By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Welcome to another edition of Single Digit Flashback. Playing off Baylor’s new and popular tradition of awarding numbers 0-9 to those deserving players who have become leaders on the team. We were on hiatus because of the NCAA tournament.
It’s no secret that the RJB is a fan of the instrumental piece. The artists are usually approached by a network or executive of a company to create something that will define the mood of an upcoming event. Most of the time these are tied to sporting events.
We take you to the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. For those of us old enough to remember, it was an epic time. The “Miracle on Ice” Team USA Hockey squad shocked the juggernaut Soviet Union squad, 4-3, and then went to win the Gold Medal. Speed skater Eric Heiden won five gold medals.
To set this up ABC sports executive Roone Arledge came to flugelhorn and trumpeter Chuck Mangione about putting something together that would summon the emotion of the games. To follow up to his 1977 smash “Feels go Good” Mangione came up with this one “Give it all you got.’’ It peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard 100 charts.
And Mangione is still with us. He just turned 80 this past November.
>0. I went back through my analysis of each of Baylor’s NCAA tournament wins and came across the section following the Bears second round victory over Wisconsin. Here’s what I wrote:
“So I’ll take you back to sequence in the first half at the 4:25 mark. Baylor guard Davion Mitchell’s defense locks down Wisconsin’s best player in D’Mitrik Price near the half court by the Baylor bench. He induces a turnover and feeds Jared Butler who makes a short jumper to give the Bears what was then a 27-19 lead.
“That’s the kind of possession we saw where the Baylor defense was relentless, quicker and putting a lot of frustration on the Badgers. And that’s why they can play the last game of the year on April 5.”
As I think back upon this memorable run from this memorable team, I will call this maybe one of the most dominating performances from an NCAA tournament champion that I’ve ever seen. The 1990 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels were incredible as they won three of their six games by 30 points. But many forget they were pushed by Ball State in the Sweet 16 round and survived, 69-67. So while the Rebels won their tournament games by an average of 18.7 points per game, they were on the edge in one of them.
Of course, Baylor won its six games by an average 15.3 points. And yes, the Bears had their moment of caution when they trailed Villanova by seven at the half and didn’t get the lead until 9:35 to play in the game. They still wound up winning by 11. That’s why I would call their performance just a touch more impressive.
>1. Yours truly and Stephen Cook were out at the Rivals Camp Series debut event at Coppell High School on Sunday. It was a good event from the standpoint there were 250 players invited. The session was broken up into staggered events.
The offensive and defensive linemen went in the morning. The skill players went in the afternoon. It was just good to have it back after it was canceled last year. There is some normalcy returning to this part of the year.
We have all kinds of content that we’re going to break out during the course of the week that’s involving several Baylor targets. Most of those will be video interviews. And don’t fret you transcript readers, these are only about three minutes in length give or take. Worth the time. Again, when we have the opportunity to give you a visual and audio, it gives you a better idea of what kind of person Baylor is recruiting beyond just the athleticism and skill set.
>2. It was interesting during the several hours while I was out there when a couple of other analysts approached me and said they were impressed by how Baylor goes about its recruiting business. The biggest compliment was paid toward Associated Athletic Director in charge of recruiting James Blanchard who is pretty fearless in how looks at prospects and doesn’t worry about lists or jumping on bandwagons.
The two prime examples of this class are Bowie offensive lineman Coleton Price and Pflugerville Hendrickson defensive tackle Cedric Roberts. The thing I took from these other analysts is that it didn’t seem the amount of homework done on recruits and evaluating players in general from other programs isn’t as detailed as what Blanchard and his staff does.
In short, Baylor believes in its evaluations and isn’t worried about jumping on a list for optics – Baylor will still do that on occasion – because it’s turning over rocks. It’s like anything. You get out of it what you put into it.
>3. So let’s get into Camp event on Sunday and some things I noticed. We’ll start with commit 2022 defensive end commit Carmello Jones from West Orange-Stark.
He’s light so when he was going against larger offensive linemen, he had to be resourceful in order to find a way to move around them. Jones’ first step is pretty good. And while the frame may not do anything to grab your attention, just keep in mind of what I have said about these players getting into a P5 Division I strength and conditioning program for a couple of years before you can appreciate what you’re going to see. We’re not going to know if Jones can really help Baylor until 2024 more than likely.
>4. Austin Akins 2022 offensive tackle Nikolas Hall is as impressive to see in person as you think he was. I call him a gentle giant. However, he was pretty good in his drills against defensive linemen. I thought his first step was pretty solid. He had a couple of issues with quicker DL’s who tried to use their quickness. Then again, name another offensive lineman who has never had that issue. It’s going to be a fun watch to see how much Baylor pushes on him because there is some serious interest in Coppell’s Alvin Ebosele. Ebosele has said Baylor and Oklahoma State are his top two choices. This could be Hall and Ebosele chasing down for that one last tackle spot. We’ll see. Maybe they take both.
>5. Oklahoma City Southeast 2022 defensive end David Rowaiye probably tried too hard and let the moment of being at event like this get the better of his emotions. He had some struggles. And when you listen to his video interview later this week, you’ll see what I’m talking about. I like his frame fine. He’s legit 6-6. I think what he had to do was just relax and do his thing. There will be better outings from this one. And this performance shouldn’t be used against him.
>6. I don’t know what Baylor is eventually going to do with Putnam City (OK) North 2022 defensive end Jaleel Johnson, but I do know why the Bears offered him. He’s got a great motor. I find him resourceful and asking questions about where needs to improve. Johnson also listens intently. His leverage was pretty good in all the drills that I saw. That’s a credit to him because he was going against some pretty athletic offensive linemen.
>7. Tenaha 2022 athlete Jeremy Patton’s story is a tough one because I can see him easily committing to Baylor as much as I see him easily committing elsewhere. This is going to be a time, date and place type of thing. In other words, he’s likely going to wait longer. Whether we like it or not, there are different types of P5 recruits. When I look at Patton, he would be an ideal fit at the Star position on Baylor’s defense. He referenced that position that Jalen Pitre currently plays at for the Bears. He’s a tweener P5 recruit. I don’t know if he’s as high on the boards at Texas and Oklahoma as he likely is at Baylor. Ultimately, that could work to Baylor’s advantage.
>8. Rockwall-Heath 2022 wide receiver Jordan Nabors wins the instant likeability award for Baylor prospects. When you talk with him, he’s always got a smile on his face. You can tell he appreciates the position he’s in. You’ll pick up on that when you see his interview. I like his hands and how he looks the ball into his hands. How many times have we seen where receivers forget something as they’re in the process of making a catch? Among all of the Baylor targets I talked to at this camp event, I think he is the strongest one to become part of the BU 2022 class.
>9. On a personal note, Mrs. Razorback and I are at that stage in our lives where we’re watching the children of friends get married. That happened Saturday evening Fort Worth. The reception was beyond festive. It was boss. And as far as bands go, this may be the one I’ve ever heard. Their covers were on target. They subtly added their own pieces. But when you can go from Nicki Minaj to AC/DC and nail each, that’s really impressive. Were we out on the floor hanging with the 20-somethings? Absolutely.
Now, a look at other Baylor sports…
>Baylor men's golf finished in fifth place with a 54-hole total of 12-over-par 876 at the Aggie Invitational. The Bears shot 3-over-par 291 in Sunday's final round at Traditions Club, finishing 10 shots back of the lead.
No. 36 Baylor recorded head-to-head victories over No. 30 Louisville (+14), Nebraska (+29), Kansas (+32), No. 46 Houston (+35), North Texas (+35), No. 33 UTSA (+40), UNLV (+41), Rice (+48), New Mexico State (+61), Lamar (+62), Northern Illinois (+68) and Prairie View A&M (+125). The only four teams to finish ahead of the Bears are top-25 ranked – No. 1 Oklahoma (+2), No. 12 Texas A&M (+2), No. 5 Texas (+4) and No. 25 Texas Tech (+9).
Baylor returns to action next weekend in the ASU Thunderbird Collegiate, a two-day 54-hole tournament beginning Friday at Papago Golf Club in Phoenix, Ariz. The Bears then begin postseason play with the Big 12 Championship, April 26-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, KS.
>No. 3 Baylor men's tennis kept rolling Saturday at the Hurd Tennis Center, sweeping both ends of its doubleheader against Abilene Christian and No. 19 Texas Tech.
BU (25-3, 3-0) remained unbeaten in league play with a 6-1 victory over the Red Raiders, following a morning shutout against the Wildcats.
The wins marked Baylor's 42nd consecutive doubleheader sweep, taking both ends of a twin bill for the sixth time this season. No. 3 Baylor (25-3) hosts Midwestern State (9-5) for a midweek tune-up on Tuesday, April 13, at 6 p.m. CT at the Hurd Tennis Center.
>The No. 3-ranked Baylor acrobatics and tumbling team took a 287.430-283.885 victory over rival the No. 2 Oregon on Saturday night in the Ferrell Center. The Bears (4-1) earned their highest overall score of the season and avenged their earlier loss to the Ducks (2-2) in March. The Bears are hosting the NCATA tournament from April 22- April 23 at the Ferrell Center and will find out their opponent on Monday, April 12.
>Baylor women's golf made a day trip to Fort Worth to take on TCU in two rounds of match play Wednesday at Shady Oaks Country Club, and the Bears swept both matches with a 4-2 win in the morning, followed by a 5-1 victory in the afternoon. aylor next competes April 12-13 in the Houston Oaks Invitational at Golf Club at Houston Oaks, the Bears' final tournament before postseason play. The 2021 Big 12 Championship is April 18-20 at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands.
>The No. 10-ranked Baylor women's tennis team beat Kansas 4-3, Sunday at the Jayhawk Tennis Center. The Bears improved to 19-3 on the season and 6-1 in Big 12 Conference play. Baylor takes on TCU in Fort Worth at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center at 3 p.m. before the regular-season finale April 18 in Lubbock at Texas Tech.
>In accordance with Big 12 Conference softball game interruption guidelines, the three-game series against No. 1 Oklahoma has been postponed. The Conference will work with the two programs to reschedule the series for a later date. Baylor (21-8, 3-0).
Baylor plays host to Texas State Wednesday before traveling to Stillwater, OK to play a 3-game series against Oklahoma State.
Let’s make it a great week.
Publisher
Welcome to another edition of Single Digit Flashback. Playing off Baylor’s new and popular tradition of awarding numbers 0-9 to those deserving players who have become leaders on the team. We were on hiatus because of the NCAA tournament.
It’s no secret that the RJB is a fan of the instrumental piece. The artists are usually approached by a network or executive of a company to create something that will define the mood of an upcoming event. Most of the time these are tied to sporting events.
We take you to the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. For those of us old enough to remember, it was an epic time. The “Miracle on Ice” Team USA Hockey squad shocked the juggernaut Soviet Union squad, 4-3, and then went to win the Gold Medal. Speed skater Eric Heiden won five gold medals.
To set this up ABC sports executive Roone Arledge came to flugelhorn and trumpeter Chuck Mangione about putting something together that would summon the emotion of the games. To follow up to his 1977 smash “Feels go Good” Mangione came up with this one “Give it all you got.’’ It peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard 100 charts.
And Mangione is still with us. He just turned 80 this past November.
>0. I went back through my analysis of each of Baylor’s NCAA tournament wins and came across the section following the Bears second round victory over Wisconsin. Here’s what I wrote:
“So I’ll take you back to sequence in the first half at the 4:25 mark. Baylor guard Davion Mitchell’s defense locks down Wisconsin’s best player in D’Mitrik Price near the half court by the Baylor bench. He induces a turnover and feeds Jared Butler who makes a short jumper to give the Bears what was then a 27-19 lead.
“That’s the kind of possession we saw where the Baylor defense was relentless, quicker and putting a lot of frustration on the Badgers. And that’s why they can play the last game of the year on April 5.”
As I think back upon this memorable run from this memorable team, I will call this maybe one of the most dominating performances from an NCAA tournament champion that I’ve ever seen. The 1990 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels were incredible as they won three of their six games by 30 points. But many forget they were pushed by Ball State in the Sweet 16 round and survived, 69-67. So while the Rebels won their tournament games by an average of 18.7 points per game, they were on the edge in one of them.
Of course, Baylor won its six games by an average 15.3 points. And yes, the Bears had their moment of caution when they trailed Villanova by seven at the half and didn’t get the lead until 9:35 to play in the game. They still wound up winning by 11. That’s why I would call their performance just a touch more impressive.
>1. Yours truly and Stephen Cook were out at the Rivals Camp Series debut event at Coppell High School on Sunday. It was a good event from the standpoint there were 250 players invited. The session was broken up into staggered events.
The offensive and defensive linemen went in the morning. The skill players went in the afternoon. It was just good to have it back after it was canceled last year. There is some normalcy returning to this part of the year.
We have all kinds of content that we’re going to break out during the course of the week that’s involving several Baylor targets. Most of those will be video interviews. And don’t fret you transcript readers, these are only about three minutes in length give or take. Worth the time. Again, when we have the opportunity to give you a visual and audio, it gives you a better idea of what kind of person Baylor is recruiting beyond just the athleticism and skill set.
>2. It was interesting during the several hours while I was out there when a couple of other analysts approached me and said they were impressed by how Baylor goes about its recruiting business. The biggest compliment was paid toward Associated Athletic Director in charge of recruiting James Blanchard who is pretty fearless in how looks at prospects and doesn’t worry about lists or jumping on bandwagons.
The two prime examples of this class are Bowie offensive lineman Coleton Price and Pflugerville Hendrickson defensive tackle Cedric Roberts. The thing I took from these other analysts is that it didn’t seem the amount of homework done on recruits and evaluating players in general from other programs isn’t as detailed as what Blanchard and his staff does.
In short, Baylor believes in its evaluations and isn’t worried about jumping on a list for optics – Baylor will still do that on occasion – because it’s turning over rocks. It’s like anything. You get out of it what you put into it.
>3. So let’s get into Camp event on Sunday and some things I noticed. We’ll start with commit 2022 defensive end commit Carmello Jones from West Orange-Stark.
He’s light so when he was going against larger offensive linemen, he had to be resourceful in order to find a way to move around them. Jones’ first step is pretty good. And while the frame may not do anything to grab your attention, just keep in mind of what I have said about these players getting into a P5 Division I strength and conditioning program for a couple of years before you can appreciate what you’re going to see. We’re not going to know if Jones can really help Baylor until 2024 more than likely.
>4. Austin Akins 2022 offensive tackle Nikolas Hall is as impressive to see in person as you think he was. I call him a gentle giant. However, he was pretty good in his drills against defensive linemen. I thought his first step was pretty solid. He had a couple of issues with quicker DL’s who tried to use their quickness. Then again, name another offensive lineman who has never had that issue. It’s going to be a fun watch to see how much Baylor pushes on him because there is some serious interest in Coppell’s Alvin Ebosele. Ebosele has said Baylor and Oklahoma State are his top two choices. This could be Hall and Ebosele chasing down for that one last tackle spot. We’ll see. Maybe they take both.
>5. Oklahoma City Southeast 2022 defensive end David Rowaiye probably tried too hard and let the moment of being at event like this get the better of his emotions. He had some struggles. And when you listen to his video interview later this week, you’ll see what I’m talking about. I like his frame fine. He’s legit 6-6. I think what he had to do was just relax and do his thing. There will be better outings from this one. And this performance shouldn’t be used against him.
>6. I don’t know what Baylor is eventually going to do with Putnam City (OK) North 2022 defensive end Jaleel Johnson, but I do know why the Bears offered him. He’s got a great motor. I find him resourceful and asking questions about where needs to improve. Johnson also listens intently. His leverage was pretty good in all the drills that I saw. That’s a credit to him because he was going against some pretty athletic offensive linemen.
>7. Tenaha 2022 athlete Jeremy Patton’s story is a tough one because I can see him easily committing to Baylor as much as I see him easily committing elsewhere. This is going to be a time, date and place type of thing. In other words, he’s likely going to wait longer. Whether we like it or not, there are different types of P5 recruits. When I look at Patton, he would be an ideal fit at the Star position on Baylor’s defense. He referenced that position that Jalen Pitre currently plays at for the Bears. He’s a tweener P5 recruit. I don’t know if he’s as high on the boards at Texas and Oklahoma as he likely is at Baylor. Ultimately, that could work to Baylor’s advantage.
>8. Rockwall-Heath 2022 wide receiver Jordan Nabors wins the instant likeability award for Baylor prospects. When you talk with him, he’s always got a smile on his face. You can tell he appreciates the position he’s in. You’ll pick up on that when you see his interview. I like his hands and how he looks the ball into his hands. How many times have we seen where receivers forget something as they’re in the process of making a catch? Among all of the Baylor targets I talked to at this camp event, I think he is the strongest one to become part of the BU 2022 class.
>9. On a personal note, Mrs. Razorback and I are at that stage in our lives where we’re watching the children of friends get married. That happened Saturday evening Fort Worth. The reception was beyond festive. It was boss. And as far as bands go, this may be the one I’ve ever heard. Their covers were on target. They subtly added their own pieces. But when you can go from Nicki Minaj to AC/DC and nail each, that’s really impressive. Were we out on the floor hanging with the 20-somethings? Absolutely.
Now, a look at other Baylor sports…
>Baylor men's golf finished in fifth place with a 54-hole total of 12-over-par 876 at the Aggie Invitational. The Bears shot 3-over-par 291 in Sunday's final round at Traditions Club, finishing 10 shots back of the lead.
No. 36 Baylor recorded head-to-head victories over No. 30 Louisville (+14), Nebraska (+29), Kansas (+32), No. 46 Houston (+35), North Texas (+35), No. 33 UTSA (+40), UNLV (+41), Rice (+48), New Mexico State (+61), Lamar (+62), Northern Illinois (+68) and Prairie View A&M (+125). The only four teams to finish ahead of the Bears are top-25 ranked – No. 1 Oklahoma (+2), No. 12 Texas A&M (+2), No. 5 Texas (+4) and No. 25 Texas Tech (+9).
Baylor returns to action next weekend in the ASU Thunderbird Collegiate, a two-day 54-hole tournament beginning Friday at Papago Golf Club in Phoenix, Ariz. The Bears then begin postseason play with the Big 12 Championship, April 26-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, KS.
>No. 3 Baylor men's tennis kept rolling Saturday at the Hurd Tennis Center, sweeping both ends of its doubleheader against Abilene Christian and No. 19 Texas Tech.
BU (25-3, 3-0) remained unbeaten in league play with a 6-1 victory over the Red Raiders, following a morning shutout against the Wildcats.
The wins marked Baylor's 42nd consecutive doubleheader sweep, taking both ends of a twin bill for the sixth time this season. No. 3 Baylor (25-3) hosts Midwestern State (9-5) for a midweek tune-up on Tuesday, April 13, at 6 p.m. CT at the Hurd Tennis Center.
>The No. 3-ranked Baylor acrobatics and tumbling team took a 287.430-283.885 victory over rival the No. 2 Oregon on Saturday night in the Ferrell Center. The Bears (4-1) earned their highest overall score of the season and avenged their earlier loss to the Ducks (2-2) in March. The Bears are hosting the NCATA tournament from April 22- April 23 at the Ferrell Center and will find out their opponent on Monday, April 12.
>Baylor women's golf made a day trip to Fort Worth to take on TCU in two rounds of match play Wednesday at Shady Oaks Country Club, and the Bears swept both matches with a 4-2 win in the morning, followed by a 5-1 victory in the afternoon. aylor next competes April 12-13 in the Houston Oaks Invitational at Golf Club at Houston Oaks, the Bears' final tournament before postseason play. The 2021 Big 12 Championship is April 18-20 at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands.
>The No. 10-ranked Baylor women's tennis team beat Kansas 4-3, Sunday at the Jayhawk Tennis Center. The Bears improved to 19-3 on the season and 6-1 in Big 12 Conference play. Baylor takes on TCU in Fort Worth at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center at 3 p.m. before the regular-season finale April 18 in Lubbock at Texas Tech.
>In accordance with Big 12 Conference softball game interruption guidelines, the three-game series against No. 1 Oklahoma has been postponed. The Conference will work with the two programs to reschedule the series for a later date. Baylor (21-8, 3-0).
Baylor plays host to Texas State Wednesday before traveling to Stillwater, OK to play a 3-game series against Oklahoma State.
Let’s make it a great week.
