NCAA Basketball: Biggest question for 2022-23 power conference favorites

Big 12: Baylor has the best backcourt in the country, but with Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua out until after the season begins due to a knee injury, will we ever see the full potential of the Bears?

There aren’t very many position groups more anticipated in the sport this season than the Baylor backcourt. Adam Flager, LJ Cryer, and five-star freshman Keyonte George are going to be spectacular. And that doesn’t even include Langston Love, a top 45 recruit last season that missed his entire freshman season with an injury last October. Nobody’s really all that concerned about the Baylor backcourt even though it doesn’t really have a true point guard.

And, to be fair, no one’s really worried about the Baylor frontcourt, either. The roster features plenty of talent between redshirt senior Flo Thamba, transfer Jalen Bridges, and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua. The catch is that Tchamwa Tchatchoua will be on the bench to begin the season as he continues to recover from a knee injury suffered last season. Thamba will excel at the things he’s good at: crashing the offensive boards and protecting the rim. He finished 12th in the nation in offensive rebounding a season ago and just outside the top 100 in block percentage.

The potential problem is depth and the reason JTT is so valuable on the defensive end. After Thamba, the question of depth comes very quickly. The next guy up is probably NBA Global Academy freshman Josh Ojianwuna who has plenty of room to improve as a young player. Zach Loveday and Caleb Lohner will also factor into the equation.

The reason Tchamwa Tchatchoua is so important to this Baylor team is the same reason Mark Vital was to the national championship team. He completely unlocks the most versatile defense and the scariest offense the Bears can put on the floor. The fourth-best lineup in all of NCAA Basketball two seasons ago, according to EvanMiya.com, was Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell, and Macio Teague alongside Thamba and Vital.

Of course, part of that reason was that those three guards were just so good, but what can’t go unappreciated was what Vital allowed that team to do. Thamba could hang out around the basket and do his thing while Vital and the guards could switch everything. That’s what JTT will, hopefully, do for this year’s team when he’s healthy.

To suggest that this backcourt will be just as good as the national championship team might be a stretch, but it’s going to be a very dynamic one that needs to be on the floor together as much as possible. JTT will help unlock that potential completely and completely change the conversation of depth in the Baylor frontcourt.