A week ago, I was somewhat critical of Perry Jones III and especially the hype that consistently surrounds him as a potential Naismith candidate. While they are often somewhat related, there is still a significant difference between great college performance and future professional potential. I'm of the firm belief that college awards should go to the best college performances (however you want to measure or rate that) and high draft slots should go to those with the best future potential. While PJIII had flashed the sort of performance we were hoping for from him at BYU earlier in the year, filling up the box score (28 Pts, 8 Reb, 4 Ast, 3 Stl) and being the foundation for a gritty win, he hasn't been the same great player since then. He shows streaks and is clearly Baylor's most talented player, but he hasn't really taken over a game since then.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, Naismith Contender Perry Jones III showed up again today. While he 'only' put up 19 points in his 27 minutes, he did it on 8 of 12 shooting and tossed in 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Moreover, Baylor relied on his variety of low post moves for points when the game was still close. Building off of this, Baylor used outside shooting from Brady Heslip and Pierre Jackson, who went a combined 8 for 16 from 3-point land. No doubts on who the player of the game was today. Quincy Miller also had one of his best games as a college player, going 3-5 from 3 and pouring in 21 points, although his impact came more in ensuring the margin stayed large and grew to it's ridiculous final tally. A few more notes on this great Baylor win after the jump...
I am growing more and more confident in Baylor's defense. We have seen Baylor play good to great defense at times this year, but today they seemed particularly active on the defensive end. Great rotations, active hands and good positioning allowed Baylor to accumulate 10 steals, 5 blocks and hold the much-hyped Le'Bryan Nash to 6 points on 2 for 12 shooting. I was also very happy to see Cory Jefferson again get double digit playing minutes, play efficient offense and help on defense and in...
REBOUNDING
Without a doubt, Baylor's two biggest weaknesses are turnovers and rebounding. Their frustrating propensity to turn the ball over [another 14 today] is at least offset by their ability to generate turnovers on defense [19 today]. Rebounding, on the other hand, has been especially frustrating because we all know that they have the length and athleticism to be at least average in this category. Yet we've watched multiple times this year where they get out-rebounded on offense and defense. Today, however, Baylor dominated the boards 44-22. I don't expect that level of domination to continue, but hopefully this is the start of a trend that features dramatic improvement in this area. It will definitely factor in to the result of what could be the most important game in the Big12 this year...which just happens to be taking place in two days.