Baylor Basketball: Takeaways from win over Illinois in Jimmy V Classic

Scott Drew is back coaching the Bears and that’s bad news for the rest of college basketball

Scott Drew had to watch from home for Baylor’s first two games of the season. After self-isolation and quarantining for almost two weeks, he was back with his team and joined them in Indianapolis just in time for this marquee match-up in the Jimmy V Classic.

Drew said after the game that he understood why his players looked a little unnerved in the 1st half and that it was because of his excitement to be back with them, he was almost too excited.

But in the second half, the Bears did exactly what they needed to do. They drew fouls against Kofi Cockburn, turning him into a non-factor. Which allowed them to only have to focus on half of the All American duo that had taken the nation by storm the first few games of the season. Defensively, they looked more than fantastic.

They also looked great on offense. It’s always easy to tell when a great coach is on the floor by the plays coming right after timeouts. And time and time again, the Bears were setting each other up with electrifying lobs and ally oops coming out of time outs. Presumably, just how coach Drew… drew them up, just moments before.

Scott Drew has not only coached the best team in the nation for multiple weeks in the last few years, but he has been a part of what could be and should start being talked about as one of the best program re-builds in history.

It’s great to see him back with the team, just in time for two Top-5 games in just three days.

The team looked leaps and bounds better than their opponent tonight and that’s an incredible sign when that opponent was becoming a clear Final Four pick. They are going to need to look like that again when they take on the number one ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday if they want to take back claim of the number one crown.

Sic ‘Em Bears!