’re excited about Denver, we’re excited about postseason. There’s 363 schools, more parity than there’s ever been. It’s such a blessing to be able to be in the NCAA Tournament. I tweeted out what these guys have accomplished. Truly it’s a tremendous year any time you’re the ninth overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, that’s a lot to be proud of. Coming off two losses, we want to get that taste out of our mouths. We want to get back to playing and hopefully winning. But at the same time you know it’s the NCAA Tournament, it’s win or go home. Excited we have a couple more days of prapracpractice practice to get better.
practice to get better.
(Rebounding) Obviously we got outrebounded 44-17, so that’s been a big point of emphasis. Most of all that’s something that hasn’t happened all year long. You’d worry if that was something that happened multiple games. At the same time, we did a lot of other good things in the game. Our first shot defense was 38 percent, our offense graded at a real high clip. The other times we played Iowa State it didn’t. We had great energy and team chemistry on the bench. So really we’re just making sure we’re doing a better job blocking out and being more physical and more aggressive to 50-50 balls. That’s something we’re going to work on all week to make sure we’re ready for that area.
(Buggs and Keyonte winning freshman of year) I think Baylor’s done a great job attracting highly talented players. We’ve had back to back top 10 picks (in the NBA Draft) and Keyonte’s somebody with his accolades and what he’s accomplished this year put him on that same type of track. Good recruits want to play where other good recruits have done well, so that’s definitely an advantage at Baylor. The women have had some of the best players in basketball history in college. They’ll continue to do that. Nicki’s a great coach and a great recruiter.
(Adam and Langston updates) Langston sees the doctor tomorrow, and hopefully that’s good news. As far as Adam, he’s been practicing. Guys that are in leadership roles and have been in college as long as him, they’re not missing these opportunities, I promise you that.
(Bryce Drew also playing in Denver) The first thing is yes we’ve scrimmaged each other when he was at Vanderbilt. My dad was able to be there. We got a waiver so he could watch. I don’t know who he was rooting for. It is a blessing to be able to be in the same area. The other thing is Coach Few is an excellent pickleball player, so I think we might have a game with me, my brother, my dad and him. As long as Mark is my partner, we’re good.
(Physicality) The great thing as a coach is we say you can always learn from someone else’s mistakes, which is better than learning from your own. Since we learned from our own mistakes, we’ve got a lot of proud players, proud coaches, and no one liked that feeling of being embarrassed on the glass. Sometimes you touch a stove, you get your finger burned. Those people are a lot more cautious and careful around that stove than someone that just hears it’s hot. Again we haven’t been embarrassed like that all season on the glass, but at the same time you can imagine we’ve had some physical, spirited practices before our next game, what we’ve done and what we’ll continue to do.
(On what you’ve learned from the 2021 national squad and what you apply to this team)
Well I think with us it goes back to our first tournament in 2008, probably. Or the Sweet 16 in 1998 for me with my brother and that shot to beat Ole Miss and tournament games before that. So, I mean all your Sweet 16, your Elite 8, your first round games that you weren't successful in and you try to put all that in the memory bank and improve and not make the same mistakes and then repeat success.
With that, the best thing I can tell you is we have players that played on that national championship team, so they know what it takes to win a national championship and it starts with a player-led team and player leadership. Flo and Adam have done a great job. Jon has done a great job. And I know those guys will continue that. And it's a greater sense of urgency (right now). But just dealing with the distractions, the pressure that come along with the NCAA tournament. As far as coaches in particular, we like routines. So, practices we did in practice that we did that were successful we do the same thing. If our practice plans weren’t successful, we change up. So, you're constantly trying to duplicate what worked and reinvent what didn't work and find better ways to do things. So, that's what we'll continue to do. I think it'll be the only year that the NCAA tournament – hopefully – is played in a COVID bubble. So, if it ever has that situation again, we have the blueprint for that.
(Have you guys played in an environment like Denver? How do you adjust to that)
That's a great question. The good thing is we've had trainers that have, I mean we call around to find out what people suggest or recommend in altitude and then take that information and implement it in what we're going to do practice wise, recovery wise to make sure we're putting our guys in the best position to be successful with that. Great question.
(South Region, what do you see there?)
Well, I think every region is tough and probably everybody thinks their region's the toughest. And I know that right now, the first thing was, we’re really excited that we're in the NCAA tournament, we had the year we did and I'm really blessed and pleased that we weren't playing Grand Canyon, and at the same time, we're able to be on the same side as them. So, besides that part of it, our first game, and then our immediate two team tournament, that's all we will focus on, that's all we will look at. And as we know, you lose when you go home. So, the broad scope of things aren't really important. Really, it's Friday at 11:30. That game is the only one that matters.
(On Coach Self)
Yeah. Amen to that. Really excited to hear he's out doing well. Talked to one of their assistants to get an update today and I know he's been in everyone's thoughts and prayers.
Publisher
Baylor head coach Scott Drew met with the media late Sunday to look ahead to Sunday's game with UC Santa Barbara and touched both he and his brother Bryce will be coaching in Denver Friday. Bryce Drew has Grand Canyon back in the tournament.
Opening Statement
The Gauchos are obviously a really good team and well coached. Any time you win as many games as them, you know you’ve had a great year. Anyone in this field can win and can advance. Give me five hours to watch three films and then I can give you more information on that. But I can tell you right now we’re excited about Denver, we’re excited about postseason. There’s 363 schools, more parity than there’s ever been. It’s such a blessing to be able to be in the NCAA Tournament. I tweeted out what these guys have accomplished. Truly it’s a tremendous year any time you’re the ninth overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, that’s a lot to be proud of. Coming off two losses, we want to get that taste out of our mouths. We want to get back to playing and hopefully winning. But at the same time you know it’s the NCAA Tournament, it’s win or go home. Excited we have a couple more days of prapracpractice practice to get better.
practice to get better.
(Rebounding) Obviously we got outrebounded 44-17, so that’s been a big point of emphasis. Most of all that’s something that hasn’t happened all year long. You’d worry if that was something that happened multiple games. At the same time, we did a lot of other good things in the game. Our first shot defense was 38 percent, our offense graded at a real high clip. The other times we played Iowa State it didn’t. We had great energy and team chemistry on the bench. So really we’re just making sure we’re doing a better job blocking out and being more physical and more aggressive to 50-50 balls. That’s something we’re going to work on all week to make sure we’re ready for that area.
(Buggs and Keyonte winning freshman of year) I think Baylor’s done a great job attracting highly talented players. We’ve had back to back top 10 picks (in the NBA Draft) and Keyonte’s somebody with his accolades and what he’s accomplished this year put him on that same type of track. Good recruits want to play where other good recruits have done well, so that’s definitely an advantage at Baylor. The women have had some of the best players in basketball history in college. They’ll continue to do that. Nicki’s a great coach and a great recruiter.
(Adam and Langston updates) Langston sees the doctor tomorrow, and hopefully that’s good news. As far as Adam, he’s been practicing. Guys that are in leadership roles and have been in college as long as him, they’re not missing these opportunities, I promise you that.
(Bryce Drew also playing in Denver) The first thing is yes we’ve scrimmaged each other when he was at Vanderbilt. My dad was able to be there. We got a waiver so he could watch. I don’t know who he was rooting for. It is a blessing to be able to be in the same area. The other thing is Coach Few is an excellent pickleball player, so I think we might have a game with me, my brother, my dad and him. As long as Mark is my partner, we’re good.
(Physicality) The great thing as a coach is we say you can always learn from someone else’s mistakes, which is better than learning from your own. Since we learned from our own mistakes, we’ve got a lot of proud players, proud coaches, and no one liked that feeling of being embarrassed on the glass. Sometimes you touch a stove, you get your finger burned. Those people are a lot more cautious and careful around that stove than someone that just hears it’s hot. Again we haven’t been embarrassed like that all season on the glass, but at the same time you can imagine we’ve had some physical, spirited practices before our next game, what we’ve done and what we’ll continue to do.
(On what you’ve learned from the 2021 national squad and what you apply to this team)
Well I think with us it goes back to our first tournament in 2008, probably. Or the Sweet 16 in 1998 for me with my brother and that shot to beat Ole Miss and tournament games before that. So, I mean all your Sweet 16, your Elite 8, your first round games that you weren't successful in and you try to put all that in the memory bank and improve and not make the same mistakes and then repeat success.
With that, the best thing I can tell you is we have players that played on that national championship team, so they know what it takes to win a national championship and it starts with a player-led team and player leadership. Flo and Adam have done a great job. Jon has done a great job. And I know those guys will continue that. And it's a greater sense of urgency (right now). But just dealing with the distractions, the pressure that come along with the NCAA tournament. As far as coaches in particular, we like routines. So, practices we did in practice that we did that were successful we do the same thing. If our practice plans weren’t successful, we change up. So, you're constantly trying to duplicate what worked and reinvent what didn't work and find better ways to do things. So, that's what we'll continue to do. I think it'll be the only year that the NCAA tournament – hopefully – is played in a COVID bubble. So, if it ever has that situation again, we have the blueprint for that.
(Have you guys played in an environment like Denver? How do you adjust to that)
That's a great question. The good thing is we've had trainers that have, I mean we call around to find out what people suggest or recommend in altitude and then take that information and implement it in what we're going to do practice wise, recovery wise to make sure we're putting our guys in the best position to be successful with that. Great question.
(South Region, what do you see there?)
Well, I think every region is tough and probably everybody thinks their region's the toughest. And I know that right now, the first thing was, we’re really excited that we're in the NCAA tournament, we had the year we did and I'm really blessed and pleased that we weren't playing Grand Canyon, and at the same time, we're able to be on the same side as them. So, besides that part of it, our first game, and then our immediate two team tournament, that's all we will focus on, that's all we will look at. And as we know, you lose when you go home. So, the broad scope of things aren't really important. Really, it's Friday at 11:30. That game is the only one that matters.
(On Coach Self)
Yeah. Amen to that. Really excited to hear he's out doing well. Talked to one of their assistants to get an update today and I know he's been in everyone's thoughts and prayers.
