By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Baylor head coach Scott Drew and his staff are still canvassing the NCAA portal landscape to look for more additions to the 2023-24 roster. That will be through grad transfers. For now, there are four additions.
Members of the basketball team started arriving over the Memorial Day weekend. In a quick two-part series, SicEmSports examines the four newcomers.
Jayden Nunn, G
How: Portal transfer from VCU
Size: 6-4, 190
What he brings: With Baylor’s backcourt gutted with the losses of LJ Cryer, Adam Flagler and Keyonte George as their primary producers, Nunn will have two years of eligibility remaining.
While he averaged 9.0 points per game in 2022-23 with the Rams, his scoring role should increase with the Bears in this guard-friendly offense. Nunn started 64 of the 66 games he appeared in with VCU. Watch how Baylor uses him in the pick-and-roll situations.
He’s not a bad shooter from long distance at 38 percent. There’s also the size factor. Baylor has transitioned from the 6-1-5-11 approach to those who are at least 6-2.
With Nunn, his 6-4 frame allows him to be a menace on defense. That part of his game improved to where it was considered an under rated part of his game. VCU played a lot of man pressure defense. It would be a big lift for the Bears who struggled on that end of the floor in 2022-23.
Yves Missi, C
How: 2023 signing class (re-classified from 2024)
Size: 6-11, 215
What he brings: With Baylor’s roster heavily turning over this offseason, the staff worked on switching Missi and join this program for the upcoming season.
It was a big move because the Bears do not have a lot of options in the low post and their defense was exposed toward the end of the season.
With Flo Thamba gone and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua likely never going to be the same player he was given his catastrophic knee injury Missi will be at least an option. It appears that Josh Ojiawuna will be the No. 1 choice in the block.
Missi is known as a rim protector. But there will be an adjustment to the P5 game. It’s always going to be that way for young bigs. What will be to his benefit is that growing up in Cameroon, he played soccer. That footspeed will help when he has to recover or simply moving around to cut off driving lanes.
Productivity-wise is hard to say. While he was the No. 11 player in the then-2024 class and the No. 3 center, if Missi can average somewhere between 5-7 points and 5-7 rebounds per game, that would be more than what the staff could hope. Ojiawuna averaged 4.3 points and 3.5 rebounds this past season.
It really depends on how much strength Missi can add before the season and how he matures during it.
Publisher
Baylor head coach Scott Drew and his staff are still canvassing the NCAA portal landscape to look for more additions to the 2023-24 roster. That will be through grad transfers. For now, there are four additions.
Members of the basketball team started arriving over the Memorial Day weekend. In a quick two-part series, SicEmSports examines the four newcomers.
Jayden Nunn, G
How: Portal transfer from VCU
Size: 6-4, 190
What he brings: With Baylor’s backcourt gutted with the losses of LJ Cryer, Adam Flagler and Keyonte George as their primary producers, Nunn will have two years of eligibility remaining.
While he averaged 9.0 points per game in 2022-23 with the Rams, his scoring role should increase with the Bears in this guard-friendly offense. Nunn started 64 of the 66 games he appeared in with VCU. Watch how Baylor uses him in the pick-and-roll situations.
He’s not a bad shooter from long distance at 38 percent. There’s also the size factor. Baylor has transitioned from the 6-1-5-11 approach to those who are at least 6-2.
With Nunn, his 6-4 frame allows him to be a menace on defense. That part of his game improved to where it was considered an under rated part of his game. VCU played a lot of man pressure defense. It would be a big lift for the Bears who struggled on that end of the floor in 2022-23.
Yves Missi, C
Size: 6-11, 215
What he brings: With Baylor’s roster heavily turning over this offseason, the staff worked on switching Missi and join this program for the upcoming season.
It was a big move because the Bears do not have a lot of options in the low post and their defense was exposed toward the end of the season.
With Flo Thamba gone and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua likely never going to be the same player he was given his catastrophic knee injury Missi will be at least an option. It appears that Josh Ojiawuna will be the No. 1 choice in the block.
Missi is known as a rim protector. But there will be an adjustment to the P5 game. It’s always going to be that way for young bigs. What will be to his benefit is that growing up in Cameroon, he played soccer. That footspeed will help when he has to recover or simply moving around to cut off driving lanes.
Productivity-wise is hard to say. While he was the No. 11 player in the then-2024 class and the No. 3 center, if Missi can average somewhere between 5-7 points and 5-7 rebounds per game, that would be more than what the staff could hope. Ojiawuna averaged 4.3 points and 3.5 rebounds this past season.
It really depends on how much strength Missi can add before the season and how he matures during it.
