Saturday should have been renamed Baylor Saturday. If you fell off the globe, here's what you missed because everything took place on the Baylor campus:
>Men's basketball picked up its 20th win.
>Women's basketball claimed the outright Big 12 regular season championship. Its fifth straight.
>Softball swept a double header from Oregon and Abilene Christian.
>Baseball swept a double header from Kent State.
The promotion was widely embraced as the Ferrell Center enjoyed big crowds for the two games, while Baylor Ballpark was well attended and Getterman Stadium enjoyed a sellout.
As I mentioned late Saturday night, this is an all-around athletic program. Every spring sport has a national ranking.
Obviously, athletic director Ian McCaw's influence is the backbone to this house which is as united as it ever has been.
Consider how the house's foundation shook when Art Briles' name was connected to the Texas opening. When Briles announced he was staying at Baylor there were public comments made by other head coaches in other sports expressing relief and thanks for the decision. The what-if talk of Briles' departure and its impact on other sports could be debated.
The two basketball programs and Baseball were enjoying success before Briles arrived. But football is such a galvanizing force to a university that it impacts everything. I had a couple of people talk to me wondering about whether football has cast too big of a shadow over the other sports.
I said I could see that but schools with major football program success are just going to grab that kind of attention. Plus, this program has the trajectory to continue to swell Baylor's athletic department well into the nine-figure budget.
This is the golden era for Baylor athletics. Enjoy it for however long it lasts.
*******
Then you have spring football starting on Tuesday. It's been only eight weeks since the Cotton Bowl loss to Michigan State at AT&T Stadium.
Perhaps the coaching staff wanted to exorcise the demons and move on as quickly as possible by starting workouts earlier. Who knows the motivation. But there's also the eagerness to get started on 2015.
What I do know is that this team will probably not be picked to win the Big 12. That's going to be TCU. And that's fine. I could see Baylor being picked in the Top 3. I think Oklahoma State receiving some heavy interest because of how strong the Cowboys finished with Mason Rudolph at quarterback. Texas will get its normal amount of fawning. So will Oklahoma. But for the sake of discussion, I'm going to give my way too early 2015 Big 12 predictions.
>1. TCU - QB Trevone Boykin returning gives the Horned Frogs the edge
>2. Baylor - I just need to see how the QB situation unfolds before I feel comfortable
>3. Oklahoma - This is a put-up or shut up year for Bob Stoops
>4. Oklahoma State - Count me on board with Mason Rudolph
>5. Texas - For the Longhorns' sake, Jerrod Heard better be the starting QB
>6. Texas Tech - The Red Raiders could be poised to have a nice bounce back year
>7. Kansas State - I'm sure I'm ranking Bill Snyder's program way too low
>8. West Virginia - Dana Holgorsen has seen two of his first three seasons start fast then fizzle
>9. Kansas - David Beaty is a Texas HS football coach and you want them to do well.
>10. Iowa State - If you fire Paul Rhoads, who can you attract to take that job?
*******
I guess Baylor and SMU will never play a normal season opener, will they. This is the third consecutive time these two will not have played on Saturday. In 2012, they played on a Sunday in Floyd Casey. The 2013 meeting was dropped. Last year's meeting was played on a Sunday night to christen McLane Stadium. This year's game at SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium has been moved to Friday, Sept. 4.
Baylor's name has garnered national attention or else it wouldn't be a candidate to play at such high profile prime time slots. That doesn't go unnoticed.
Now think about this: there is the potential for the starting quarterback for each team to have never played a college snap and both were Elite 11 finalists last summer. Baylor has Stephenville's Jarrett Stidham who enrolled in January. SMU has Waco Midway product Ben Hicks who also enrolled in January.
Really, the hill for Stidham to climb to be the starting quarterback is steeper than the one Hicks faces.
*******
So what did we learn from this past weekend's NFL combine? Baylor's representation of QB Bryce Petty, WR Antwan Goodley, LB Bryce Hager and P Spencer Roth made a strong showing for themselves. But there's a long way until May in Chicago. Just listening and watching everything on NFL Network, my early take is:
QB Bryce Petty could be second-day selection with the idea he's not going to see the field until at least his second year.
WR Antwan Goodley is also likely a second-day guy. His running back body brings physical play. His hands can sometimes be a problem.
LB Bryce Hager is likely a third-day guy. I know he had a great combine but come draft time, I just think NFL teams are going to get nervous and wait and wait and wait.
P Spencer Roth may not get drafted because you rarely see punters get drafted. Teams just don't want to burn picks on specialty players. He can sign as a free agent and show what a weapon he is. He's going to stick around in the NFL for a while in my opinion.
*******
Why was there all of this hubbub over Baylor commits receiving offers from other big-time programs? It's pretty simple for me. Going 16-2 in the Big 12 with consecutive conference titles along and producing a 22-4 overall record earns - not earns - demands people's attention.
Baylor has always been offering these big-name recruits. The difference was that Baylor football was awful so nobody took it seriously. Oh, Baylor offered that guy? Whatever.
Now, when Baylor offers, there's a real respect there. Baylor and the recruits can't stop Texas, Georgia, Alabama and others from offering these players.
But I think the Baylor fan base is still evolving and trying to get comfortable in this new stratosphere of football excellence. I get the shock and immediate, 'Oh Crud,'' kneejerk reactions when The University of X offers.
Those days are over. Welcome those offers. This is what Baylor football fans have longed for: going toe to toe with the brand names.
There's also a caution to this. Baylor will become more involved in these battles. There's going to be more battles that are lost than won. When Baylor wins its share, the effort will be worth it.
If this was Baylor circa 2007 and Nate Craig-Myers was playing wide receiver for Tampa Catholic, do you even think that he would know what a Baylor was? No.
Because Baylor is now putting together a history of success the nation's No. 1 rated receiver is pretty excited to get an offer. That's called putting this in perspective.
*******
I talked a little about the men's basketball team at the top. But did anyone else find it weird that Big 12 middle-of-the-road Kansas State outdrew Kansas and Oklahoma State in terms of attendance at the Ferrell Center? Well, it did. Now, I get that a Saturday game will do better than a work week game. But Kansas is Kansas and Oklahoma State was coming off a win over Kansas when the Cowboys came to town on Feb. 9. And so it goes.
This isn't the greatest offensive team. It really has to work hard to score. Sometimes, I wonder where this thing would be if Taurean Prince wasn't having the season he was having. But when you reach 20 wins by sticking to your philosophy and summoning buy in from your players, then you're doing something right.
It's been said that Scott Drew is probably going through his best year of coaching. I can agree with that. However, I also think that his style fits better with a roster filled with worker bees than sprinkled in with the one-and-dones.
A major challenge at Iowa State on Wednesday awaits.
*******
Quick takes
>If the Power 5 schools really want to kill college basketball, then they'll convince themselves that making freshmen ineligible is the right way to go. I'm very concerned that the game is losing some of its national stage with the one-and-done and football's regular season and playoff swallowing up 2 ½ months of its season. By the time the casual fan locks into basketball, it's going to be March Madness. That's not good.
>Baylor's baseball team is still a wait-and-see situation. But a 5-2 start keeps you intrigued.
>MLB pitchers and catchers reported last week. Spring is approaching.
>I hate ice storms. If you live in North Texas and can work remotely on Monday, do it.
*******
I did something I normally don't do. I actually watched part of the 87th annual Academy Awards. It started with the open with host Neil Patrick Harris (really talented by the way) and then continued all the way through best Foreign Language Film award.
Then I decided I was done and moved on to something else, like writing this weekly entry. When I was growing up, I loved movies, went to as many as I could. You couldn't keep me out of the theatres. I could quote lines from those I enjoyed.
And then when you get older, get married, have kids and become distracted by other things, you just lose the passion for them. Once again, I didn't see any of the movies nominated for best Picture.
I couldn't comment on the nominees for anything of this year's list. But I do have a list of my personal favorites. Every time I watch them, I feel like I've never seen them. So here they are for your amusement:
Ben Hur (1959)
North by Northwest (1959)
Patton (1970)
The Fugitive (1993)
What was awesome was last Wednesday when The Fugitive followed by Ben Hur.
*******
As always, the throwback juke box offers this classic from Leroy Van Dyke.
This post was edited on 2/23 8:57 AM by K Lonnquist
>Men's basketball picked up its 20th win.
>Women's basketball claimed the outright Big 12 regular season championship. Its fifth straight.
>Softball swept a double header from Oregon and Abilene Christian.
>Baseball swept a double header from Kent State.
The promotion was widely embraced as the Ferrell Center enjoyed big crowds for the two games, while Baylor Ballpark was well attended and Getterman Stadium enjoyed a sellout.
As I mentioned late Saturday night, this is an all-around athletic program. Every spring sport has a national ranking.
Obviously, athletic director Ian McCaw's influence is the backbone to this house which is as united as it ever has been.
Consider how the house's foundation shook when Art Briles' name was connected to the Texas opening. When Briles announced he was staying at Baylor there were public comments made by other head coaches in other sports expressing relief and thanks for the decision. The what-if talk of Briles' departure and its impact on other sports could be debated.
The two basketball programs and Baseball were enjoying success before Briles arrived. But football is such a galvanizing force to a university that it impacts everything. I had a couple of people talk to me wondering about whether football has cast too big of a shadow over the other sports.
I said I could see that but schools with major football program success are just going to grab that kind of attention. Plus, this program has the trajectory to continue to swell Baylor's athletic department well into the nine-figure budget.
This is the golden era for Baylor athletics. Enjoy it for however long it lasts.
*******
Then you have spring football starting on Tuesday. It's been only eight weeks since the Cotton Bowl loss to Michigan State at AT&T Stadium.
Perhaps the coaching staff wanted to exorcise the demons and move on as quickly as possible by starting workouts earlier. Who knows the motivation. But there's also the eagerness to get started on 2015.
What I do know is that this team will probably not be picked to win the Big 12. That's going to be TCU. And that's fine. I could see Baylor being picked in the Top 3. I think Oklahoma State receiving some heavy interest because of how strong the Cowboys finished with Mason Rudolph at quarterback. Texas will get its normal amount of fawning. So will Oklahoma. But for the sake of discussion, I'm going to give my way too early 2015 Big 12 predictions.
>1. TCU - QB Trevone Boykin returning gives the Horned Frogs the edge
>2. Baylor - I just need to see how the QB situation unfolds before I feel comfortable
>3. Oklahoma - This is a put-up or shut up year for Bob Stoops
>4. Oklahoma State - Count me on board with Mason Rudolph
>5. Texas - For the Longhorns' sake, Jerrod Heard better be the starting QB
>6. Texas Tech - The Red Raiders could be poised to have a nice bounce back year
>7. Kansas State - I'm sure I'm ranking Bill Snyder's program way too low
>8. West Virginia - Dana Holgorsen has seen two of his first three seasons start fast then fizzle
>9. Kansas - David Beaty is a Texas HS football coach and you want them to do well.
>10. Iowa State - If you fire Paul Rhoads, who can you attract to take that job?
*******
I guess Baylor and SMU will never play a normal season opener, will they. This is the third consecutive time these two will not have played on Saturday. In 2012, they played on a Sunday in Floyd Casey. The 2013 meeting was dropped. Last year's meeting was played on a Sunday night to christen McLane Stadium. This year's game at SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium has been moved to Friday, Sept. 4.
Baylor's name has garnered national attention or else it wouldn't be a candidate to play at such high profile prime time slots. That doesn't go unnoticed.
Now think about this: there is the potential for the starting quarterback for each team to have never played a college snap and both were Elite 11 finalists last summer. Baylor has Stephenville's Jarrett Stidham who enrolled in January. SMU has Waco Midway product Ben Hicks who also enrolled in January.
Really, the hill for Stidham to climb to be the starting quarterback is steeper than the one Hicks faces.
*******
So what did we learn from this past weekend's NFL combine? Baylor's representation of QB Bryce Petty, WR Antwan Goodley, LB Bryce Hager and P Spencer Roth made a strong showing for themselves. But there's a long way until May in Chicago. Just listening and watching everything on NFL Network, my early take is:
QB Bryce Petty could be second-day selection with the idea he's not going to see the field until at least his second year.
WR Antwan Goodley is also likely a second-day guy. His running back body brings physical play. His hands can sometimes be a problem.
LB Bryce Hager is likely a third-day guy. I know he had a great combine but come draft time, I just think NFL teams are going to get nervous and wait and wait and wait.
P Spencer Roth may not get drafted because you rarely see punters get drafted. Teams just don't want to burn picks on specialty players. He can sign as a free agent and show what a weapon he is. He's going to stick around in the NFL for a while in my opinion.
*******
Why was there all of this hubbub over Baylor commits receiving offers from other big-time programs? It's pretty simple for me. Going 16-2 in the Big 12 with consecutive conference titles along and producing a 22-4 overall record earns - not earns - demands people's attention.
Baylor has always been offering these big-name recruits. The difference was that Baylor football was awful so nobody took it seriously. Oh, Baylor offered that guy? Whatever.
Now, when Baylor offers, there's a real respect there. Baylor and the recruits can't stop Texas, Georgia, Alabama and others from offering these players.
But I think the Baylor fan base is still evolving and trying to get comfortable in this new stratosphere of football excellence. I get the shock and immediate, 'Oh Crud,'' kneejerk reactions when The University of X offers.
Those days are over. Welcome those offers. This is what Baylor football fans have longed for: going toe to toe with the brand names.
There's also a caution to this. Baylor will become more involved in these battles. There's going to be more battles that are lost than won. When Baylor wins its share, the effort will be worth it.
If this was Baylor circa 2007 and Nate Craig-Myers was playing wide receiver for Tampa Catholic, do you even think that he would know what a Baylor was? No.
Because Baylor is now putting together a history of success the nation's No. 1 rated receiver is pretty excited to get an offer. That's called putting this in perspective.
*******
I talked a little about the men's basketball team at the top. But did anyone else find it weird that Big 12 middle-of-the-road Kansas State outdrew Kansas and Oklahoma State in terms of attendance at the Ferrell Center? Well, it did. Now, I get that a Saturday game will do better than a work week game. But Kansas is Kansas and Oklahoma State was coming off a win over Kansas when the Cowboys came to town on Feb. 9. And so it goes.
This isn't the greatest offensive team. It really has to work hard to score. Sometimes, I wonder where this thing would be if Taurean Prince wasn't having the season he was having. But when you reach 20 wins by sticking to your philosophy and summoning buy in from your players, then you're doing something right.
It's been said that Scott Drew is probably going through his best year of coaching. I can agree with that. However, I also think that his style fits better with a roster filled with worker bees than sprinkled in with the one-and-dones.
A major challenge at Iowa State on Wednesday awaits.
*******
Quick takes
>If the Power 5 schools really want to kill college basketball, then they'll convince themselves that making freshmen ineligible is the right way to go. I'm very concerned that the game is losing some of its national stage with the one-and-done and football's regular season and playoff swallowing up 2 ½ months of its season. By the time the casual fan locks into basketball, it's going to be March Madness. That's not good.
>Baylor's baseball team is still a wait-and-see situation. But a 5-2 start keeps you intrigued.
>MLB pitchers and catchers reported last week. Spring is approaching.
>I hate ice storms. If you live in North Texas and can work remotely on Monday, do it.
*******
I did something I normally don't do. I actually watched part of the 87th annual Academy Awards. It started with the open with host Neil Patrick Harris (really talented by the way) and then continued all the way through best Foreign Language Film award.
Then I decided I was done and moved on to something else, like writing this weekly entry. When I was growing up, I loved movies, went to as many as I could. You couldn't keep me out of the theatres. I could quote lines from those I enjoyed.
And then when you get older, get married, have kids and become distracted by other things, you just lose the passion for them. Once again, I didn't see any of the movies nominated for best Picture.
I couldn't comment on the nominees for anything of this year's list. But I do have a list of my personal favorites. Every time I watch them, I feel like I've never seen them. So here they are for your amusement:
Ben Hur (1959)
North by Northwest (1959)
Patton (1970)
The Fugitive (1993)
What was awesome was last Wednesday when The Fugitive followed by Ben Hur.
*******
As always, the throwback juke box offers this classic from Leroy Van Dyke.
This post was edited on 2/23 8:57 AM by K Lonnquist
