Tonight has been one heck of a night for Baylor publicity on the World Wide Leader and its sister stations. Baylor has been getting great publicity all evening through the combination of the basketball game on ESPN2 and the UT-Cal game (which is supposed to be football, but appears to be some kind of football-monkey poo-fight hybrid). Jesse Palmer, who is basically unwatchable 99% of the time, just noted at length how Baylor's offense carved up the highly-ranked Texas defense just a few short weeks ago. Certainly nice to hear.
In the basketball game, Baylor managed to take care of business in an ugly, sloppy game that featured only 106 total points. Pierre Jackson led the team in points with 14 followed by Quincy Miller (12) and Brady Heslip (11). Miller had probably his best game in over a month, which is good to see from him, and Heslip had a great first half before disappearing in the second and scoring 0 points after intermission. Perry Jones III had another forgettable game going 4-13 from the field and scoring only 8 points. At times he looked like a man among boys, a freakish combination of size, athleticism, and pure talent. Other times he looked like all of that in the body of someone that doesn't really want the ball or think that he should have it. All of the things we heard about his unwillingness to take over a game in high school have carried over so far in college, and it really makes me question whether he's ready to make the jump to the NBA. If Tweety Carter was the perfect example of an NBA mind with a college skillset, PJ3 is the opposite. It's weird.
Pierre Jackson, on the other hand, is cut straight from the Tweety Carter mold. You can't say enough about PJ and the effect he has on our team. Though he is the smallest player on the court in most games against legitimate competition, he has an unmatched confidence in his ability to make that one needed shot or play. The fact that Drew called an isolation play for Jackson with just over :30 left on the clock in what would probably be Baylor's last possession should tell you everything about how much trust Drew has in him to do what must be done. He put the game in Jackson's hands and PJ delivered. On the other end of the floor immediately thereafter, Quincy Acy and AJ Walton combined to put the game away with great defense on the last shot and the rebound attempt by MSU. It wasn't pretty, but Baylor won a game it could have easily lost. Just last year, they probably would have lost.
The other relatively big news of the night is an interview with Baylor President Ken Starr (who is in San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl tomorrow night) about the possibility of an on-campus football stadium. Let's just say that a man who would definitely know thinks it will happen by 2014. I'm getting all tingly just thinking about it.