The 2-3 Zone: A Reintroduction of Sorts

Here is my apology for being out of touch for nearly a month. Not that I'm a fan of excuses, but one of my company's clients (just making this clear as I'm required to do so) decided to do a "Big Game" ad and I got thrown into the fire on top of my regular stream of work, naturally something had to give and I'm sorry that it was my coverage of Baylor basketball.

Anyhow, if you've missed Mark and Peter's posts/tweets about it, here is the ad for RadioShack. And here is the video I worked on to accompany the ad. My role in the actual ad was relatively minimal (I helped with consistency in the shots and my rental car is in the background as the delorean speeds off), but the behind the scenes video was shot by a colleague of mine and myself and I got to edit that piece together. Also, any footage you might see on the news this week talking about the commercials was probably shot by us as well. It was a great time! If you're curious about it, I'll answer questions in the comments. Needless to say, I had a surreal couple of weeks of having to keep my mouth shut. Also, if you are young (like me) and have never seen what Mary Lou Retton did at the Olympics in 1984. Watch now.

Alright enough of that. Let's talk basketball, and in some ways I feel blessed to have not covered the atrocity that was January Baylor Men's basketball in its entirety.

Normally in the 2-3 zone we take two looks back at the previous week and three looks forward but today we are going to get a little about where we are at and how we move forward without a formulaic post.

Updated Opp/40 for those who have been following.
Numbers in bold are improvements.

"What?!" - Probably the most exclaimed word for the last month for anyone watching Baylor basketball. While our play has been certifiably insanity-inducing, I'm positve that without Twitter/Facebook/etc. we would most likely be much more calm about how our team is playing in the moment and more likely to see the bigger picture. This team is experienced, we have an assembly of diverse talent and Scott Drew is not the worst coach to ever coach.

If you dare look back at the month of January, the only loss that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever is at home versus West Virginia. Yes, there were some other confusing losses and performances, but none of them could be called completely unexpected (outside of maybe at Texas Tech too). This is how college basketball works. It rarely makes sense until March and even then it will leave you scratching your head. My point here, is not to excuse what happened, but to encourage us all as passionate Baylor fans to realize that every game is an opportunity to turn the ship around, especially when the strength of our schedule and non-conference resumé means we just need six more wins to get into the NCAA tournament, where Scott Drew has a solid, proven, track record of success.

It is my (volunteer) job to cover Baylor basketball and not force my opinions upon you, but everyone knows where I stand with Scott Drew. I'm a loyalist, and this is from someone who is very much a pessimist when it comes to sports and the teams for which I pull. I am not going to tell you that you must like and/or want Scott Drew as your coach, but I will say this: it is incredibly difficult to find reason to put him on the hot seat. Every time I see someone do it, it is from the perspective of a singular game or singular stretch. The more I look at the reactions and murmurings, the more I realize that Baylor understands football much more than it understands basketball, where every game is do or die on the gridiron, on the court teams like the Miami Heat get beat by the Washington Wizards and both teams move on still being the Miami Heat and the Washington Wizards.

There are easily six more winnable games this season, the first of which is tomorrow night against a reeling, but great, Kansas team at home. We get to play TCU again, who has yet to win a Big 12 game. Kansas State and Texas Tech at home. West Virginia on the road. Iowa State at home (I'm sorry, but they will never shoot the way they did in Ames in Waco). When you get right down to it, all of the remaining games are winnable and it's just a matter of which team shows up.

To conclude the state of Baylor basketball: the Bears' season is not lost, but they have not given themselves any room for error. Just like the team must put the month of January in the past, so must the fans. If it is possible for you to be in the gym on Tuesday night as Baylor takes on Kansas, you should be there because it will define the season and a raucous crowd will help.

What are your thoughts on our chances moving forward? If I am a 1 seed, and we sneak into the tournament as an 8/9 seed - I want to be in another regional. Be expecting the coverage to continue and a preview tomorrow morning for the game tomorrow night.