Baylor Basketball: Depth of Bears key to replace Mario Kegler in 2019-20

Mario Kegler won’t be part of Baylor Basketball after planning to go pro. Will the team be able to replace what he can do?

After a solid overall campaign that included a trip to the NCAA Tournament last season, Baylor Basketball came into this year with a ton of optimism. Despite losing leading scorer and passer Makai Mason along with starter King McClure, the Bears bring back a ton of production that includes players such as Jared Butler, Mark Vital and Mario Kegler.

Unfortunate, Baylor Basketball fans were hit with some bad news just a month before the season started. Not only was Kegler (who started all 28 games played last season) suspended to start this year already, he officially made the decision to leave the program to pursue professional options. It was his second suspension at Baylor after transferring from Mississippi State so this could be a move that both sides (Kegler and the coaching staff) are better off from an off-the-court perspective.

It could be a different story on the court though. Kegler averaged 10.5 ppg and 5.8 rpg and played both forward positions after power forward Tristan Clark went down midway through the season. The 6’7 wing was a productive scorer, putting up at least eight points in 15 of his final 17 games of last season. While he’s not a dynamic All-Conference performer, Kegler would’ve been versatile depth for a Bears team that is more set to beat you collectively rather than from an individual star.

The good news for the Bears is that their “depth” is a lot more than just Kegler. The return of Clark gives them a clear-cut frontcourt piece to pair with Vital. And 6’8 wings Freddie Gillespie and Matthew Mayer are more than capable of playing that “3/4” versatile role in the various lineups that head coach Scott Drew likes to throw out there.

Baylor also can use three-guard lineups this season thanks to transfers Davion Mitchell and MaCio Teague. They along with Devonte Bandoo and sophomore breakout candidate Jared Butler will form a formidable backcourt offensively which will take some pressure off of both Gillespie and Mayer to contribute on that end.

In many preseason observations, Baylor is considered at least a top-half Big 12 team for the upcoming season, mainly because they might have the best overall depth in the league. But the loss of a double-digit scorer in Kegler does hurt them in that way. In the end though, another NCAA Tournament is not only still in the cards for the Bears…. that should remain the expectation for what remains a talented team overall.