Big 12 Basketball: December Power Rankings

5. Baylor Bears

Dec 2, 2015; Waco, TX, USA; Baylor Bears guard Al Freeman (25) is pressured by Prairie View A&M Panthers guard Tevin Bellinger (5) and guard Avery Lomax (2) during the second half at Ferrell Center. Baylor won 80-41. Mandatory Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports

Record: 6-1

Notable games: lost @ Oregon 74-67, beat Vanderbilt 69-67

Overview: Man have I forgotten how difficult it is to judge a Scott Drew-coached team! They’ll look so good one game, like their opening night win over Stephen F. Austin, then they’ll look completely lost the next, like their 18-turnover performance at Oregon. Taurean Prince, who has had a rough go of it, finally figured things out in Sunday night’s win over Vanderbilt with 30 points. However Al Freeman, who seemed to have taken Prince’s place as Baylor’s go-to guy, struggled in that game with just two points. If the Bears get both of them going at once, they could form the best scoring duo in the Big 12.

What I liked: Allerik Freeman

As I just stated, Freeman has stepped in as Baylor’s leading scorer for as long as Prince has been struggling, and has been great in doing so (15 points, 4 rebounds per game on 52% from the floor). He’s an absolute hound in transition, and attacks the basket at will in both the halfcourt, and in the fullcourt:

He’s also upped his three-point shooting from 33%, to 47%, and can shoot spotting up, or off the dribble:

Perhaps more impressive than all of that, he’s leading the team in minutes, at 30 per game, which leads me to believe that this is what Scott Drew expected of Freeman coming into this season. If Scott Drew ever figures out that Johnathan Motley should be playing more than, like, 20 minutes per game, if Prince performs to his potential, and if Freeman keeps playing like this, the sky really is the limit for this Baylor offense.

What I didn’t like: when it comes down to it, this team is still coached by Scott Drew

With 10 seconds remaining in Baylor’s loss at Oregon, the Ducks were inbounding underneath Baylor’s basket. An obvious fouling situation for Baylor. Except that Rico Gather committed the foul before the ball was inbounded, resulting in an intentional foul, which is two shots and the ball for Oregon, essentially icing the game in favor of Oregon. Not a smart decision, and something that I’ve come to expect from a Scott Drew-coached team,

Fast forward a few weeks later. In Sunday night’s win over Vanderbilt, Lester Medford was shooting a free throw that could have put Baylor up three with about 40 seconds remaining. Medford missed it, but Rico Gathers (again) committed an over the back foul, putting Vanderbilt to the line for two shots and a chance to tie. So Gathers committed a foul about 70 feet from the basket on a rebound that Vanderbilt was going to secure anyway, putting them at the line with a chance to tie the game. Not to mention, it fouled Gathers, who is one of Baylor’s better players, out of the game.

Of course, Baylor lucked out and Vanderbilt missed both free throws. But that could have cost them the game. And if they keep making decisions like that, it will cost them a game come Big 12 play.

Next: The tournament hopefuls