ODB Mailbag - It’s Back Edition: Baylor Sports Questions Answered

Any updates on B12 expansion and maybe who B12 is looking at?

pbpope: There are some massive threads on the premium forums that have a lot of information and speculation about realignment... and every few weeks there comes a flurry of supposed activity, but it’s all behind the scenes. I won’t divulge what I’ve seen as it was subscriber content, but if you’re a realignment junkie, it’s probably worth a subscription to keep tabs on. Otherwise, there are rumors of anybody and everybody. But until the announcement is made, nobody knows for sure.

Joe Goodman: Hearing the Big 12 is going to drop the northern schools, convince Texas to stay, invite the Aggies back, and convince Arkansas they work better here than the SEC. Schools will have a bit of southwest flavor, maybe call it the Southwest Conference or something. But who knows how good my sources are.

BNT: A lot of stuff is flying around twitter about Big 12 expansion as well. I have no confirmation of who, what, when, or where other than Bama and Georgia are confirmed.

How many championships will the Spurs win with Wembanyama?

mattisbear: NONE. THEY DESERVE NONE. - Matt from Houston

Joe Goodman: None. He’ll force a trade to Toronto then sign with the Clippers where everyone will forget he exists. - Joe from Houston

BNT: As many as the Mavs with Luka...ugh. - BNT from DFW

Baseball! Your thoughts about this season? And about the future?

mattisbear: I’ve seen everything I personally need to see. Thompy has this pointed in a decidedly better direction than it was, and it has shown through not only the results, but simple things like body language. Were there really cringe-worthy final results? Sure, but there were also a TON of promising moments and trends.

pbpope: Matt put it well, IMO. I’d love to see @MaxG‘s input here too.

MaxG: The offense showed so much improvement all year. Errors were just due to being so young all over the field. Encouraged hugely by the position player base we have.Pitching is pee yew stinky bad. Need a huge year in the portal/ JuCo portal to have any chance to get better on a large scale. And the high school recruiting class is a bunch of big, athletic bodies. Which is what he recruited all the time during his time at BU. It’s cliche, but for the most part it’s good to have a ton of guys who are 6,1+ and 200+ lbs.

BNT: Thompkins was saddles with a weak and bloated roster. I don’t mind going on the record and predicting you’re going to see a huge turnaround in the program in Mitch’s 3rd year. He can coach and recruit.

Between FB, WBB and MBB, which team is most likely to win a Big 12 Championship in the upcoming season?

Jenna Patteson; I think WBB gets a Big 12 championship next season. Nicki went to WORK in the transfer portal, and we lost some big names (miss you Caitlin Bickle and Ja’mee Asberry ) but we have the best sophomore class in the Big 12 and some real scorers from the portal.

BNT: I’m on board with Jenna picking WBB. But, I’ll add MBB as well. BB season is going to be a fun one this year.

What grade would you give Brett at this point for his Big 12 Commish performance?

mattisbear: Yormark has done exactly what the Big 12 was hoping he would do: secure a media deal, keep the conference together, show appearances of having his sh*t together, and aggressively looking to expand. Somewhere between a B+ and an A.

BNT: Same, A for Yormark. Just for the fun of it I’ll grade PAC commish Klavikoff who gets an

Is it true you hold the last Southwest Conference record in the pole vault?

Joe Goodman: Pole assassin holds that record I believe.

BNT: Just so happens I have proof. Here’s an old video me at the SWC T&F Championship

What is your over/under on penalties for the Iowa State gambling scandal?

Joe Goodman: I doubt there will be any penalties. In my opinion, we’d have heard much more about this much faster if it was a huge deal. Probably just some athletes in various sports getting suspensions.Best bet on the top 3 big 12 football teams next year?

BNT: Over/under? Well played lol.

Best bet for the top 3 Big 12 football teams next season?

Joe Goodman: Regular season? In no particular order: Texas (don’t hate me), K State, Texas Tech

pbpope: I take bigger issue with Tech than I do with Texas in your list, Joe (don’t hate me either). I’ll go K-State, Texas, TCU or Baylor, depending on QB performance.

BNT: Baylor, Texas and KSU. I’ll throw in BYU as a wild card for their Cougar Tails.

The 2022-2023 athletic year seemed like a huge letdown for Baylor. Especially going ONLY 6-7 in football and 0 national championships. What does it say about Baylor’s athletic rise in the 21st century that we have such high expectations? Is there a downside to expecting success? Does demanding championships every year make us like UT fans?

Joe Goodman: There’s a great book about this called 3 and Out by John Bacon about the RichRod era at Michigan and what led up to it. Fanbases can get used to levels of success that aren’t sustainable for 99% of programs. Not just Texas UT, but the other orange UT has seen this too. I don’t think Baylor is there by any means, but our fans should remember from time to time that expectations and reality aren’t the same thing. It’s great we’ve reached a point that bowl eligibility isn’t the measuring stick, I remember those days and never want to go back there.

pbpope: I think the seasons of FB/MBB/WBB were disappointments not so much for the lack of national championships but because of performance relative to expectations. Defense took a significant step back in football and the offense didn’t have the progress we expected over the course of the season. We had national championship contender aspirations in MBB and the team just never felt like it came together for a variety of reasons. WBB... give it time. I think we were lulled into higher expectations because Collen won the Big 12 in Year One. But be patient there.Ultimately, disappointment = expectations - results. If we modify expectations, disappointment is less of an issue.

BNT: Excuse me?! Women’s Acrobatics and Tumbling won their 8th straight natty.

Will our run defense be better or worse next season?

Joe Goodman: Can it get much worse?

BNT: Definitely better. Our D Line is going to be good and should get adequate support from the LB’s. It looks like we are going to be playing a lot of press coverage in the secondary that should help with the run and short/intermediate passes (although we might give up some big plays).

Saw Ok St got some nice new unis, when do you think we’ll get some new football uniforms?

Joe Goodman: We appear a bit averse to the uni revolving door (which I love, get weird and crazy), and the current staff doesn’t seem to prioritize something like that. I wouldn’t hold your breath for anything groundbreaking any time soon. But really, who cares if you win?Is it just me, or do the new Ok State unis look like second hand jerseys they got for cheap from the Cleveland Browns??

BNT: I agree with Brother Joe. I don’t care if we are wearing the varsity hand downs as long as we win.

Thanks for the mailbag!-How should I feel about anything/everything after the spring game??-What do you think will be the primary starting MBB lineup and who will be the main rotation players?-How do you think the MBB/WBB conference schedule will look with the added schools? The double round robin is probably a thing of the past right? And what about the season after when the B12 trims the fat?-BNT, how are you living brother?!?

BNT: Watching the spring game, I think this team can win between 8-10 games...depending on the QB play. MBB starting line up? Depends on if Flagler and Bridges come back. Yes, the double round robin is a thing of the past. Trimming the fat after this season, we will still be the top MBB conference in the country and it won’t be close.

I’m doing good my friend. Things are moving pretty fast right now, but that’s how I like it. Thanks for asking!

Aranda acted like they were going to announce the starting quarterback soon after the spring game. I haven’t seen any changes, but its been a little while and there hasn’t been any chatter, are they going to delay it till the fall?

Joe Goodman: I’ve never expected to know until the fall season gets here. But I still don’t expect a change, personally. My bet is they stick with the guy who’s played in the offense.

pbpope: I was surprised when Aranda made that statement in his presser, but the full context made it sound like a decision would be made, but not necessarily announced. I’m with Joe, though. I never expected to have a post-spring announcement. I would’ve been surprised if we found out about QB1 after spring ball, even with Aranda’s comments taken into consideration. It would just be so premature, given what we saw in the Spring Game for both.

BNT: My take is that Aranda wanted to, but couldn’t after evaluating the Spring Game. The staff either wants to keep the pressure on Blake to focus on improving or see something in Sawyer where they feel he might be ready by the beginning of the season. I do find it

Leave your comments or questions below and Sic ‘em!

xoxo

BNT