ODB Mailbag - Basketball Begins Edition: Answered

What are your thoughts on the release of future conference opponents? Do you like how TCU is an every year protected rival? Or that the other schools in Texas are weighted more heavily than the rest of the conference? Is anyone going to join me in Boulder next season to get a selfie with Coach Prime???

BNT: I’m ok with it as TCU is a natural enemy and it’s good to have a circled game on the schedule...we just need buy in from the team. As for the selfie with Coach Prime at CU next year, count me in.

When did Grimes realize his O-line was just not physically capable of competing in the Big 12? Was it after the Texas Tech game? The Texas game? The Texas State game? Before the season started? Or does he still believe that they can turn it around?

pbpope: We haven’t spoken in a while (never), so I really can’t say.

Joe Goodman: It depends on what the analytics say.

BNT: He’s had some good OL’s through the years and knows what he’s doing. I don’t know how to answer the question, but I’d be shocked if he didn’t know we had huge warts and was hoping we could hide them to some extent.

SHOOTYHOOPS!!! Gimme your picks (MBB and WBB) for:

Who will be the B12 regular season champs?

Who will be the B12 tourney champs?

How many B12 teams make the big dance?

What will Baylor’s seed be for the tourney?

Who are your Final Four picks?

Who wins the Natty?

mattisbear:

• 3-way tie, Kansas, Iowa State, Baylor
• Iowa State, again, because of their dark magic
• SE-VEN. Insane to think, but the only maybe is between Kansas State and BYU. Curious to see what the Cougars do vs SDSU on Friday.
• I think a 3 or 4 seed. Who knows! Depends on a lot of other teams.
• Baylor, Purdue, USC, Duke
• I hate predicting the tournament, because it is impossible, but give me USC. I’m extremely impressed by the one (1) game I have seen from their guards.
• Joe Goodman:
• Kansas
• Baylor (Drew finally gets one)
• Seven, and I don’t think it’s that crazy
• Agree with Matt, a 3 or 4 is a solid pick
• Even though it looks dumb right now, I’ll stick with my prediction from earlier this week: Kansas, Michigan State, Marquette, Alabama
• Kansas

Jenna Patteson:

WBB!!

• Texas/Baylor tie

• TCU

• 5

• 7

• iowa, uconn, south carolina, tennessee

• Iowa

BNT:

MBB

• Baylor (UT is overrated once again and KU doesn’t have the depth)
• Baylor
• 6
• 1 seed
• Baylor, Duke, UConn, Purdue
• Baylor, ‘cause why not? They have a legitimate shot

WBB

• Baylor
• Baylor (time to restore our dominance)
• 5
• 2 seed
• UConn, Iowa, UCLA, Notre Dame
• UConn

How much damage is Baylor doing to our brand equity and financial support and revenue streams by refusing to remove CDA? And how long will it.take to rebuild everything after all of this is said and done?

pbpope: I don’t believe Baylor is “refusing to remove CDA.” Not yet, at least. I don’t think much is accomplished by a midseason termination. Tech’s firing of Wells midseason and subsequent hire of McGuire is the aberration, not the norm.Sadly, another rebuild looks to be on the horizon. It’s anybody’s guess how long it will take at this point.

Joe Goodman: Yeah, refusing is a weird word here. If the big money people were demanding he be removed, he’d be removed. There’s a ton at play with removing a coach, including how much money it costs to remove said coach. That said, I don’t think Baylor is really losing much brand equity at all, as big of a deal as football is, our athletic department is more than one squad. Scott Drew has plenty of big time, marquee matchups coming up that will show Baylor in a great light. And as Peter said, firing a head coach mid-season isn’t really that normal in college football, and I wouldn’t get your hopes up about a new head coach in the offseason either. The guy is less than two year’s removed from the best football season in school history, that buys you a bit of a leash, whether you like this year or not.

BNT: I think we will be ok, but I have to admit I’m a little concerned that we don’t put ourselves in a place where we are looking at another total rebuild.

The biggest question right now seems to be “what does Aranda’s contract look like and what’s the buyout?” The only way to judge performance is results and one good season with Rhule’s recruits does not demonstrate capability. We need to move on or be happy with mediocrity from bygone days. I know Aranda tries to project this great “learned” personality, but how does that really translate to recruits or transfers we need?

pbpope: I think people have transitioned to discounting 2021, giving too much weight to the “Rhule’s recruits” line. That’s true, but there was absolutely development in key positions that enabled that success. Rhule had shifted Abram Smith to LB. The OL under Rhule was ABYSMAL (and in 2020 under Wickline). Pitre hadn’t shown anything of what we saw in 2021 under Rhule. Yes, it’s Rhule’s recruits, but you cannot discount the development that occurred under Aranda for that team.However, that does not absolve him of responsibility for the ensuing two years, the recruiting woes, and developmental issues that have surfaced since then. The failure to capitalize on 2021’s success and build upon it is a significant issue in my view. The Bears looked to be emerging as a significant contender for years to come in the New Big 12... and it appears that opportunity has been all but squandered. The personality aspect of Aranda isn’t a projection, that’s who he is... but I don’t know whether it translates well to recruiting highschoolers/transfers, or if the issue lies with talent identification/development.

Joe Goodman: One thing we love to do as fans is think of a football team’s results as a result of the impact of one man, the head coach. I see the whole it was Rhule’s recruits thing a lot. Rhule worked his tail off in recruiting, especially in years one and two, that’s a known thing. But still, the HC isn’t making all those phone calls and doing all those visits. There a coaches on this team right now that were involved in those recruiting pursuits. And the results on the field and the personality of a team are a result of wholistic impact from the staff. The responsibility lies at the top, but the impact comes from everywhere. Rhule struck gold with his staff for a couple of years, and quite literally 18 months ago we were saying the same thing about Aranda’s staff. he doesn’t have all that much time to do it, but Aranda has to find that magic again within his staff, something that meshes with who he is, but fills the gaps he also has. Oh, and start using the transfer portal, really start using the transfer portal.

BNT: In today’s coaching landscape I think it needs to be a four legged stool approach. One leg is recruiting, one is working the transfer portal, one is NIL, and one is player development. All 4 need to function reasonably well to have a stable (stool) program. I don’t have confidence in CDA at this point to stabilize the program.

For all yall who are calling for Aranda’s job, who specifically are you saying should be hired in order to have Baylor in the CCG year in/year out?

BNT:

For the responders to the questions, I’ll rephrase:

1. Should Aranda lose his job?

Joe Goodman: If I were the AD, I wouldn’t fire him right now. But I’d be very clear that he doesn’t have much time, and I’d demand some changes in how the program is run. All I can tell you is how I’d do it, and I know a lot of people wouldn’t agree with me there.

BNT: I think he should be let go after the WVU game.

Will we be on any tv other than ESPN+ for the rest of the football season? Should we embrace the basketball hype and go all in? Where do you place us in the conference?

Joe Goodman: I’d imagine the TCU game will land on FS1, there’s a reason the conference is keeping that game around every year in future scheduling. And of course embrace the bball hype, this will be a top 4 team in the conference and a high seed in the tourney that could make some noise. Also, seriously enjoy every opportunity you get to watch Ja’Kobe Walter, we have limited time with him and he’s special.

BNT: Yeah, probably TCU will be on FS1. As for both Men’s and Women’s basketball? It’s going to be a fun season!

Post comments or other questions below. Sic KSU!

xoxo,

BNT